Jack Crawford (cricketer)
Encyclopedia
John Neville Crawford (1 December 1886 – 2 May 1963) was an English first-class
cricket
er who played mainly for Surrey
. An amateur
, he played as an all-rounder
and was highly regarded from an unusually early age before a disagreement with his county curtailed his career. A right-handed batsman, Crawford had a reputation for scoring quickly and hitting powerful shots. With the ball, he bowled medium-paced off spin
and was noted for his accuracy and ability to make the ball turn sharply from the pitch. Unusually, Crawford wore spectacles while playing.
Crawford established a reputation as an outstanding cricketer while still a schoolboy and played Test cricket
for England before he was 21 years old. In two successive seasons, he completed the double
of 1,000 runs
and 100 wickets in first-class games and successfully toured Australia with Marylebone Cricket Club
(MCC) in 1907–08. He played only 12 matches for England although critics believed he had a great future in the sport and was a potential future England captain.
However, a dispute over the composition of a Surrey side to play a high profile game in 1909, after several professional players were omitted for ongoing disciplinary reasons, led to an increasingly bitter argument between Crawford and the Surrey authorities. Crawford was told he had no future with the club and moved to Australia to pursue a teaching career. He continued his cricket with South Australia
until the outbreak of the First World War, after which he returned to England. He made his peace with Surrey and played a handful of games between 1919 and 1921. In all first-class cricket, Crawford scored 9,488 runs at an average of 32.60 and took 815 wickets at an average
of 20.66.
Crawford was born on 1 December 1886 at Cane Hill
, Surrey
. His father, the Rev John Charles Crawford, and uncle, Frank Crawford, played first-class cricket for Kent
; his brothers Vivian and Reginald were also first-class cricketers. Consequently, Crawford grew up in a cricketing environment. He first attended school in Eastbourne
, then went to St Winifred's School in Henley-on-Thames
where he began his cricket career, scoring in total 2,093 runs
and taking 366 wickets during his two years there.
In 1902, he moved to Repton School
and, despite strong competition for places, Crawford was chosen for the school cricket team in his first year. He remained in the eleven each season until leaving Repton in 1905. Cricket historian Benny Green notes that over the next four years, he "created ... chaos among schoolboy cricketers." In an overview of public school cricket, Gerald Brodribb
described him as "probably the best ever" schoolboy cricketer.
Crawford steadily improved his cricket, to the point where, in 1904, he scored 759 runs and took 75 wickets, more wickets than all the other bowlers in the school combined, and excelled at fielding. He was particularly effective in the school's most important fixtures, taking 25 wickets in the two games against rival schools, Malvern College
and Uppingham School
. The report in Wisden Cricketers' Almanack
described him as the best schoolboy bowler and possibly the best amateur
bowler in England that year: Crawford usually bowled medium-paced off spin
, although he could vary the speed of his delivery from slow to fast.
During the school's summer holidays in August, Crawford was chosen, aged 17, to play for Surrey
, making his first-class
debut against Kent. Taking three wickets and top-scoring in Surrey's first innings with 54, Crawford was successful enough to retain his place for another seven games. Against Gloucestershire
, he and Harold McDonell
bowled throughout both innings; Crawford took seven wickets for 43 runs in the second innings to give him ten wickets in the match, which was won by Surrey. In total, Crawford took 44 wickets at an average of 16.93 to come top of the county's bowling averages; in addition, he scored 229 runs at an average of 16.35.
Although hampered by injuries during the 1905 season for Repton, Crawford scored 766 runs, with a batting average of 85 and took 55 wickets, during the five matches in which he was fit to bowl, at an average under 13. Once again, he excelled in the two crucial fixtures against Uppingham and Malvern; in the first he scored 163 runs and took ten wickets for 75, then scored 139 and took ten for 147 in the second. Crawford also assumed the captaincy; his team was undefeated in the season. The Wisden reporter described Crawford as one of the best three schoolboy cricketers in the previous 40 years, only matched by A. G. Steel and Stanley Jackson
. Crawford left the school at the end of the season; in four years, he scored 2,098 runs and took 244 wickets.
After the school season, Crawford returned to play for Surrey. In his second game, he took seven for 90 against Yorkshire
and in his third, he scored his maiden first-class century—119 not out
against Derbyshire
. Later, he took eight for 24 against Northamptonshire
and scored 142 not out against Leicestershire
. At the end of the season, he played in several representative games for teams representing the South of England and played for the Rest of England against the County Champions
Yorkshire. Crawford finished second in Surrey's batting averages and in all first-class games scored 543 runs at an average of 33.93 and took 47 wickets at an average of 18.46.
(MCC) during the winter of 1905–06. In all first-class matches on the tour, he scored 531 runs at an average of 31.23 and took 34 wickets at an average of 18.44. In the early tour matches, Crawford recorded two five wicket hauls and scored 98. He made his Test match
debut against South Africa in the first Test. Batting at number six, Crawford scored 44 runs in the first innings and 43 in the second; he took two wickets in the first South African innings but was wicketless in the second as the home side recorded a one wicket win. Wisden noted that England did not play well but that Crawford "played two good innings".
After a month of cricket, during which Crawford scored 212 in a minor game, the English team were suffering from fatigue when the remaining Tests were played. In the second Test, Crawford was promoted to open the batting. He remained in this position apart from one innings in each of the third and fourth Tests when he batted at number seven. In the final match, he scored 74, his first Test fifty. His best bowling also came in the final match, where he took three for 69. In the Test series, he scored 281 runs at an average of 31.22 and took nine wickets at 35.77. However, England lost the series 4–1 and found it difficult to bat against the South African googly
bowlers. Wisden's tour report described Crawford's batting as one of the few positives for the England side.
of 1,000 runs and 100 wickets in first-class cricket, the youngest player at the time to accomplish this feat. Against Gloucestershire, he scored 148 and then took seven for 85 and four for 63 with the ball. He took ten wickets in the following match. In total, he took five or more wickets in six innings and scored six fifties as he compiled 1,174 runs at an average of 30.10, and took 118 wickets at an average of 20.28. These performances earned him selection for the Gentlemen against the Players
at both Lord's
and The Oval
. At the end of the season, he was chosen as one of Wisden's Cricketers of the Year
. The citation said: "Few cricketers have won equal fame at so early an age", and noted the unusual ease with which he had moved into first-class cricket. It described him as the best schoolboy cricketer since A. G. Steel, noting his batting was better than Stanley Jackson's at a similar age. His powerful batting and straight hitting were praised, as was his accurate bowling. The report also stated: "That he should have done all this is the more astonishing from the fact that he invariably plays in glasses. No one handicapped in this way has ever been so consistently successful both as batsman and bowler."
