Benjamin Ernest Nicholls (4 October 1864 – 6 June 1945) 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 active in the 1880s and briefly in 1901, making sixteen appearances 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 ...

. Nicholls was a right-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 ...

and right-arm slow bowler, who played first-class cricket for

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, ...

Oxford University The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...

, and the

Marylebone Cricket Club The Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) is a cricket club founded in 1787 and based since 1814 at Lord's, Lord's Cricket Ground, which it owns, in St John's Wood, London, England. The club was the governing body of cricket from 1788 to 1989 and retain ...

Career and life

The son of Henry Nicholls, he was born at

Byfleet Byfleet is a village in Surrey, England. It is located in the far east of the borough of Woking, around east of West Byfleet, from which it is separated by the M25 motorway and the Wey Navigation. The village is of medieval origin. Its win ...

, Surrey, and was educated at

Winchester College Winchester College is an English Public school (United Kingdom), public school (a long-established fee-charging boarding school for pupils aged 13–18) with some provision for day school, day attendees, in Winchester, Hampshire, England. It wa ...

and

Magdalen College, Oxford Magdalen College ( ) is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford. It was founded in 1458 by Bishop of Winchester William of Waynflete. It is one of the wealthiest Oxford colleges, as of 2022, and ...

. Nicholls made his first-class debut for

against

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated ''Notts.'') is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. The county is bordered by South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. Th ...

in 1883 at

Trent Bridge Trent Bridge Cricket Ground is a cricket ground mostly used for Test cricket, Test, One-day cricket, One-Day International and county cricket located in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England, just across the River Trent from the city of Nott ...

, with him making a further appearance for the county in that season against

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It borders Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, and South Yorkshire to the north, Nottinghamshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south-east, Staffordshire to the south a ...

. While attending the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

, Nicholls played first-class cricket for the university cricket club, making his debut for the club against the touring

Australians Australians, colloquially known as Aussies, are the citizenship, citizens, nationality, nationals and individuals associated with the country of Australia. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or ethno-cultural. For most Aust ...

at the

Christ Church Ground Christ Church Ground is a cricket ground in Oxford, England. The ground is owned by Christ Church, a constituent college of the University of Oxford. Privately owned, it was the preferred venue in Oxford for matches where a gated admission wa ...

, during which he took seven catches at short slip. Nicholls made seven further first-class appearances in that season, all for the university, scoring 146 runs at an

average In colloquial, ordinary language, an average is a single number or value that best represents a set of data. The type of average taken as most typically representative of a list of numbers is the arithmetic mean the sum of the numbers divided by ...

of 14.60, with a high score of 44, while with the ball he took 23 wickets,

averaging In ordinary language, an average is a single number or value that best represents a set of data. The type of average taken as most typically representative of a list of numbers is the arithmetic mean the sum of the numbers divided by how many nu ...

20.08 per wicket, with best figures of 5/46. These figures came against

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 ...

. This season represented his best return with both bat and ball. In 1885, Nicholls made four further first-class appearances for the university, with him gaining an

Oxford blue A blue is an award of sporting colours earned by athletes at some universities and schools for competition at the highest level. The awarding of blues began at University of Oxford, Oxford and University of Cambridge, Cambridge universities in Eng ...

for his representation of the cricket club. Following the end of his studies, Nicholls made a further first-class appearance for Sussex in 1888 against

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

Hove Hove ( ) is a seaside resort in East Sussex, England. Alongside Brighton, it is one of the two main parts of the city of Brighton and Hove. Originally a fishing village surrounded by open farmland, it grew rapidly in the 19th century in respon ...

, before a thirteen-year gap before his final first-class appearance for the

against Oxford University in 1901. Nicholls married Violet Mary Osmaston on 26 April 1899, with the couple having three children (two daughters followed by a son). He died at

Kirdford Kirdford is a village and civil parish in the Chichester District of West Sussex, England. Its nearest town is Petworth, located southwest of the village. The parish has an area of . In the 2001 census 912 people lived in 373 households, of wh ...

, Sussex on 6 June 1945.

References

External links

Benjamin Nicholls
at

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

Benjamin Nicholls
at CricketArchive {{DEFAULTSORT:Nicholls, Benjamin English cricketers Sussex cricketers Oxford University cricketers Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers 1864 births 1945 deaths People from Byfleet People educated at Winchester College Alumni of Magdalen College, Oxford People from Kirdford Cricketers from West Sussex