Basil Frederick Clarke was an Indian-born English cricket

Cricket

Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...

er. A right-handed batsman, he played county cricket

County cricket

County cricket is the highest level of domestic cricket in England and Wales. For the 2010 season, see 2010 English cricket season.-First-class counties:...

 for Gloucestershire

Gloucestershire County Cricket Club

Gloucestershire County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh national cricket structure, representing the historic county of Gloucestershire. Its limited overs team is called the Gloucestershire Gladiators....

 and Leicestershire

Leicestershire County Cricket Club

Leicestershire County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh national cricket structure, representing the historic county of Leicestershire. It has also been representative of the county of Rutland....

 and also played twice for the Egypt national cricket team

Egypt national cricket team

The Egypt national cricket team was the team that represented the country of Egypt in international cricket matches. They were active from 1909 until World War II.-Early years:...

.

Biography

Born in Madras

Chennai

Chennai , formerly known as Madras or Madarasapatinam , is the capital city of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, located on the Coromandel Coast off the Bay of Bengal. Chennai is the fourth most populous metropolitan area and the sixth most populous city in India...

 in 1885, Basil Clarke made his first-class

First-class cricket

First-class cricket is a class of cricket that consists of matches of three or more days' scheduled duration, that are between two sides of eleven players and are officially adjudged first-class by virtue of the standard of the competing teams...

 debut for Gloucestershire in a County Championship

County Championship

The County Championship is the domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales...

 match against Nottinghamshire

Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club

Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Nottinghamshire, and the current county champions. Its limited overs team is called the Nottinghamshire Outlaws...

 during the 1914 English cricket season

1914 English cricket season

The 1914 English cricket season was called off at the end of August because of the outbreak of the First World War. The last four matches to be played all finished on 2 September and the remaining five scheduled fixtures were cancelled....

. He played two further county championship matches, against Lancashire

Lancashire County Cricket Club

Lancashire County Cricket Club represents the historic county of Lancashire in cricket's County Championship. The club was founded in 1864 as a successor to Manchester Cricket Club and has played at Old Trafford since then...

 and Yorkshire

Yorkshire County Cricket Club

Yorkshire County Cricket Club represents the historic county of Yorkshire as one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure....

, that season.

His cricket career was interrupted by the First World War

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

, and he returned to first-class cricket for the 1919 season

1919 English cricket season

The 1919 English cricket season was the first to stage first-class cricket since 1914. Yorkshire won the title but in their team as in everyone else's, the sense was of overwhelming loss. The county matches in this season were played over a course of two days...

, when he played four County Championship matches for Gloucestershire. He also played first-class matches for Gloucestershire against Worcestershire

Worcestershire County Cricket Club

Worcestershire County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Worcestershire...

 and the touring Australian Imperial Forces team in addition to a match for the Army

British Army cricket team

The Army cricket team is a cricket side representing the British Army. The team played a number of first-class matches between 1912 and 1939, although a combined "Army and Navy" side had played two games against a combined Oxford and Cambridge team in 1910 and 1911...

 against the Royal Navy

Royal Navy Cricket Club

The Royal Navy Cricket Club is a cricket team representing the British Royal Navy and based at the United Services Recreation Ground, Portsmouth, Hampshire...

 at Lord's

Lord's Cricket Ground

Lord's Cricket Ground is a cricket venue in St John's Wood, London. Named after its founder, Thomas Lord, it is owned by Marylebone Cricket Club and is the home of Middlesex County Cricket Club, the England and Wales Cricket Board , the European Cricket Council and, until August 2005, the...

 and a match for HDG Leveson-Gower's XI against Oxford University

Oxford University Cricket Club

Oxford University Cricket Club is a first-class cricket team, representing the University of Oxford. It plays its home games at the University Parks in Oxford, England...

 during the season.

He played three County Championship matches for Gloucestershire in 1920, in addition to a match for the Army against Oxford University. He moved to play for Leicestershire for the 1922 season

1922 English cricket season

The 1922 English cricket season saw Yorkshire recover the County Championship and begin a run of four successive titles.- Honours :*County Championship - Yorkshire*Minor Counties Championship - Buckinghamshire...

, playing five County Championship matches in his last year of first-class cricket.

He played twice for the Egypt national side against Free Foresters

Free Foresters Cricket Club

Free Foresters Cricket Club is an English amateur cricket club, established in 1856 for players from the Midland counties of England. It is a 'wandering' club, having no home ground....

 in April 1927. He scored just one first-class century

Century (cricket)

In the sport of cricket, a batsman reaches his century when he scores 100 or more runs in a single innings. The term is also included in "century partnership" which occurs when two batsmen add 100 runs to the team total when they are batting together. A century is regarded as a landmark score for...

 in his career, an unbeaten

Not out

In cricket, a batsman will be not out if he comes out to bat in an innings and has not been dismissed by the end of the innings. One may similarly describe a batsman as not out while the innings is still in progress...

 108 against Hampshire

Hampshire County Cricket Club

Hampshire County Cricket Club represents the historic county of Hampshire in cricket's County Championship. The club was founded in 1863 as a successor to the Hampshire county cricket teams and has played at the Antelope Ground from then until 1885, before moving to the County Ground where it...

 in 1919. He died in Sussex

Sussex

Sussex , from the Old English Sūþsēaxe , is an historic county in South East England corresponding roughly in area to the ancient Kingdom of Sussex. It is bounded on the north by Surrey, east by Kent, south by the English Channel, and west by Hampshire, and is divided for local government into West...

in 1940.