Albert Ward (21 November 1865 – 6 January 1939) 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 of three or more days scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officially adju ...

er, who played first-class cricket for

Yorkshire County Cricket Club Yorkshire County Cricket Club is a professional Cricket club based in Yorkshire, England. The team competes in the County Championship, the top tier of English First-class cricket. Nicknamed "Vikings". Yorkshire also competes in T20 Blast, O ...

1886 Events January * January 1 – Upper Burma is formally annexed to British rule in Burma, British Burma, following its conquest in the Third Anglo-Burmese War of November 1885. * January 5–January 9, 9 – Robert Louis Stevenson ...

, and for

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

between 1889 and 1904. Ward also played seven Test matches for

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, and was named as one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year in

1890 Events January * January 1 – The Kingdom of Italy establishes Eritrea as its colony in the Horn of Africa. * January 2 – Alice Sanger becomes the first female staffer in the White House. * January 11 – 1890 British Ultimatum: The Uni ...

. Ward, the son of a coal miner, was born in the colliers village of Waterloo near Rothwell,

Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...

. He played four matches for Yorkshire, and his debut was against

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, former county in South East England, now mainly within Greater London. Its boundaries largely followed three rivers: the River Thames, Thames in the south, the River Lea, Le ...

at Bradford Park Avenue in 1886, where he made his highest score of 22. He was not able to sustain a place in the Yorkshire side but, after moving to live in Lancashire, he began a successful career for that county. In total, he played 330 matches between 1889 and 1904, with his benefit match in 1902 being worth £1,739. He was the first professional to score 1,000 runs in a single season for Lancashire and repeated this eight times. The best being in 1900, when he scored 1,511 at average of 37.77. During his career, he played in seven Tests for England against Australia. Ward's highest first-class score was 219 for the Stoddart team against

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

, at Adelaide in 1895. His highest Test score was 117 versus

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

, made in

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

in 1894. He was an opening batsman with a powerful defence, who drove the ball hard, but preferred to play defensive roles. He was also a good outfielder. A school teacher by profession, Ward also owned a sports outfitters shop in

Bolton Bolton ( , locally ) is a town in Greater Manchester in England. In the foothills of the West Pennine Moors, Bolton is between Manchester, Blackburn, Wigan, Bury, Greater Manchester, Bury and Salford. It is surrounded by several towns and vill ...

at one time. His early cricket was with Hunslet C.C.and he was known as the 'Rothwell Colt' in his early career.Obituary, ''Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer'', 7 January 1939, p14 Ward died in Heaton,

, England.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ward, Albert 1865 births 1939 deaths Cricketers from Leeds England Test cricketers English cricketers Lancashire cricketers Yorkshire cricketers Wisden Cricketers of the Year Players cricketers C. I. Thornton's XI cricketers North v South cricketers Over 30s v Under 30s cricketers A. E. Stoddart's XI cricketers