Crawford had a reputation by this stage as a leading batsmen who favoured aggressive, powerful shots. His performances drew crowds to see him play. In 1907, in the space of a few days, he hit deliveries in two different matches through the windows of both the home and the visitors' dressing rooms at The Oval. Towards the end of the season, he scored 103 runs in 90 minutes against Kent
, hitting several big shots into the crowd; The Times
described the ball in this innings as "soaring away like a bird". Crawford's overall batting record was similar to the previous season: he scored 1,158 runs at an average of 30.47, hitting six fifties and one century. With the ball, he took 124 wickets at 16.95, completing his second double. He took eleven wickets in each of two games against Essex
and Sussex
and had 12 five-wicket hauls. Once again, Crawford was selected in both Gentlemen v Players matches, taking six for 54 in the second, and was chosen to play two of the three Test matches against South Africa. These were his only Test matches in England, but he scored only 26 runs in three innings and was wicketless after bowling 29 overs
. He missed England's victory in the second match, the only match in the series not to be a draw, but Wisden's correspondent believed that the pitch conditions for that game made it a mistake to leave him out.
Crawford began the tour well, taking seven wickets in the opening first-class match. In the second game, he scored 114 runs in 58 minutes, the fastest first-class century scored in Australia until then, followed by bowling figures of five for 40 in the second innings. MCC won both matches by an innings. Crawford contributed little more with bat or ball in the lead-up to the Test series. He scarcely bowled in the first Test, won by Australia, but took eight wickets in the second as England levelled the series; his figures of five for 79 in the first innings helped to restrict Australia on a good batting pitch. Australia won the remaining games to win the series. In the third match, Crawford scored his only half-century of the series, hitting 62 out of England's 363 to help his team build up a lead. However, Australia scored 506 at the second attempt and Crawford bowled nearly 46 overs to take three for 113. The series was settled in the fourth Test; Australia recorded a big victory after rain affected the pitch and created difficult batting conditions during England's first innings. On the first day, Crawford took five for 48, his best Test figures, as Australia were bowled out for 214 on a very good pitch. Wisden noted Crawford "[mixed] up his pace with remarkable skill". Australia won the final match but Crawford took eight wickets in the game.
Crawford's contributions to the series enhanced his growing reputation and critics expected his cricket to go from strength to strength. Australian batsman Clem Hill
commented: "There are grand cricketers in this game, and then there is Jack Crawford." However, this was Crawford's final Test match; in 12 games, he scored 469 runs at an average of 22.33 and took 39 wickets at 29.48. In all first-class matches on the tour, he scored 610 runs at 26.52 and took 66 wickets at 25.19.
During the 1908 season, Crawford narrowly failed to complete his third double. He scored 1,371 runs at an average of 37.05 and took 98 wickets at 21.48. He scored 232 against Somerset
, his highest first-class score, as well as centuries against Derbyshire and Hampshire
, but he only reached five wickets in an innings on three occasions in the season. In Surrey's final game of the season, Crawford captained Surrey and his brother Vivian captained Leicestershire, their opponents.
, believed that amateur cricketers should be favoured over professionals at all times. He argued it was preferable to have a losing team containing amateurs to a successful professional side. Apart from adversely affecting the careers of some professionals, this policy destabilised the team for several seasons. In 1909, Alverstone left out several professionals to allow amateurs to play for the team. As the regular Surrey captain, H. D. G. Leveson Gower, was unavailable for much of the season, Crawford frequently assumed the leadership of the team. However, he disapproved of Alverstone's policy towards professionals.
The county twice played the touring Australian team; the bowling of Tom Rushby
, a professional, was instrumental in a victory for the home team in the first match. For the second match, Crawford was asked to captain the team. However, Rushby and other important players were left out of the side for disciplinary reasons. Consequently, Crawford refused to captain the team, and apologised to the Australians for the selection of such a weak side. In Crawford's absence, the professional cricketer Tom Hayward
captained the team and the match, affected by rain, was drawn.
Alverstone ordered Crawford to write an apology to Leveson Gower but Crawford refused, writing to Alverstone: "I do not know who was responsible for the selection of the second eleven sort of team furnished up for such an important match ... There seems to be some impression amongst a few of the Surrey committee that I am some young professional instead of being a young fellow who has had an experience of cricket that has seldom fallen to the lot of anyone, and my request for an alteration of the team should have had some weight". Cricket historian Benny Green writes that the letter is evidence of a "literate and quietly self-confident young man who will not easily be manipulated." Lord Alverstone responded that he regretted Crawford's sentiment; Crawford further replied that the players omitted from the team against the Australians had been restored to the county side, making their exclusion in the first place harder to understand.
At this point, Leveson Gower withdrew his invitation for Crawford to appear at the Scarborough Festival; Leveson Gower also used his influence within MCC to prevent Crawford's selection for the representative winter tour to South Africa. Crawford's father became involved, writing to the Surrey Committee in support of his son. By the beginning of August, two weeks after the match against the Australians, the Surrey committee decided to sever their connection with Crawford. Wisden reported: "The committee were much incensed and passed a resolution that Crawford be not again asked to play for the county." Having been informed by letter, Crawford replied to the committee a final time: "I fail to see why I should practically be branded as a criminal because, as acting captain, I declined the responsibility of skippering a team which did not include three essential players, an independence which I trust will remain in spite of the awful example made of me to every amateur in the United Kingdom."
