Charles Phillip Mead (9 March 1887 – 26 March 1958) was an English

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 one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officia ...

er. He played as a left-handed

batsman In cricket, batting is the act or skill of hitting the cricket ball, ball with a cricket bat, bat to score runs (cricket), runs and prevent the dismissal (cricket), loss of one's wicket. Any player who is currently batting is, since Septembe ...

for

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English cities on its south coast, Southampton and Portsmouth, Hampshire ...

and

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

between 1905 and 1936. He was born at 10 Ashton Buildings (since pulled down), second eldest of seven children.Jenkinson N. ''C. P. Mead''. Southampton, Paul Cave Publications, 1993. As a child he played for South London Schools, attending Shillingstone Street School. His exceptionally straight bat and quick footwork (surprising for a man of heavy build as he was) made him one of the most difficult batsmen to dismiss throughout his career. His mastery over the best county spin bowlers even on the most treacherous pitches is remarkable, but he could also be very good against the fastest bowling because he could get closer into line than just about any batsman in cricket history. Mead holds many batting records, notably that of scoring the most runs in the

County Championship The County Championship (referred to as the LV= Insurance County Championship for sponsorship reasons) is the domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales and is organised by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). It bec ...

and the fourth-highest total in all first-class matches. His number of runs for Hampshire, 48,892, is the greatest number any batsman has scored for a single team. He also exceeded one thousand runs in every season of first-class cricket except his first – when he only played one match. He was also a fine fieldsman, holding 675 catches.

Cricket career

C. B. Fry spotted Mead playing as a schoolboy at

the Oval The Oval, currently known for sponsorship reasons as the Kia Oval, is an international cricket ground in Kennington, located in the borough of Lambeth, in south London. The Oval has been the home ground of Surrey County Cricket Club since ...

and encouraged him to become a professional; he joined the Surrey ground staff in 1902. Mead first trialled for Surrey, but qualified for

because Surrey's batting strength was such that they were unable to offer him a contract. It is possible that Fry's Hampshire connections (he had a Training Ship ''Mercury'' on the River Hamble) helped bring Mead to Hampshire. During his residence qualification period Mead worked in coaching naval trainees, and might have made his first-class debut at 17 for Players of the South against the Gentleman, but was vetoed by

W G Grace William Gilbert Grace (18 July 1848 – 23 October 1915) was an English amateur cricketer who was important in the development of the sport and is widely considered one of its greatest players. He played first-class cricket for a record-equa ...

who objected because of his age. After one match against the touring Australians when not qualified in 1905, Mead immediately became a regular with Hampshire, but faltered after a promising beginning including 109 against

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other English counties, functions have ...

. However, from 1907 onwards Mead, at this stage an opening batsman, advanced very rapidly, with his average reaching 39 in the very wet summer of 1909. In 1911, he moved down the order to his familiar position of number four, and so successful was this move that he was the leading run-scorer in 1911 and 1913, and toured Australia in 1911–12 and South Africa in 1913–14. He was not nearly so successful as might have been expected in Australia, but in South Africa he hit a Test century and played particularly well throughout. In 1912 he had been unbeaten (160* and 33*) in Hampshire's historic win over the Australians at

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

. After

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

halted county cricket (Mead was rejected from active service because of

varicose veins Varicose veins, also known as varicoses, are a medical condition in which superficial veins become enlarged and twisted. These veins typically develop in the legs, just under the skin. Varicose veins usually cause few symptoms. However, some indiv ...

), Mead's list of achievements grew, as his always-remarkable watchfulness and superb footwork made him the complete master of bowlers such as

Tich Freeman Alfred Percy "Tich" Freeman (17 May 1888 – 28 January 1965) was an English first-class cricketer. A leg spin bowler for Kent County Cricket Club and England, he is the only man to take 300 wickets in an English season, and is the second most p ...

who were deadly against batsmen of poorer technique. In 1921, after missing the first three Tests against Australia, Mead hit 182 not out at

The Oval The Oval, currently known for sponsorship reasons as the Kia Oval, is an international cricket ground in Kennington, located in the borough of Lambeth, in south London. The Oval has been the home ground of Surrey County Cricket Club since ...

in the last Test – showing that England seriously erred in not choosing him for the earlier games when Jack Gregory and

Ted McDonald Edgar Arthur "Ted" McDonald (6 January 1891 – 22 July 1937) was a cricketer who played for Tasmania, Victoria, Lancashire and Australia, as well as being an Australian rules footballer who played with Launceston Football Club, Essendon Footb ...

had a complete mastery over their batsmen. He also hit his highest score of 280 not out that year against

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated Notts.) is a landlocked county in the East Midlands region of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. The trad ...

. Hampshire, remarkably, lost the match as they had been bowled out cheaply on a good wicket in their first innings. Between 1922 and 1928, Mead was consistently one of the top batsmen in county cricket, but England's remarkable batting strength – with men like

Herbert Sutcliffe Herbert Sutcliffe (24 November 1894 – 22 January 1978) was an English professional cricketer who represented Yorkshire and England as an opening batsman. Apart from one match in 1945, his first-class career spanned the period between the tw ...

