Alfred John William Croom (23 May 1896 – 16 August 1947) was an English

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

er. He was a right-hand opening batsman and right-arm off-spin bowler who played for

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Staffordshire and Leicestershire to the north, Northamptonshire to the east, Ox ...

Early life and career

Born in

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of symbols, often specifically those of a written language, by means of Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifacete ...

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; abbreviated ), officially the Royal County of Berkshire, is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Oxfordshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the north-east, Greater London ...

, Croom began his cricketing career with

in 1914. Following the First World War he played three more seasons of

minor counties cricket 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 ...

before joining Warwickshire. After single appearances in 1922 and 1923 he became a regular by the late 1920s.First-class Batting and fielding for each season
CricketArchive, Retrieved on 10 November 2008 Between 1922 and 1939 Croom played a total of 394 first-class matches for Warwickshire, he also represented an England XI, Sir Lindsay Parkinson's XI and appeared twice for the Players against the Gentlemen. Croom scored a total of 17,692 first-class runs at an average of 31.42, passing 1,000 runs in a season for twelve consecutive years between 1928 and 1939. His most productive season came in 1931 when he scored 1,584 runs at 38.63, including six centuries. Described by ''

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 ...

'' as sound and stylish, Croom scored 24 first-class centuries, the highest of which was an innings of 211 against

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Shropshire, Staffordshire, and the West Midlands (county), West ...

at Edgbaston in 1934, sharing in a first-wicket stand of 272 with Norman Kilner. Croom's off-spin bowling took 138 wickets at an average of 44.00, twice taking five wickets or more in an innings. His best figures were 6/65 against

Glamorgan Glamorgan (), or sometimes Glamorganshire ( or ), was Historic counties of Wales, one of the thirteen counties of Wales that existed from 1536 until their abolishment in 1974. It is located in the South Wales, south of Wales. Originally an ea ...

at Swansea in 1930. It was a good match for Croom as he scored 96 and took three further wickets. Croom held the Warwickshire partnership records for the 8th and 9th wicket, both set during the 1925 season. In May he scored 51 not out, batting at number 10, to share in a 154 run stand with George Stephens and in July he scored his maiden century as he shared in a 228 run partnership with

Bob Wyatt Robert Elliott Storey Wyatt (2 May 1901 – 20 April 1995) was an English cricketer who played for Warwickshire, Worcestershire and England in a career lasting nearly thirty years from 1923 to 1951. He was born at Milford Heath House in Surrey ...

which helped recover the Warwickshire innings from 77/7. The ninth wicket partnership with Stephens was surpassed in 2009 by

Jonathan Trott Ian Jonathan Leonard Trott (born 22 April 1981) is a South African-born English former professional cricketer who played international cricket for the England cricket team and is the current head coach of the Afghanistan cricket team. Domestical ...

and

Jeetan Patel Jeetan Shashi Patel (born 7 May 1980) is a former New Zealand international cricketer. A right arm off spin bowler, he played for Wellington in New Zealand and Warwickshire in England. He is currently the spin bowling coach for the England c ...

.Trott and Patel give Warwickshire hope

Cricinfo ESPNcricinfo (formerly known as Cricinfo or CricInfo) is a Sports journalism, sports news website exclusively for the game of cricket. The site features news, articles, live coverage of cricket matches (including Liveblogging, liveblogs and sco ...

, Retrieved on 14 May 2009 Croom's Son,

Leslie Leslie may refer to: * Leslie (name), a name and list of people with the given name or surname, including fictional characters Families * Clan Leslie, a Scottish clan with the motto "grip fast" * Leslie (Russian nobility), a Russian noble family ...

, played four matches for Warwickshire in 1949.

References

External links

*
Cricket Archive
{{DEFAULTSORT:Croom, Alfred 1896 births 1947 deaths Cricketers from Reading, Berkshire English cricketers Warwickshire cricketers Berkshire cricketers Players cricketers English cricketers of 1919 to 1945 20th-century English sportsmen