The Surrey committee initially attempted to keep the dispute private, but the story was eventually published in the sporting press. Although many commentators felt that the argument could have been solved easily, neither side made any concessions. It is likely that the committee either expected Crawford to back down, or were happy to sacrifice him to establish their authority. In either case, Crawford left England in October to take up a teaching position at St Peter's College, Adelaide
, effectively ending his career with Surrey at the age of 23. Meanwhile, Rushby left Surrey at the end of the season to play league cricket, although he later returned to the team. Another professional, Alan Marshal, was suspended during 1909 and his contract was terminated the following year. Crawford's father made a further attempt to end the dispute between Surrey and his son in 1910, asking the committee to reverse their decision. Wisden reported that Lord Alverstone declined on the grounds that it would suggest a lack of confidence in the committee, but that if Crawford "came forward in a sportsmanlike way [Alverstone] would be proud to give his personal support to the step proposed. This of course meant that an apology was expected."
Benny Green, in his History of Cricket, wrote that the "Surrey committee must be held accountable for a degree of idiocy rarely met with even in the realms of cricket administration" for the way they dealt with Crawford, "one of the world's most prodigious all-rounders." The Times, on the other hand, speculated that factors other than the dispute may have contributed to Surrey's decision. At the end of the season, Crawford played his last matches in England for 10 years, appearing for an "England XI" against the Australians and for the Gentlemen of the South.
in the Sheffield Shield, Australia's first-class competition. Over four seasons, he played 22 matches for the team, scoring 1,512 runs at an average of 40.86 and taking 120 wickets at 23.86. Such a performance would probably have earned him Test selection for Australia if he had been Australian, and Wisden noted that his record was impressive in Australian cricket. In the event, he played some representative cricket. When England toured Australia in 1911–12, Crawford played against them for an Australian XI at Brisbane and scored 110 in as many minutes against bowlers including Sydney Barnes
, at the time regarded as the greatest bowler in the world. In 1913, his last season in Australia, Crawford played for a team representing the Rest of Australia against New South Wales
and later that year, toured North America with an Australian team. In the 1913–14 season, Crawford played for an Australian team which toured New Zealand. In first-class games, he took 21 wickets and scored a century but his most notable innings came in a minor match. Against South Canterbury, he scored 354 in five-and-a-quarter hours, striking 14 sixes and 45 fours. He and Victor Trumper
shared a partnership of 298 in 69 minutes, and Monty Noble
helped him to score 50 runs in 9 minutes as the Australian team scored 922 for nine. During 1914–15, Crawford played for Otago
in New Zealand, appearing in four first-class games in which he scored 337 runs and took 30 wickets. In 1918, he played two first-class games in New Zealand for Wellington
.
After the First World War, Crawford returned to live in England. Having settled his disagreement with Surrey, he resumed his English first-class career in 1919. After appearing for the Gentlemen against the Players, he returned to play for Surrey, scoring 144 not out against the Australian Imperial Forces
, later described by Wisden as the innings of his life. Surrey were 26 for five in reply to the tourists' innings of 436 when Crawford came in to bat. Neville Cardus reported: "[Crawford] fell upon the advancing Australian attack, and by driving seldom equalled, threw it back." He more than doubled his score after the ninth wicket had fallen, hitting 73 out of the last 80 runs scored in 35 minutes to take Surrey past the target required to avoid the follow-on
. He later scored 92 against Yorkshire and playing against Kent, scored 48 not out as Jack Hobbs
and he scored 96 in 32 minutes in the final innings as Surrey chased a total which seemed impossible to achieve in the little time remaining. In total, Crawford played in eight games in 1919, scoring 488 runs and taking 20 wickets. However, he played only four more times in first-class cricket; twice in 1920 and twice in 1921. One match was for Surrey against the Australian touring team of 1921 and the others were for teams representing the Gentlemen. In all first-class cricket, Crawford scored 9,488 runs at an average of 32.60 and took 815 wickets at 20.66.
Neither Crawford's obituary in Wisden nor that in The Times gives any details about the remainder of Crawford's life. He died, aged 76, in a Surrey hospital on 2 May 1963.
, who played with Crawford in Australia, described one of his innings as "a hurricane innings, full of classical shots charged with dynamite." As a bowler, he also had an orthodox technique. His bowling pace varied from fast to medium paced and he spun the ball effectively. An accurate bowler, it was difficult for batsmen to score runs from his bowling. Crawford could swing the ball away from the bat
, but his most effective delivery was his off break: Clem Hill stated that Crawford could make the ball turn several inches, despite the hard pitches prevalent in Australia when he played there. John Arlott
described him as "the schoolboy genius who turned on Australian pitches where no one else deviated from straight". Herbie Collins also wrote in 1937, at a time when Wally Hammond
was considered to be the world's leading all-rounder, that "People who have seen both men consider [Crawford] a better all-rounder than Hammond."
Commenting on the interruption of Crawford's career by his dispute with Surrey, Neville Cardus wrote: "His break with Surrey must be regarded as a sad deprivation of fame and pleasure to himself, and a grievous loss to the annals of English cricket. It is as certain as anything in a man's life can be confidently postulated, that had he continued to play in English county cricket ... he would have taken his place amongst the select company of England's captains." The Times commented: "It was one of the great disappointments of English cricket in the first quarter of this century that his outstanding promise was never fully realized." No-one on the Surrey committee ever expressed regret at what had happened.
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...
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 who played mainly for Surrey
Surrey County Cricket Club
Surrey County Cricket Club is one of the 18 professional county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Surrey. Its limited overs team is called the Surrey Lions...
. An amateur
Amateur status in first-class cricket
Amateur status in first-class cricket had a special meaning, especially in England, in that the amateur in this context was not merely someone who played cricket in his spare time but a particular type of first-class cricketer who existed officially until 1962, when the distinction between amateurs...
