Herbert Strudwick (28 January 1880 – 14 February 1970) was an English

wicket-keeper In cricket, the wicket-keeper is the Cricket player, player on the fielding (cricket), fielding side who stands behind the wicket, ready to stop Delivery (cricket), deliveries that pass the batsman, and take a Caught, catch, Stumped, stump the ...

. His record of 1,493 dismissals is the third-highest by any wicket-keeper in the history of first-class cricket.

Biography

Born in

Mitcham Mitcham is an area within the London Borough of Merton in South London, England. It is centred southwest of Charing Cross. Originally a village in the county of Surrey, today it is mainly a residential suburb, and includes Mitcham Common. It ...

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

, Strudwick took to wicket-keeping, apparently on the advice of a local lady, at the age of ten. He first played for Surrey in a few games in 1902, but during his first full season the following year dismissed a record 91 batsmen (71 catches and 20 stumpings) – a feat made more remarkable by the decline of

's top

fast bowlers Fast bowling (also referred to as pace bowling) is a type of bowling in cricket, in which the ball is delivered at high speed. The fastest bowlers bowl the ball at over . Practitioners of fast bowling are known as fast bowlers or quicks. Also ...

Tom Richardson and William Lockwood and the exceptionally wet weather of that summer. From that time on, Strudwick became regarded as the natural successor to

Dick Lilley Arthur Frederick Augustus Lilley (28 November 1866 – 17 November 1929), variously known as Dick Lilley or A. A. Lilley, was an English professional cricketer who played for Warwickshire County Cricket Club from 1888 to 1911, and in 35 Test ma ...

as England's

Test Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film) ...

wicket-keeper, and he toured Australia in 1903/1904 without playing a Test. Continuing his good form, Strudwick maintained his place among the top wicket-keepers right through the 1900s and played his first Test in 1909/1910 against South Africa. In 1911, though overshadowed in county cricket by Kent veteran Fred Huish, Strudwick was chosen as the first-choice wicket-keeper to Australia because of his relative youth and did not disappoint, taking the bowling of Frank Foster and

Sydney Barnes Sydney Francis Barnes (19 April 1873 – 26 December 1967) 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 ...

with skill. His skill was seen to even greater effect taking Barnes on the matting wickets of South Africa in 1914: with Barnes' bowling bouncing and turning. In the following season, Strudwick's skill was an essential part of Surrey's success in winning the

County Championship The County Championship, currently known for sponsorship reasons as the Rothesay County Championship, is the only domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales. Established in 1890, it is organised by the England and Wales Cri ...

for the only time during his career. After

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

halted county cricket, Strudwick re-established himself in the England side until he retired in 1927 – though he was dropped to improve the batting during the disastrous 1921 series against Armstrong's Australians. Gilbert Jessop said "Struddy was a specialist" and "year after year our most reliable 'stumper'", but in Test matches that wasn't enough. After his playing days he became a respected coach and for many years was the Surrey scorer. In his later years Strudwick, renowned for his abstinence from

tobacco Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...

and

alcohol Alcohol may refer to: Common uses * Alcohol (chemistry), a class of compounds * Ethanol, one of several alcohols, commonly known as alcohol in everyday life ** Alcohol (drug), intoxicant found in alcoholic beverages ** Alcoholic beverage, an alco ...

at a time when the health of sportsmen was not taken seriously, wrote many articles about the game in ''

Wisden ''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'', or simply ''Wisden'', colloquially the Bible of Cricket, is a cricket reference book published annually in the United Kingdom. The description "Bible of cricket" (or variations thereof) has been applied to ''Wi ...

''. The most famous of these is ''From Dr. Grace to Peter May'' in the 1959 Wisden, which outlines how Strudwick saw the game both during his career and as a spectator after retiring. Not much of a batsman, he nonetheless twice added over 100 for the last wicket with Bill Hitch (one of only four pairs with more than one tenth-wicket century stand in

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is of three or more days scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officially adju ...

). His record of 1,493 dismissals is the third-highest by any wicket-keeper in the history of first-class cricket. He died in

Shoreham-by-Sea Shoreham-by-Sea (often shortened to Shoreham) is a coastal town and port in the Adur District, Adur district, in the county of West Sussex, England. In 2011 it had a population of 20,547. The town is bordered to its north by the South Downs, to ...

Sussex Sussex (Help:IPA/English, /ˈsʌsɪks/; from the Old English ''Sūþseaxe''; lit. 'South Saxons'; 'Sussex') is an area within South East England that was historically a kingdom of Sussex, kingdom and, later, a Historic counties of England, ...

, aged 90.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Strudwick, Herbert 1880 births 1970 deaths England Test cricketers English cricketers English cricketers of 1890 to 1918 Surrey cricketers Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers Players cricketers North v South cricketers Wisden Cricketers of the Year People from Mitcham Cricketers from the London Borough of Merton English cricket coaches English cricketers of 1919 to 1945 20th-century English sportsmen Players of the South cricketers C. I. Thornton's XI cricketers L. H. Tennyson's XI cricket team A. E. R. Gilligan's XI cricketers Lord Londesborough's XI cricketers Wicket-keepers Marylebone Cricket Club Australian Touring Team cricketers Marylebone Cricket Club South African Touring Team cricketers