Sir Curtly Elconn Lynwall Ambrose KCN is an Antiguan former cricketer who played 98 Test matches for the West Indies. Widely acknowledged as one of the greatest fast bowlers of all time,he took 405 Test wickets at an average of 20.99 and topped the ICC Player Rankings for much of his career to be rated the best bowler in the world. His great height—he is 6 feet 7 inches (2.01 m) tall—allowed him to make the ball bounce unusually high after he delivered it;allied to his pace and accuracy,it made him a very difficult bowler for batsmen to face. A man of few words during his career,he was notoriously reluctant to speak to journalists. He was chosen as one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year in 1992;after he retired he was entered into the International Cricket Council Hall of Fame and selected as one of West Indies all-time XI by a panel of experts.
Sydney Francis Barnes was an English professional cricketer who is regarded as one of the greatest bowlers of all time. He was right-handed and bowled at a pace that varied from medium to fast-medium with the ability to make the ball both swing and break from off or leg. In Test cricket,Barnes played for England in 27 matches from 1901 to 1914,taking 189 wickets at 16.43,one of the lowest Test bowling averages ever achieved. In 1911–12,he helped England to win the Ashes when he took 34 wickets in the series against Australia. In 1913–14,his final Test series,he took a world record 49 wickets in a test series,against South Africa.
Colin Leslie McCool was an Australian cricketer who played in 14 Tests from 1946 to 1950. McCool,born in Paddington,New South Wales,was an all-rounder who bowled leg spin and googlies with a round arm action and as a lower order batsman was regarded as effective square of the wicket and against spin bowling. He made his Test début against New Zealand in 1946,taking a wicket with his second delivery. He was part of Donald Bradman's Invincibles team that toured England in 1948 but injury saw him miss selection in any of the Test matches.
Malcolm Andrew Nash was a Welsh cricket player and coach. He played first-class cricket for Glamorgan. Nash was a left-arm medium-pace bowler and useful lower-order left-handed batsman. He made his debut for the county in 1966 and was released by the county after the 1983 season. He captained the county in 1980 and 1981. He took the most wickets for Glamorgan in 1969 when it won the county championship. In 1985,he played his last one-day match for Shropshire. Between 1966 and 1983 in his 17 years career,Nash took 993 first-class wickets,scored 7,129 runs and held 148 catches. He died on 30 July 2019 in London at the age of 74 years.
Arthur Frederick Augustus "Dick" Lilley was an English cricketer who played in 35 Tests from 1896 to 1909,more than any other England wicket-keeper in the first sixty years of Test cricket. A Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1897,he was described as "far and away the greatest cricketer Warwickshire has yet produced."
Abraham "Abe" Waddington,sometimes known as Abram Waddington,was a professional cricketer for Yorkshire,who played in two Test matches for England,both against Australia in 1920–21. Between 1919 and 1927 Waddington made 255 appearances for Yorkshire,and in all first-class cricket played 266 matches. In these games,he took a total of 852 wickets with his left arm fast-medium bowling. Capable of making the ball swing,Waddington was admired for the aesthetic quality of his bowling action. He was a hostile bowler who sometimes sledged opposing batsmen and questioned umpires' decisions,behaviour which was unusual during his playing days.
1939 was the 46th season of County Championship cricket in England. It was the one and only season in which English cricket adopted the eight-ball over. It was the last season before the Second World War and it was not until 1946 that first-class cricket could resume in England on a normal basis. The West Indies were on tour and England won the Test series 1–0. The West Indian team departed early,with several matches cancelled,because of the growing international crisis. In the 1940 edition of Wisden Cricketers' Almanack,author R. C. Robertson-Glasgow reviewed the 1939 season and remarked that it was "like peeping through the wrong end of a telescope at a very small but happy world".
1919 was the 26th season of County Championship cricket in England and the first since 1914. The authorities had doubted if cricket would remain popular after a four-year break and the strain of war. It was decided that County Championship matches should be reduced from three days' duration to two,but cricket had not lost its popularity and the two-day experiment was a failure. Yorkshire finished the season as champions,topping the table by four percentage points. No Test cricket was played but an Australian Imperial Forces team toured England,playing matches from mid-May until mid-September. Andy Ducat,Patsy Hendren,Percy Holmes,Herbert Sutcliffe and Ernest Tyldesley were named in the 1920 edition of Wisden Cricketers' Almanack as the Five Cricketers of the Year for their 1919 performances.
1907 was the 18th season of County Championship cricket in England. Nottinghamshire won their first official title. England played their sixth Test series against South Africa but it was the first to be held in England.
Michael Burns is an English first-class list cricket umpire and former first-class cricketer who played county cricket for Warwickshire and Somerset in a first-class career which spanned from 1992 until 2005. He also played Minor Counties cricket for Cumberland and Cornwall. An adaptable cricketer,he appeared for Cumberland and Warwickshire as a wicket-keeper,but when he moved to Somerset he developed into an aggressive batsman who bowled at medium-pace when needed.
Douglas Norman Frank Slade is a former English cricketer who played for Worcestershire and Shropshire.
Roy Cosmo Kerslake is a former English cricketer who played first-class cricket for Cambridge University and Somerset,and captained Somerset for one season in 1968. More recently he has been prominent as a cricket administrator,serving as president of Somerset County Cricket Club from 2004 to 2015.
John Lawrence,known as "Johnny",was a diminutive Yorkshire-born all-round cricketer whose middle or lower order batting and leg-break and googly bowling were of great importance to Somerset in the 10 cricket seasons immediately after the Second World War.
John Lyon was a first-class cricketer who played for Lancashire between 1973 and 1979. He leaves behind his beloved only son's Shane Geary and Graham McDermott who he hasn't seen in years and years. He dedicated his last Cricket Game to his boys.
Daren Joseph Foster played first-class and List A cricket for Somerset and Glamorgan between 1986 and 1993. He was born in Tottenham,London.
Stephen John Foster is a former English cricketer. Foster was a right-handed batsman who bowled right-arm medium pace. He was born in Rotherham,Yorkshire.
John Donald Martin is an English retired cricketer who played first-class cricket for Oxford University and Somerset. He also played Minor Counties cricket for Oxfordshire and Berkshire. He was born in Oxford.
John Foster is a former English cricketer. Foster was a right-handed batsman. He was born in Oldham,Lancashire and educated at Hulme Grammar School and the University of Bradford.
Peter Bradley is a former English cricketer. Bradley was a left-handed batsman who bowled right-arm medium pace. He was born in Gee Cross,Hyde,Cheshire.
Bernard James Tindal Bosanquet was an English cricketer best known for inventing the googly,a delivery designed to deceive the batsman. When bowled,it appears to be a leg break,but after pitching the ball turns in the opposite direction to that which is expected,behaving as an off break instead. Bosanquet,who played first-class cricket for Middlesex between 1898 and 1919,appeared in seven Test matches for England as an all-rounder. He was chosen as a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1905.