, he played as an all-rounder
All-rounder
An all-rounder is a cricketer who regularly performs well at both batting and bowling. Although all bowlers must bat and quite a few batsmen do bowl occasionally, most players are skilled in only one of the two disciplines and are considered specialists...
and was highly regarded from an unusually early age before a disagreement with his county curtailed his career. A right-handed batsman, Crawford had a reputation for scoring quickly and hitting powerful shots. With the ball, he bowled medium-paced off spin
Off spin
Off spin is a type of bowling in the sport of cricket which is bowled by an off spinner, a right-handed spin bowler who uses his or her fingers and/or wrist to spin the ball from a right-handed batsman's off side to the leg side...
and was noted for his accuracy and ability to make the ball turn sharply from the pitch. Unusually, Crawford wore spectacles while playing.
Crawford established a reputation as an outstanding cricketer while still a schoolboy and played Test cricket
Test cricket
Test cricket is the longest form of the sport of cricket. Test matches are played between national representative teams with "Test status", as determined by the International Cricket Council , with four innings played between two teams of 11 players over a period of up to a maximum five days...
for England before he was 21 years old. In two successive seasons, he completed the double
Double (cricket)
A cricketer is said to achieve the double if he scores a thousand or more runs and also takes a hundred or more wickets in first-class matches during the course of a single season. The feat is extremely rare outside England because of the smaller number of first-class matches played in most other...
of 1,000 runs
Run (cricket)
In the sport of cricket, a run is the basic unit of scoring. Runs are scored by a batsman, and the aggregate of the scores of a team's batsmen constitutes the team's score. A batsman scoring 50 or 100 runs , or any higher multiple of 50 runs, is considered a particular achievement...
and 100 wickets in first-class games and successfully toured Australia with Marylebone Cricket Club
Marylebone Cricket Club
Marylebone Cricket Club is a cricket club in London founded in 1787. Its influence and longevity now witness it as a private members' club dedicated to the development of cricket. It owns, and is based at, Lord's Cricket Ground in St John's Wood, London NW8. MCC was formerly the governing body of...
(MCC) in 1907–08. He played only 12 matches for England although critics believed he had a great future in the sport and was a potential future England captain.
However, a dispute over the composition of a Surrey side to play a high profile game in 1909, after several professional players were omitted for ongoing disciplinary reasons, led to an increasingly bitter argument between Crawford and the Surrey authorities. Crawford was told he had no future with the club and moved to Australia to pursue a teaching career. He continued his cricket with South Australia
Southern Redbacks
The South Australia cricket team, nicknamed the Southern Redbacks and known as the West End Redbacks due to their sponsorship agreement with local brewers West End, are an Australian first class cricket team based in Adelaide, South Australia, and represent the state of South Australia...
until the outbreak of the First World War, after which he returned to England. He made his peace with Surrey and played a handful of games between 1919 and 1921. In all first-class cricket, Crawford scored 9,488 runs at an average of 32.60 and took 815 wickets at an average
Bowling average
Bowling average is a statistic measuring the performance of bowlers in the sport of cricket.A bowler's bowling average is defined as the total number of runs conceded by the bowlers divided by the number of wickets taken by the bowler, so the lower the average the better. It is similar to earned...
of 20.66.
Early life and career
Cane Hill
Cane Hill was a psychiatric hospital in Coulsdon in the London Borough of Croydon. Built to care for patients in the eastern part of Surrey, remote from the Springfield and Brookwood Asylums, it opened in 1882 as the Third Surrey County Lunatic Asylum. Following a gradual winding down of...
, Surrey
Surrey
Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford. Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of...
. His father, the Rev John Charles Crawford, and uncle, Frank Crawford, played first-class cricket for Kent
Kent County Cricket Club
Kent County Cricket Club is one of the 18 first class county county cricket clubs which make up the English and Welsh national cricket structure, representing the county of Kent...
; his brothers Vivian and Reginald were also first-class cricketers. Consequently, Crawford grew up in a cricketing environment. He first attended school in Eastbourne
Eastbourne
Eastbourne is a large town and borough in East Sussex, on the south coast of England between Brighton and Hastings. The town is situated at the eastern end of the chalk South Downs alongside the high cliff at Beachy Head...
, then went to St Winifred's School in Henley-on-Thames
Henley-on-Thames
Henley-on-Thames is a town and civil parish on the River Thames in South Oxfordshire, England, about 10 miles downstream and north-east from Reading, 10 miles upstream and west from Maidenhead...
where he began his cricket career, scoring in total 2,093 runs
Run (cricket)
In the sport of cricket, a run is the basic unit of scoring. Runs are scored by a batsman, and the aggregate of the scores of a team's batsmen constitutes the team's score. A batsman scoring 50 or 100 runs , or any higher multiple of 50 runs, is considered a particular achievement...
and taking 366 wickets during his two years there.
In 1902, he moved to Repton School
Repton School
Repton School, founded in 1557, is a co-educational English independent school for both day and boarding pupils, in the British public school tradition, located in the village of Repton, in Derbyshire, in the Midlands area of England...
and, despite strong competition for places, Crawford was chosen for the school cricket team in his first year. He remained in the eleven each season until leaving Repton in 1905. Cricket historian Benny Green notes that over the next four years, he "created ... chaos among schoolboy cricketers." In an overview of public school cricket, Gerald Brodribb
Gerald Brodribb
Dr. Arthur Gerald Norcott Brodribb was a cricket historian and archaeologist.Born in St Leonards-on-Sea, Brodribb graduated from Oxford, where his tutor had been C.S. Lewis, and became a schoolmaster...
described him as "probably the best ever" schoolboy cricketer.
Crawford steadily improved his cricket, to the point where, in 1904, he scored 759 runs and took 75 wickets, more wickets than all the other bowlers in the school combined, and excelled at fielding. He was particularly effective in the school's most important fixtures, taking 25 wickets in the two games against rival schools, Malvern College
Malvern College
Malvern College is a coeducational independent school located on a 250 acre campus near the town centre of Malvern, Worcestershire in England. Founded on 25 January 1865, until 1992, the College was a secondary school for boys aged 13 to 18...
and Uppingham School
Uppingham School
Uppingham School is a co-educational independent school of the English public school tradition, situated in the small town of Uppingham in Rutland, England...
