Wikipedia

George Thompson (cricketer)

George Joseph Thompson (27 October 1877 – 3 March 1943) was the mainstay of the Northamptonshire county cricket eleven for a long period encompassing both its days as a minor county and its earliest years in the County Championship.[1]

George Thompson
Personal information
Born(1877-10-27)27 October 1877
Northampton
Died3 March 1943(1943-03-03) (aged 65)
Bristol
BattingRight-handed
BowlingRight-arm fast-medium
International information
National side
Test debut (cap 159)27 May 1909 v Australia
Last Test14 March 1910 v South Africa
Career statistics
Competition Test First-class
Matches 6 352
Runs scored 273 12,018
Batting average 30.33 22.01
100s/50s 0/2 9/53
Top score 63 131*
Balls bowled 1,367 63,988
Wickets 23 1,591
Bowling average 27.73 18.89
5 wickets in innings 0 147
10 wickets in match 0 40
Best bowling 4/50 9/63
Catches/stumpings 5/– 252/–
Source: CricInfo, 30 December 2021

A huge man, standing well over six feet tall and weighing more than 16 stone or 102 kilograms, Thompson was an excellent all-rounder. Despite his huge frame, his batting relied chiefly on a very watchful eye that made him a very hard man to dismiss when pitches were hard and firm. Though at times he would hit very hard, he had very little backlift and could play only a restricted range of strokes, and his size made him rather slow of foot and hence seldom likely to make many runs on the numerous rain-affected pitches of his day. As a bowler, he was above medium pace and could gain a great deal of spin, which made him respected when pitches were hard and frequently unplayable after rain or on a crumbling pitch.[2] His large hands and long reach made him an excellent fieldsman at slip: in 1914 he achieved the previously unequalled feat as an out-fielder of taking three catches off consecutive balls against Warwickshire.[a]

Early career

edit

George Thompson was born in Northampton's Louise Road,[3] and sent to Wellingborough School shortly after his mother died.[3] After leaving Wellingborough, he played in Northamptonshire club cricket for Cogenhoe and, from 1896, Excelsior.[4] For both of these clubs Thompson was already a major force even as a teenager.

Minor Counties and MCC

edit

George Thompson first played for Northamptonshire in 1895 as an amateur when only seventeen, but would turn professional in 1897.[5] Thompson's ability was demonstrated so quickly, that he made his first-class debut for the Marylebone Cricket Club against Essex as early as 1897,[6] when he was not yet twenty. Thompson did nothing in his only appearance that season,[6] and played only twice for M.C.C. in 1898[7] and no games whatsoever in 1899.[8] Nevertheless, from 1898 he formed a deadly partnership with bat and ball alongside William East for Northamptonshire in the new Minor Counties Championship, where the county was unbeaten for three years beginning in July 1898.[9]

In 1900, Thompson plated five first-class games for M.C.C. with modest success, but surprised the critics with an excellent innings of 125 for the Players at the Scarborough Festival in September,[10] where he played only because of the unavailability of John Gunn and Mead.[11] In the following four seasons Thompson was amazingly successful for Northamptonshire in the Minor Counties Championship,[9] and was so well regarded that he went as chief bowler on a tour to New Zealand[b] led by Lord Hawke. On this tour, Thompson did consistently excellent work, taking fifty-seven wickets for 11.35 each in eleven-a-side matches and another 120 for 490 runs in matches against odds.[c][12] In a match against a full-strength South Australian team at Unley Oval, Thompson took nine for 85 in the first innings and 12 for 198 in the match, although the locals would win after following on on a "good" pitch.[13]

In 1904, Thompson averaged 42 with the bat and less than 11 with the ball, showing he was clearly too good for "second-class" level.[14]

Early Career in First-Class County Cricket

edit

When Northamptonshire became first-class in 1905, Thompson, though his team-mates showed themselves unable to compete at a higher level than Minor Counties cricket,[15] bowled superbly even if he was aided by playing mostly during the wettest weather of the summer.[15][16] The reward was a deserved Cricketer of the Year selection,[2] and a benefit in the final home county match against Warwickshire that netted Thompson £409 10s.[17] He was invited to tour South Africa,[18] but the Northamptonshire committee refused to let Thompson go for fear it would affect his work for the county in subsequent summers.[19]

Though overworked in the absence of support bowlers, Thompson bowled excellently in 1906 and did the "double" of 1000 runs and 100 wickets in all first-class matches.[20] He would take 24 wickets in three consecutive innings against Derbyshire and Leicestershire during June, a feat only equalled ten times in first-class cricket.[d]

In 1907, despite the presence of Lancelot Driffield as a second support bowler alongside East, Thompson maintained his excellence with the ball and did the hat-trick against Lancashire at Old Trafford.[22] However, Thompson declined so badly with the bat that he did not once score 40 in a first-class innings and averaged only 13.90 for 556 runs over 43 visits to the wicket.[23] Then in 1908 he returned to form with the bat but his bowling declined so much that his average for all first-class matches rose to over 28 for just 84 wickets.[24]

Northamptonshire's Rise to Prominence

edit

Thompson rebounded so well in 1909 that he had his best season on record, taking 163 wickets and playing for England at Edgbaston, where his bowling was not required because Hirst and Blythe were so deadly. In the following winter his watchful eye on the matting wickets allowed Thompson to play the South African "googly" bowlers with more assurance than anybody except Jack Hobbs and in 1910 he again did the "double". On the rock-hard wickets of 1911, Thompson bowled as well as ever – so well that he headed the first-class averages, whilst his bowling and slip catching was a major factor in Northamptonshire rising to one of the top counties in 1912 and 1913.

