Laurence Cyril Hawkins (15 May 1907 – 4 October 2003) played

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 ...

for

Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...

in 46 matches between 1928 and 1937. He was born in

Solihull Solihull ( ) is a market town and the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Solihull, in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. Solihull is situated on the River Blythe in the Arden, Warwickshire, Forest of Arden ar ...

, Warwickshire, and died at

Padstow Padstow (; ) is a town, civil parishes in England, civil parish and fishing port on the north coast of Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The town is situated on the west bank of the River Camel estuary, approximately northwest of Wadebridge, ...

, Cornwall. Hawkins was a middle or lower order batsman and an occasional right-arm leg-spin bowler who was a long-standing player for

Weston-super-Mare Cricket Club Weston-super-Mare Cricket Club is an amateur cricket club based in the town of Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, England. Since the club's formation in 1845, they have nurtured a number of players who have gone on to play for Somerset County Cricket ...

and turned out as an amateur for Somerset in a few games every season for 10 years. In 1934, he appeared in 12 matches, but in no other season was he picked for more than seven games. Hawkins made a promising start to county cricket, hitting 65 in his first innings in the match 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 ...

Taunton Taunton () is the county town of Somerset, England. It is a market town and has a Minster (church), minster church. Its population in 2011 was 64,621. Its thousand-year history includes a 10th-century priory, monastic foundation, owned by the ...

in 1928 and sharing in a ninth wicket stand of 89 in 90 minutes with

Wally Luckes Walter Thomas "Wally" Luckes (; 1 January 1901 in Lambeth, London – 27 October 1982 at Bridgwater, Somerset), was a cricketer who played for Somerset. Born on the first day of the 20th century, Luckes was a lower-order right-handed batsma ...

. But in 17 other matches in that and the following three seasons he did not pass 50 in any innings. It was against Nottinghamshire again that Hawkins played his next significant innings: in the 1932 match, batting at No 9, he made an unbeaten 63 and shared a last-wicket partnership of 67 with Bill Andrews. And yet again, Nottinghamshire were the opposition when Hawkins began the 1934 season with an innings of 82: Hawkins scored more than half of Somerset's runs and came in after six wickets had gone for just 31 runs to make what was then his highest score. This innings propelled Hawkins temporarily up the Somerset batting to a middle-order position, and it was from there, less than three weeks later, that he made his highest first-class score, 96 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 ...

Lord's Lord's Cricket Ground, commonly known as Lord's, is a cricket List of Test cricket grounds, venue in St John's Wood, Westminster. Named after its founder, Thomas Lord, it is owned by Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and is the home of Middlesex C ...

, sharing a seventh wicket stand of 125 with

Jack White John Anthony White (; born July 9, 1975) is an American musician who achieved international fame as the guitarist and lead singer of the rock duo the White Stripes. As the White Stripes disbanded, he sought success with his solo career, subse ...

that enabled Somerset to save a game where they had trailed by 207 on the first innings. Hawkins' absence, rather than his presence, produced a highlight of the 1935 season. As

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 ...

put it in his obituary in the 2004 edition: "He was injured for the game 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 ...

Frome Frome ( ) is a town and civil parish in Somerset, England, on uneven high ground at the eastern end of the Mendip Hills and on the River Frome, south of Bath. The population of the parish was 28,559 in 2021. Frome was one of the largest tow ...

, which led to the call-up of 20-year-old

Harold Gimblett Harold Gimblett (19 October 1914 – 30 March 1978) was a cricketer who played for Somerset and England. He was known for his fast scoring as an opening batsman and for the much-repeated story of his debut. In a book first published in 1982 ...

and the most famous of all debut innings." And Hawkins himself had one final good match for Somerset in 1936, scoring 79 and 43 not out against the

Indians Indian or Indians may refer to: Associated with India * of or related to India ** Indian people ** Indian diaspora ** Languages of India ** Indian English, a dialect of the English language ** Indian cuisine Associated with indigenous peoples o ...

and taking four wickets for 39 runs, his best bowling figures in first-class cricket and including a spell of four wickets for 10 runs. He did not play for Somerset after the 1937 season.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hawkins, Laurie 1907 births 2003 deaths English cricketers Somerset cricketers Cricketers from Solihull Cricketers from Warwickshire 20th-century English sportsmen