. The report in Wisden Cricketers' Almanack
Wisden Cricketers' Almanack
Wisden Cricketers' Almanack is a cricket reference book published annually in the United Kingdom...
described him as the best schoolboy bowler and possibly the best amateur
Amateur status in first-class cricket
Amateur status in first-class cricket had a special meaning, especially in England, in that the amateur in this context was not merely someone who played cricket in his spare time but a particular type of first-class cricketer who existed officially until 1962, when the distinction between amateurs...
bowler in England that year: Crawford usually bowled medium-paced off spin
Off spin
Off spin is a type of bowling in the sport of cricket which is bowled by an off spinner, a right-handed spin bowler who uses his or her fingers and/or wrist to spin the ball from a right-handed batsman's off side to the leg side...
, although he could vary the speed of his delivery from slow to fast.
During the school's summer holidays in August, Crawford was chosen, aged 17, to play for Surrey
Surrey County Cricket Club
Surrey County Cricket Club is one of the 18 professional county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Surrey. Its limited overs team is called the Surrey Lions...
, making 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 against Kent. Taking three wickets and top-scoring in Surrey's first innings with 54, Crawford was successful enough to retain his place for another seven games. Against 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....
, he and Harold McDonell
Harold McDonell
Harold Clark McDonell was an English cricketer. McDonell was a right-handed batsman who was a leg break bowler who played as an all-rounder....
bowled throughout both innings; Crawford took seven wickets for 43 runs in the second innings to give him ten wickets in the match, which was won by Surrey. In total, Crawford took 44 wickets at an average of 16.93 to come top of the county's bowling averages; in addition, he scored 229 runs at an average of 16.35.
Although hampered by injuries during the 1905 season for Repton, Crawford scored 766 runs, with a batting average of 85 and took 55 wickets, during the five matches in which he was fit to bowl, at an average under 13. Once again, he excelled in the two crucial fixtures against Uppingham and Malvern; in the first he scored 163 runs and took ten wickets for 75, then scored 139 and took ten for 147 in the second. Crawford also assumed the captaincy; his team was undefeated in the season. The Wisden reporter described Crawford as one of the best three schoolboy cricketers in the previous 40 years, only matched by A. G. Steel and Stanley Jackson
Stanley Jackson
Sir Francis Stanley Jackson, GCSI, GCIE, PC, KStJ , known as the Honourable Stanley Jackson during his playing career, was an English cricketer, soldier and Conservative Party politician.-Early life:...
. Crawford left the school at the end of the season; in four years, he scored 2,098 runs and took 244 wickets.
After the school season, Crawford returned to play for Surrey. In his second game, he took seven for 90 against 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....
and in his third, he scored his maiden first-class century—119 not out
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...
against Derbyshire
Derbyshire County Cricket Club
Derbyshire County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the England and Wales domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Derbyshire...
. Later, he took eight for 24 against Northamptonshire
Northamptonshire County Cricket Club
Northamptonshire 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 Northamptonshire. Its limited overs team is called the Northants Steelbacks. The traditional club colour is Maroon. During the...
and scored 142 not out against 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....
. At the end of the season, he played in several representative games for teams representing the South of England and played for the Rest of England against the County Champions
County Championship
The County Championship is the domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales...
Yorkshire. Crawford finished second in Surrey's batting averages and in all first-class games scored 543 runs at an average of 33.93 and took 47 wickets at an average of 18.46.
Tour to South Africa
Having finished his school career, Crawford was selected to tour South Africa with Marylebone Cricket ClubMarylebone Cricket Club
Marylebone Cricket Club is a cricket club in London founded in 1787. Its influence and longevity now witness it as a private members' club dedicated to the development of cricket. It owns, and is based at, Lord's Cricket Ground in St John's Wood, London NW8. MCC was formerly the governing body of...
(MCC) during the winter of 1905–06. In all first-class matches on the tour, he scored 531 runs at an average of 31.23 and took 34 wickets at an average of 18.44. In the early tour matches, Crawford recorded two five wicket hauls and scored 98. He made his Test match
Test cricket
Test cricket is the longest form of the sport of cricket. Test matches are played between national representative teams with "Test status", as determined by the International Cricket Council , with four innings played between two teams of 11 players over a period of up to a maximum five days...
debut against South Africa in the first Test. Batting at number six, Crawford scored 44 runs in the first innings and 43 in the second; he took two wickets in the first South African innings but was wicketless in the second as the home side recorded a one wicket win. Wisden noted that England did not play well but that Crawford "played two good innings".
After a month of cricket, during which Crawford scored 212 in a minor game, the English team were suffering from fatigue when the remaining Tests were played. In the second Test, Crawford was promoted to open the batting. He remained in this position apart from one innings in each of the third and fourth Tests when he batted at number seven. In the final match, he scored 74, his first Test fifty. His best bowling also came in the final match, where he took three for 69. In the Test series, he scored 281 runs at an average of 31.22 and took nine wickets at 35.77. However, England lost the series 4–1 and found it difficult to bat against the South African googly
Googly
In cricket, a googly is a type of delivery bowled by a right-arm leg spin bowler. It is occasionally referred to as a Bosie , an eponym in honour of its inventor Bernard Bosanquet.- Explanation :...
bowlers. Wisden's tour report described Crawford's batting as one of the few positives for the England side.
Surrey cricketer
Returning to England for the 1906 season, Crawford completed the doubleDouble (cricket)
A cricketer is said to achieve the double if he scores a thousand or more runs and also takes a hundred or more wickets in first-class matches during the course of a single season. The feat is extremely rare outside England because of the smaller number of first-class matches played in most other...
of 1,000 runs and 100 wickets in first-class cricket, the youngest player at the time to accomplish this feat. Against Gloucestershire, he scored 148 and then took seven for 85 and four for 63 with the ball. He took ten wickets in the following match. In total, he took five or more wickets in six innings and scored six fifties as he compiled 1,174 runs at an average of 30.10, and took 118 wickets at an average of 20.28. These performances earned him selection for the Gentlemen against the Players
Gentlemen v Players
The Gentlemen v Players game was a first-class cricket match that was generally played on an annual basis between one team consisting of amateurs and one of professionals . The first two games took place in 1806 but the fixture was not revived until 1819. It was more or less annual thereafter...
at both 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 The Oval
The Oval
The Kia Oval, still commonly referred to by its original name of The Oval, is an international cricket ground in Kennington, in the London Borough of Lambeth. In the past it was also sometimes called the Kennington Oval...