Whilst he showed some decline as a bowler in 1914, Thompson batted better than ever, and it was a great pity for Northamptonshire that serious injuries prevented him playing at all until 1921, when he had lost his bowling completely but retained some of his batting skill. After a few games in 1922, Thompson's career ended tamely.

Notes

edit
  1. ↑ This feat was not to be emulated by any other out-fielder until Marcus Trescothick in 2018: four wicket-keepers have also achieved a hat-trick of catches, but none of these predated Thompson's achievement
  2. ↑ New Zealand would not attain Test status until 1930.
  3. ↑ Before World War I, touring teams would often play against opponents with more than eleven players to partially compensate for the low strength of local teams.
  4. ↑ Charlie Parker in 1925 took 26 wickets in three innings, whilst Tich Freeman in 1932 and George Giffen in 1886 took 25 in three successive innings.[21]

References

edit
  1. ↑ "The arrival of Sanga". ESPNcricinfo. 27 October 2005. Retrieved 27 October 2021.
  2. 1 2 Pardon, Sydney H., ed. (1906). "Five Cricketers of the Year". John Wisden's Cricketer's Almanack (43rd ed.). pp. cxiii, cxiv.
  3. 1 2 Radd, Andre (1 March 2001). "George Thompson". Northamptonshire County Cricket Club (100 Greats). Tempus Publishing Limited. ISBN 9780752421957.
  4. ↑ Sibley, Gil; Riley, Jack (1986). Northampton Club Cricket: A Centenary History. Northampton Town Cricket League. p. 48-56.
  5. ↑ Wilde, Simon, ed. (2013). "Wisden Cricketers of the Year 1906". Wisden Cricketers of the Year: A Celebration of Cricket's Greatest Players. London: Wisden Collection. pp. 55–57. ISBN 9781408140840.
  6. 1 2 Pardon, Sydney H., ed. (1898). "M.C.C. Matches". John Wisden's Cricketers' Almanack (35th ed.). London: John Wisden and Co. Limited. pp. 237–238, 261.
  7. ↑ Pardon, Sydney H., ed. (1899). "M.C.C. Matches". John Wisden's Cricketers' Almanack (36th ed.). London: John Wisden and Co. Limited. pp. 263–264.
  8. ↑ Pardon, Sydney H., ed. (1900). "M.C.C. Matches". John Wisden's Cricketers' Almanack (37th ed.). London: John Wisden and Co. Limited. pp. 348–249.
  9. 1 2 Coldham, James D. (1958). "Ups and Downs of Northamptonshire". In Preston, Norman (ed.). Wisden Cricketer's Almanack (95th ed.). Cricket Reporting Agency. pp. 104–105.
  10. ↑ Pardon, Sydney H., ed. (1901). "Gentlemen v. Players Matches". John Wisden's Cricketers' Almanack (38th ed.). London: John Wisden and Co. Limited. pp. 346–347.
  11. ↑ "To-Day's Cricket: Yorkshire v. M.C.C. and Ground; Champions Bat – A Bad Start". Hull Daily Mail. 27 August 1900. p. 3.
  12. ↑ Pardon, Sydney H., ed. (1904). "Lord Hawke's Team in New Zealand". John Wisden's Cricketers' Almanack (41st ed.). London: John Wisden and Co. Limited. pp. 439, 459–460.
  13. ↑ Pardon, ed. (1904). "Lord Hawke's Team in Australia". John Wisden's Cricketers' Almanack (41st ed.). pp. 457–458.
  14. ↑ Pardon, Sydney H., ed. (1905). "Second-Class Counties". John Wisden's Cricketers' Almanack (42nd ed.). London: John Wisden and Co. Limited. pp. 376–378.
  15. 1 2 Pardon, Sydney H., ed. (1906). "Northamptonshire Matches". John Wisden's Cricketer's Almanack (43rd ed.). London: John Wisden and Co. pp. 282–291.
  16. ↑ See "Northamptonshire's Strong Position". The Guardian. 12 July 1905. p. 3.
  17. ↑ "Multum in Parvo". Evening Telegraph. Derby, Derbyshire. 20 December 1905.
  18. ↑ "To-Day's Cricket". The Citizen. Gloucester, Gloucestershire. 16 September 1905. p. 4.
  19. ↑ "World of Sport – English Cricketers for South Africa". Bradford Daily Telegraph. 13 November 1905. p. 5.
  20. ↑ Pardon, Sydney H., ed. (1907). "Northamptonshire Matches". John Wisden's Crickter's Almanack (44th ed.). London: John Wisden and Co. pp. 215–216.
  21. ↑ Frindall, Bill, ed. (1998). The Wisden Book of Cricket Records. p. 290. ISBN 0747222037.
  22. ↑ Pardon, Sydney H., ed. (1908). "Lancashire Matches". John Wisden's Cricketer's Almanack (45th ed.). London: John Wisden and Co. p. 156.
  23. ↑ Pardon, ed. (1908). "First-Class Averages". John Wisden's Cricketer's Almanack (45th ed.). p. 489.
  24. ↑ Pardon, Sydney H., ed. (1909). "First-Class Averages". John Wisden's Cricketer's Almanack (46th ed.). London: John Wisden and Co. p. 482.
edit
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=George_Thompson_(cricketer)&oldid=1354830378"