Maurice James Carrick Allom (23 March 1906 – 8 April 1995) was an English

amateur An amateur () is generally considered a person who pursues an avocation independent from their source of income. Amateurs and their pursuits are also described as popular, informal, autodidacticism, self-taught, user-generated, do it yourself, DI ...

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 who played in five

Tests Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film) ...

from 1930 to 1931.

Life and career

Allom attended

Wellington College, Berkshire Wellington College is a co-educational public school providing education for boarding and day pupils in the village of Crowthorne, in Berkshire, in the United Kingdom. Wellington is a registered charity and currently educates roughly 1,100 pu ...

, before going up to

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any ...

. He played cricket for

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

from 1926 to 1928 and for

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 ...

from 1927 to 1937. He toured with the English Test team to New Zealand in 1929-30, where he played all four Tests, and to South Africa in 1930-31, where he played one Test. He and his former Cambridge team-mate Maurice Turnbull wrote a book about each tour: ''The Book of the Two Maurices: Being some account of the tour of an M.C.C. team through Australia and New Zealand in the closing months of 1929 and the beginning of 1930'' (1930) and ''The Two Maurices Again: Being some account of the tour of the M.C.C. team through South Africa in the closing months of 1930 and the beginning of 1931'' (1931). Almost 6 feet 6 inches tall, Allom was able to get the ball to rise sharply off the pitch. His most successful season was 1930, when he took 108 wickets at 23.33, twice dismissing

Don Bradman Sir Donald George Bradman (27 August 1908 – 25 February 2001), nicknamed "The Don", was an Australian international cricketer, widely acknowledged as the greatest batsman of all time. His cricketing successes have been claimed by Shane ...

. His best innings figures were 9 for 55, for Cambridge against The Army in 1927. Along with Peter Petherick and

Damien Fleming Damien William Fleming (born 24 April 1970) is an Australian cricket commentator and former cricketer who played for the Australian national cricket team and domestic cricket for Victoria. He played in 20 Tests and 88 ODIs from 1994 to 2001 a ...

, Allom is one of only three players to have taken a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three Wick ...

on Test debut. It was also

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

's first Test match. In the same Test, he also became the first Test player to take four wickets in five balls, a feat later matched by

Chris Old Chris Old (born Christopher Middleton Old, 22 December 1948) is a former English cricketer, who played 46 Tests and 32 ODIs from 1972 to 1981. A right-arm fast-medium bowler and lower order left-handed batsman, Old was a key feature of the Yor ...

and

Wasim Akram Wasim Akram (Punjabi language, Punjabi, ; born 3 June 1966) is a Pakistani cricket commentator, Coach (sport), coach, and former cricketer and captain (cricket), captain of the Pakistan national cricket team. Akram is regarded as one of the ...

. He finished with first innings figures of 5 for 38, and added 3 for 17 in the second innings. England won by eight wickets. He served as Surrey's President from 1970 to 1977, and as President of

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 ...

(MCC) in 1969–70. He was a member of MCC for 70 years, from 1925 until his death. He was also a skilful saxophonist, who played in

Fred Elizalde Federico "Fred" Díaz Elizalde (December 12, 1907 – January 16, 1979) was a Spanish Filipino classical and jazz pianist, composer, conductor, and bandleader, influential in the British dance band era. Biography Elizalde was born in Manila ...

's band in the 1920s. Allom was married for almost half a century to Pamela, and after she died in 1980 he married the widow of the pre-war

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 ...

captain Peter Eckersley, who had died on active service in 1940. His son

Anthony Anthony, also spelled Antony, is a masculine given name derived from the '' Antonii'', a '' gens'' ( Roman family name) to which Mark Antony (''Marcus Antonius'') belonged. According to Plutarch, the Antonii gens were Heracleidae, being descenda ...

played first-class cricket for

and was one of the tallest people to have played the game, standing between 6 ft 9 ins and 6 ft 10 ins (around 2.07 m).

References

External links

Maurice Allom
at CricketArchive

at

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 ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Allom, Maurice 1906 births 1995 deaths People from Northwood, London Cricketers from the London Borough of Hillingdon People from Shipbourne People educated at Wellington College, Berkshire Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge Cambridge University cricketers English cricketers England Test cricketers Surrey cricketers Free Foresters cricketers Test cricket hat-trick takers Presidents of the Marylebone Cricket Club Allom, Maurice Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers Gentlemen cricketers Cricketers who have taken five wickets on Test debut English cricketers of 1919 to 1945 20th-century English sportsmen L. H. Tennyson's XI cricket team Marylebone Cricket Club South African Touring Team cricketers