. At the end of the season, he was chosen as one of Wisden's Cricketers of the Year
Wisden Cricketers of the Year
The Wisden Cricketers of the Year are cricketers selected for the honour by the annual publication Wisden Cricketers' Almanack, based primarily on their "influence on the previous English season"...
. The citation said: "Few cricketers have won equal fame at so early an age", and noted the unusual ease with which he had moved into first-class cricket. It described him as the best schoolboy cricketer since A. G. Steel, noting his batting was better than Stanley Jackson's at a similar age. His powerful batting and straight hitting were praised, as was his accurate bowling. The report also stated: "That he should have done all this is the more astonishing from the fact that he invariably plays in glasses. No one handicapped in this way has ever been so consistently successful both as batsman and bowler."
Crawford had a reputation by this stage as a leading batsmen who favoured aggressive, powerful shots. His performances drew crowds to see him play. In 1907, in the space of a few days, he hit deliveries in two different matches through the windows of both the home and the visitors' dressing rooms at The Oval. Towards the end of the season, he scored 103 runs in 90 minutes against Kent
Kent County Cricket Club
Kent County Cricket Club is one of the 18 first class county county cricket clubs which make up the English and Welsh national cricket structure, representing the county of Kent...
, hitting several big shots into the crowd; The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
described the ball in this innings as "soaring away like a bird". Crawford's overall batting record was similar to the previous season: he scored 1,158 runs at an average of 30.47, hitting six fifties and one century. With the ball, he took 124 wickets at 16.95, completing his second double. He took eleven wickets in each of two games against Essex
Essex County Cricket Club
Essex 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 Essex. Its limited overs team is called the Essex Eagles, their team colours this season are blue.The club plays most of its home games...
and Sussex
Sussex County Cricket Club
Sussex County Cricket Club is the oldest of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Sussex. The club was founded as a successor to Brighton Cricket Club which was a representative of the county of Sussex as a...
and had 12 five-wicket hauls. Once again, Crawford was selected in both Gentlemen v Players matches, taking six for 54 in the second, and was chosen to play two of the three Test matches against South Africa. These were his only Test matches in England, but he scored only 26 runs in three innings and was wicketless after bowling 29 overs
Over (cricket)
In the sport of cricket, an over is a set of six consecutive balls bowled in succession. An over is normally bowled by a single bowler. However, in the event of injury preventing a bowler from completing an over, it is completed by a teammate....
. He missed England's victory in the second match, the only match in the series not to be a draw, but Wisden's correspondent believed that the pitch conditions for that game made it a mistake to leave him out.
Tour to Australia
During the winter of 1907–08, Crawford was selected to tour Australia with MCC. Because four first-choice players chose not to tour, and a fifth was not selected despite strong claims, the team was less representative than was usually the case in Australia. The tourists lost the Test series against Australia 4–1, although it was more competitive than suggested by the results. Nevertheless, Wisden considered Crawford's bowling to be one of the most successful features of the tour. Crawford's batting was less effective than expected; in five Tests, Crawford scored 162 runs at an average of 18.00, batting usually at number eight in the order. However, he led the English bowling averages with 30 wickets at an average of 24.73. Wisden praised his ability to spin the ball, reporting: "It was said of Crawford that even on the most perfect wickets he could at times make the ball break back."Crawford began the tour well, taking seven wickets in the opening first-class match. In the second game, he scored 114 runs in 58 minutes, the fastest first-class century scored in Australia until then, followed by bowling figures of five for 40 in the second innings. MCC won both matches by an innings. Crawford contributed little more with bat or ball in the lead-up to the Test series. He scarcely bowled in the first Test, won by Australia, but took eight wickets in the second as England levelled the series; his figures of five for 79 in the first innings helped to restrict Australia on a good batting pitch. Australia won the remaining games to win the series. In the third match, Crawford scored his only half-century of the series, hitting 62 out of England's 363 to help his team build up a lead. However, Australia scored 506 at the second attempt and Crawford bowled nearly 46 overs to take three for 113. The series was settled in the fourth Test; Australia recorded a big victory after rain affected the pitch and created difficult batting conditions during England's first innings. On the first day, Crawford took five for 48, his best Test figures, as Australia were bowled out for 214 on a very good pitch. Wisden noted Crawford "[mixed] up his pace with remarkable skill". Australia won the final match but Crawford took eight wickets in the game.
Crawford's contributions to the series enhanced his growing reputation and critics expected his cricket to go from strength to strength. Australian batsman Clem Hill
Clem Hill
Clement "Clem" Hill was an Australian cricketer who played 49 Test matches as a specialist batsman between 1896 and 1912. He captained the Australian team in ten Tests, winning five and losing five...
commented: "There are grand cricketers in this game, and then there is Jack Crawford." However, this was Crawford's final Test match; in 12 games, he scored 469 runs at an average of 22.33 and took 39 wickets at 29.48. In all first-class matches on the tour, he scored 610 runs at 26.52 and took 66 wickets at 25.19.
During the 1908 season, Crawford narrowly failed to complete his third double. He scored 1,371 runs at an average of 37.05 and took 98 wickets at 21.48. He scored 232 against Somerset
Somerset County Cricket Club
Somerset 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 Somerset...
, his highest first-class score, as well as centuries against Derbyshire and 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...
, but he only reached five wickets in an innings on three occasions in the season. In Surrey's final game of the season, Crawford captained Surrey and his brother Vivian captained Leicestershire, their opponents.