Wally Hammond Walter Reginald Hammond (19 June 1903 – 1 July 1965) was an English first-class cricketer who played for Gloucestershire in a career that lasted from 1920 to 1951. Beginning as a professional, he later became an amateur and was appointed cap ...

Jack Hobbs Sir John Berry Hobbs (16 December 1882– 21 December 1963), always known as Jack Hobbs, was an English professional cricketer who played for Surrey from 1905 to 1934 and for England in 61 Test matches between 1908 and 1930. Known as "The Mast ...

and

Frank Woolley Frank Edward Woolley (27 May 1887 – 18 October 1978) was an English professional cricketer who played for Kent County Cricket Club between 1906 and 1938 and for the England cricket team. A genuine all-rounder, Woolley was a left-handed batsman ...

– meant Mead had few opportunities at Test level. After scoring over 3000 runs in 1928, Mead toured Australia for the second time, but was dropped after one Test so as to make room for another bowler. In 1929, affected by injury, Mead declined substantially, failing to reach 2000 runs for the first time since the war. However, despite no longer being in the front rank of English batsmen, Mead was still feared for his great technical skill and reached a thousand runs every year until, at the age of forty-nine in 1936, he was not re-engaged by Hampshire. In his last innings, Mead played a superbly skilful 52 against

Hedley Verity Hedley Verity (18 May 1905 – 31 July 1943) was a professional cricketer who played for Yorkshire and England between 1930 and 1939. A slow left-arm orthodox bowler, he took 1,956 wickets in first-class cricket at an average of 14.90 ...

on a badly wearing wicket, and he played for Suffolk in the

Minor Counties The National Counties, known as the Minor Counties before 2020, are the cricketing counties of England and Wales that do not have first-class status. The game is administered by the National Counties Cricket Association (NCCA), which comes unde ...

Championship with considerable success in 1938 and 1939 while cricket coach at

Framlingham College Framlingham College is a public school (independent day and boarding school) in the town of Framlingham, near Woodbridge, Suffolk, England. Together with its preparatory school and nursery at Brandeston Hall, it serves pupils from 3 to 18 ye ...

. He had predictable mannerisms – having got to the crease with his "rolling, self-reliant" walk, he took guard, twirled his bat, tapped his bat in the crease and took several shuffling steps up to it. Before every ball he would tug his cap.Arlott J. Tribute to Philip Mead. In: ''The Essential Arlott on Cricket'', ed Rayvern Allen D. Fontana, London, 1991. (taken from a BBC West of England Home Service radio broadcast). His batting was not slow, but completely unhurried; a spectator once described him as having 'stone-walled' from a quarter to one to half past six for 200. Soon after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, problems with his eyes which had begun in 1941–2 led to Mead becoming totally blind, but he never complained about this. His financial worries were assuaged by a fund raised by

for Mead and

Len Braund Leonard Charles Braund (18 October 1875 – 23 December 1955) was a cricketer who played for Surrey, Somerset and England. Len Braund was an all-rounder, a versatile batsman who could defend or attack according to the needs of the game and a ...

. He retained a great interest in cricket and often attended Hampshire matches at Dean Park right up to his death on 26 March 1958.

Football career

In 1907, Mead signed for

for one season to assist the club's reserve team as a useful inside-forward, but he had no intention of taking up football as a full-time occupation. On 21 December 1907, he was at Fratton Park,

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

for a reserve fixture when he was summoned to The Dell where the Saints had an emergency as both regular

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

Herbert Lock Herbert Lock (21 January 1887 – 16 March 1957) was an English professional Goalkeeper (football), goalkeeper who played for Southampton F.C., Southampton and Rangers F.C., Rangers in the early part of the twentieth century. Playing career Sou ...

and Tom Burrows were unavailable through injury. Mead therefore played in goal in a Southern League match against

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...

. According to Holley & Chalk's "The Alphabet of the Saints" he "shaped up well but was only required to save two shots and kept a blank sheet in a 0–0 draw."

Family

Married to Beatrice Englefield in 1908, he had two sons, Ronald and Frank. Beatrice's brother, Frank Englefield, was also a professional footballer, playing for both Southampton and Fulham.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mead, Phil 1887 births 1958 deaths Association football goalkeepers England Test cricketers English cricketers East of England cricketers English footballers Hampshire cricketers Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers Players cricketers Footballers from Battersea Cricketers from Greater London Southampton F.C. players Southern Football League players Suffolk cricketers Wisden Cricketers of the Year English cricketers of 1919 to 1945 C. I. Thornton's XI cricketers North v South cricketers L. H. Tennyson's XI cricket team Lord Londesborough's XI cricketers P. F. Warner's XI cricketers Marylebone Cricket Club Australian Touring Team cricketers Marylebone Cricket Club South African Touring Team cricketers