Ernest Francis Carless (9 September 1912 – 26 September 1987) was a Welsh

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. Carless 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 ...

who played primarily as a

wicketkeeper In cricket, the wicket-keeper is the player on the fielding side who stands behind the wicket, ready to stop deliveries that pass the batsman, and take a catch, stump the batsman out, or run out a batsman when occasion arises. The wicket-ke ...

. He also bowled right-arm off-breaks though he did not bowl in first-class cricket. Carless played

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

the Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in the world, and was the top-level football league in England from ...

for Cardiff City and Plymouth Argyle as an

inside forward In the sport of association football, a forward (attacker or striker) is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position which primarily plays further up the pitch than Midfielder, midfielders and Defender (association football), d ...

. He was born at Cadoxton,

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 ...

. Carless made his first-class debut for

in 1934 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 ...

, though Tom Brierley kept wicket in this match; he played one further match for the county in that season, against

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 ...

, when Carless kept wicket. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

he played for the club in fund-raising matches. Following the end of the war and the resumption of

County Cricket Inter-county cricket matches have been played since the early 18th century, involving teams that are representative of the historic counties of England and Wales. Two county championship competitions have existed since the late 19th century at ...

in 1946, Carless made his final first-class appearance, 12 years after his previous first-class match, in a Glamorgan side which was beset by injuries and struggling to field a team. His final first-class match was against

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

. In his 3 matches he scored 35 runs at a

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is ...

of 11.66 and a high score of 25. In 1947, Carless joined

Devon Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west ...

, where he made his

Minor Counties Championship The NCCA 3 Day Championship or National County Championship is a season-long competition in England and Wales that is contested by the members of the National Counties Cricket Association (NCCA), the so-called national counties (previously ca ...

debut for the county against

Cornwall Cornwall (; or ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is also one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, ...

. From 1947 to 1949, he represented Devon in 7 Minor Counties fixtures, with his final appearance for the county coming against the Glamorgan Second XI. A multi-talented sportsman, Carless played

as an

. He began his career at

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club ( ), commonly referred to as Wolves, is a professional association football, football club based in Wolverhampton, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league s ...

, but did not make a first team appearance, and then returned to Wales to play for Barry Town. Carless made his

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

debut in 1932 with Cardiff City and spent several years there without establishing himself in the first team. He went on to play for

Altrincham Altrincham ( , locally ) is a market town in Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, south of the River Mersey. It is southwest of Manchester, southwest of Sale, Greater Manchester, Sale and east of Warrington. At the 2021 United Kingdom ce ...

and return to Barry Town before the Second World War. Carless joined Plymouth Argyle in 1946, playing 11 games as a guest in the Football League South and then signing up to make four Second Division appearances when the full league programme returned. In 1947, soon after his last appearance for Argyle, Carless accepted an offer to become the club's head groundsman, having gained experience doing the job for Cardiff City before moving to

Plymouth Plymouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Devon, South West England. It is located on Devon's south coast between the rivers River Plym, Plym and River Tamar, Tamar, about southwest of Exeter and ...

.Brief profile of Ernie Carless
/ref> The role enabled him to continue his cricket career with Devon. Carless died at Barry,

on 26 September 1987.

References

External links

Ernie Carless
at

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Ernie Carless
at CricketArchive {{DEFAULTSORT:Carless, Ernie 1912 births 1987 deaths Altrincham F.C. players Men's association football forwards Barry Town United F.C. players Cardiff City F.C. players Devon cricketers English Football League players Glamorgan cricketers Plymouth Argyle F.C. players Plymouth Argyle F.C. wartime guest players Sportspeople from Barry, Vale of Glamorgan Cricketers from the Vale of Glamorgan Welsh cricketers Welsh men's footballers Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. players Wicket-keepers