Dispute with Surrey
Crawford's performances in the 1909 season were less effective than in other years. His batting average fell and he bowled less frequently. However, his accomplishments were overshadowed by a public dispute with Surrey in July. During the season, Surrey experienced disciplinary problems with several of their professional players. The Surrey president, Lord AlverstoneRichard Webster, 1st Viscount Alverstone
Richard Everard Webster, 1st Viscount Alverstone, GCMG, QC was a British barrister, politician and judge who served in many high political and judicial offices.-Background and education:...
, believed that amateur cricketers should be favoured over professionals at all times. He argued it was preferable to have a losing team containing amateurs to a successful professional side. Apart from adversely affecting the careers of some professionals, this policy destabilised the team for several seasons. In 1909, Alverstone left out several professionals to allow amateurs to play for the team. As the regular Surrey captain, H. D. G. Leveson Gower, was unavailable for much of the season, Crawford frequently assumed the leadership of the team. However, he disapproved of Alverstone's policy towards professionals.
The county twice played the touring Australian team; the bowling of Tom Rushby
Tom Rushby
Thomas Rushby was an English cricketer. He was a right-arm fast-medium bowler who played for Surrey from 1903 to 1921. In all first-class matches, he took 954 wickets at an average of 20.58...
, a professional, was instrumental in a victory for the home team in the first match. For the second match, Crawford was asked to captain the team. However, Rushby and other important players were left out of the side for disciplinary reasons. Consequently, Crawford refused to captain the team, and apologised to the Australians for the selection of such a weak side. In Crawford's absence, the professional cricketer Tom Hayward
Tom Hayward
Thomas Walter Hayward was a cricketer who played for Surrey and England between the 1890s and the outbreak of World War I. He was primarily an opening batsman, noted especially for the quality of his off-drive...
captained the team and the match, affected by rain, was drawn.
Alverstone ordered Crawford to write an apology to Leveson Gower but Crawford refused, writing to Alverstone: "I do not know who was responsible for the selection of the second eleven sort of team furnished up for such an important match ... There seems to be some impression amongst a few of the Surrey committee that I am some young professional instead of being a young fellow who has had an experience of cricket that has seldom fallen to the lot of anyone, and my request for an alteration of the team should have had some weight". Cricket historian Benny Green writes that the letter is evidence of a "literate and quietly self-confident young man who will not easily be manipulated." Lord Alverstone responded that he regretted Crawford's sentiment; Crawford further replied that the players omitted from the team against the Australians had been restored to the county side, making their exclusion in the first place harder to understand.
At this point, Leveson Gower withdrew his invitation for Crawford to appear at the Scarborough Festival; Leveson Gower also used his influence within MCC to prevent Crawford's selection for the representative winter tour to South Africa. Crawford's father became involved, writing to the Surrey Committee in support of his son. By the beginning of August, two weeks after the match against the Australians, the Surrey committee decided to sever their connection with Crawford. Wisden reported: "The committee were much incensed and passed a resolution that Crawford be not again asked to play for the county." Having been informed by letter, Crawford replied to the committee a final time: "I fail to see why I should practically be branded as a criminal because, as acting captain, I declined the responsibility of skippering a team which did not include three essential players, an independence which I trust will remain in spite of the awful example made of me to every amateur in the United Kingdom."
The Surrey committee initially attempted to keep the dispute private, but the story was eventually published in the sporting press. Although many commentators felt that the argument could have been solved easily, neither side made any concessions. It is likely that the committee either expected Crawford to back down, or were happy to sacrifice him to establish their authority. In either case, Crawford left England in October to take up a teaching position at St Peter's College, Adelaide
St Peter's College, Adelaide
St Peter's College, , is an independent boy's school in the South Australian capital of Adelaide...
, effectively ending his career with Surrey at the age of 23. Meanwhile, Rushby left Surrey at the end of the season to play league cricket, although he later returned to the team. Another professional, Alan Marshal, was suspended during 1909 and his contract was terminated the following year. Crawford's father made a further attempt to end the dispute between Surrey and his son in 1910, asking the committee to reverse their decision. Wisden reported that Lord Alverstone declined on the grounds that it would suggest a lack of confidence in the committee, but that if Crawford "came forward in a sportsmanlike way [Alverstone] would be proud to give his personal support to the step proposed. This of course meant that an apology was expected."
Benny Green, in his History of Cricket, wrote that the "Surrey committee must be held accountable for a degree of idiocy rarely met with even in the realms of cricket administration" for the way they dealt with Crawford, "one of the world's most prodigious all-rounders." The Times, on the other hand, speculated that factors other than the dispute may have contributed to Surrey's decision. At the end of the season, Crawford played his last matches in England for 10 years, appearing for an "England XI" against the Australians and for the Gentlemen of the South.
Later career
In Australia, Crawford continued his first-class career with South AustraliaSouthern Redbacks
The South Australia cricket team, nicknamed the Southern Redbacks and known as the West End Redbacks due to their sponsorship agreement with local brewers West End, are an Australian first class cricket team based in Adelaide, South Australia, and represent the state of South Australia...
in the Sheffield Shield, Australia's first-class competition. Over four seasons, he played 22 matches for the team, scoring 1,512 runs at an average of 40.86 and taking 120 wickets at 23.86. Such a performance would probably have earned him Test selection for Australia if he had been Australian, and Wisden noted that his record was impressive in Australian cricket. In the event, he played some representative cricket. When England toured Australia in 1911–12, Crawford played against them for an Australian XI at Brisbane and scored 110 in as many minutes against bowlers including Sydney Barnes
Sydney Barnes
Sydney Francis Barnes was an English professional cricketer who is generally regarded as one of the greatest bowlers in the sport's history...
, at the time regarded as the greatest bowler in the world. In 1913, his last season in Australia, Crawford played for a team representing the Rest of Australia against New South Wales
New South Wales Blues
The New South Wales cricket team are an Australian first class cricket team based in Sydney, New South Wales...
and later that year, toured North America with an Australian team. In the 1913–14 season, Crawford played for an Australian team which toured New Zealand. In first-class games, he took 21 wickets and scored a century but his most notable innings came in a minor match. Against South Canterbury, he scored 354 in five-and-a-quarter hours, striking 14 sixes and 45 fours. He and Victor Trumper
Victor Trumper
Victor Thomas Trumper was an Australian cricketer known as the most stylish and versatile batsman of the Golden Age of cricket, capable of playing match-winning innings on wet wickets his contemporaries found unplayable. Archie MacLaren said of him, "Compared to Victor I was a cab-horse to a Derby...
shared a partnership of 298 in 69 minutes, and Monty Noble
Monty Noble
Montague Alfred Noble was an Australian cricketer who played for New South Wales and Australia. A right-hand batsman, right-handed bowler who could deliver both medium pace and off-break bowling, capable fieldsman and tactically sound captain, Noble is considered as one of the great Australian...
helped him to score 50 runs in 9 minutes as the Australian team scored 922 for nine. During 1914–15, Crawford played for Otago
Otago Volts
The Otago Volts are a first class cricket team representing the Otago Cricket Association, one of six major associations that make up New Zealand Cricket....
in New Zealand, appearing in four first-class games in which he scored 337 runs and took 30 wickets. In 1918, he played two first-class games in New Zealand for Wellington
Wellington Firebirds
The Wellington Firebirds are one of six New Zealand first-class cricket teams that make up New Zealand Cricket.It is based in Wellington. It competes in the State Championship first class competition, the State Shield domestic one day competition and the State Twenty20 Cricket Tournament.The...
.
After the First World War, Crawford returned to live in England. Having settled his disagreement with Surrey, he resumed his English first-class career in 1919. After appearing for the Gentlemen against the Players, he returned to play for Surrey, scoring 144 not out against the Australian Imperial Forces
Australian Imperial Forces cricket team
The Australian Imperial Forces cricket team toured England between May and September 1919, playing 28 first-class matches after the First World War. Its overall record was 12 wins, 4 losses and 12 draws...
, later described by Wisden as the innings of his life. Surrey were 26 for five in reply to the tourists' innings of 436 when Crawford came in to bat. Neville Cardus reported: "[Crawford] fell upon the advancing Australian attack, and by driving seldom equalled, threw it back." He more than doubled his score after the ninth wicket had fallen, hitting 73 out of the last 80 runs scored in 35 minutes to take Surrey past the target required to avoid the follow-on
Follow-on
Follow-on is a term used in the sport of cricket to describe a situation where the team that bats second is forced to take its second batting innings immediately after its first, because the team was not able to get close enough to the score achieved by the first team batting in the first innings...
. He later scored 92 against Yorkshire and playing against Kent, scored 48 not out as Jack Hobbs
Jack Hobbs
Sir John Berry "Jack" Hobbs was an English professional cricketer who played for Surrey from 1905 to 1934 and for England in 61 Test matches from 1908 to 1930....
and he scored 96 in 32 minutes in the final innings as Surrey chased a total which seemed impossible to achieve in the little time remaining. In total, Crawford played in eight games in 1919, scoring 488 runs and taking 20 wickets. However, he played only four more times in first-class cricket; twice in 1920 and twice in 1921. One match was for Surrey against the Australian touring team of 1921 and the others were for teams representing the Gentlemen. In all first-class cricket, Crawford scored 9,488 runs at an average of 32.60 and took 815 wickets at 20.66.
Neither Crawford's obituary in Wisden nor that in The Times gives any details about the remainder of Crawford's life. He died, aged 76, in a Surrey hospital on 2 May 1963.
Style and technique
Crawford's obituary in The Times described him as one of the best young players to play cricket in England and said: "Although he invariably played in glasses, he was a most attractive player to watch, an aggressive hitter of the ball and a dangerous medium-paced bowler". Wisden described him as a "hard-hitting batsman", and he played mainly from the front foot. He had an orthodox batting technique, moved his feet well to get to the ball, and played very straight. Herbie CollinsHerbie Collins
Herbert Leslie Collins was an Australian cricketer who played 19 Tests between 1921 and 1926. An all-rounder, he captained the Australian team in eleven Tests, winning five, losing two with another four finishing in draws...
, who played with Crawford in Australia, described one of his innings as "a hurricane innings, full of classical shots charged with dynamite." As a bowler, he also had an orthodox technique. His bowling pace varied from fast to medium paced and he spun the ball effectively. An accurate bowler, it was difficult for batsmen to score runs from his bowling. Crawford could swing the ball away from the bat
Outswinger
An outswinger is a type of delivery in the sport of cricket. It is bowled by swing bowlers.An outswinger is bowled by holding the cricket ball with the seam at an angle and the first two fingers running along either side of the seam...
, but his most effective delivery was his off break: Clem Hill stated that Crawford could make the ball turn several inches, despite the hard pitches prevalent in Australia when he played there. John Arlott
John Arlott
Leslie Thomas John Arlott OBE was an English journalist, author and cricket commentator for the BBC's Test Match Special. He was also a poet, wine connoisseur and former police officer in Hampshire...
described him as "the schoolboy genius who turned on Australian pitches where no one else deviated from straight". Herbie Collins also wrote in 1937, at a time when Wally Hammond
Wally Hammond
Walter Reginald "Wally" Hammond was an English Test cricketer who played for Gloucestershire in a career that lasted from 1920 to 1951. Beginning his career as a professional, he later became an amateur and was appointed captain of England...
was considered to be the world's leading all-rounder, that "People who have seen both men consider [Crawford] a better all-rounder than Hammond."
Commenting on the interruption of Crawford's career by his dispute with Surrey, Neville Cardus wrote: "His break with Surrey must be regarded as a sad deprivation of fame and pleasure to himself, and a grievous loss to the annals of English cricket. It is as certain as anything in a man's life can be confidently postulated, that had he continued to play in English county cricket ... he would have taken his place amongst the select company of England's captains." The Times commented: "It was one of the great disappointments of English cricket in the first quarter of this century that his outstanding promise was never fully realized." No-one on the Surrey committee ever expressed regret at what had happened.