Nicholas Wanostrocht (5 October 1804 – 3 September 1876), known as Nicholas Felix, was an English amateur "gentleman"

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

er. He was one of the few players who – at his request – was routinely known by his pseudonym, Felix. When his father died in 1824 he had inherited the running of his school, aged only nineteen, and he was afraid that the parents of pupils might think that cricket was too frivolous a pastime for a schoolmaster. Felix was a specialist left-handed batsman, although he did occasionally bowl underarm slow left-arm orthodox. He was a mainstay of the great Kent team of the mid-19th century alongside such players as

Alfred Mynn Alfred Mynn (19 January 1807 – 1 November 1861) was an English first-class cricketer during the game's "Roundarm Era". He was a genuine all-rounder, being both an attacking right-handed batsman and a formidable right arm fast bowler. Cricket w ...

, Fuller Pilch,

William Hillyer William Richard Hillyer (5 March 1813 – 8 January 1861), was a prominent 19th century English professional cricketer for Kent County Cricket Club, Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and many other sides in the days before county and international ...

and

Ned Wenman Edward Gower "Ned" Wenman (18 August 1803 – 28 December 1879) was an English first-class cricketer whose career spanned the 1825 to 1854 seasons. A specialist wicket-keeper, he was a prominent member of the great Kent team of the 1840s which ...

. In the words of the famous elegy, best loved of

Bernard Darwin Bernard Richard Meirion Darwin CBE JP (7 September 1876 − 18 October 1961) a grandson of the British naturalist Charles Darwin, was a golf writer and high-standard amateur golfer. He was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame. Biography ...

, :''And with five such mighty cricketers 'twas but natural to win'' :''As Felix, Wenman, Hillyer, Fuller Pilch and Alfred Mynn.'' Felix played for Kent from 1830 until 1852. He also appeared for MCC sides and was a member of William Clarke's All-England Eleven. In his overall first-class career, Felix played in 149 matches and scored 4,556 runs with a highest score of 113. He played at a time when prevailing conditions greatly favoured bowlers and was rated very highly as a batsman by his contemporaries.Carlaw D (2020) ''Kent County Cricketers A to Z. Part One: 1806–1914'' (revised edition), pp. 164–168.
Available online
at the Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians. Retrieved 2020-12-21.) He was the author of a famous instruction book: ''Felix on the Bat'' published in 1845. He also invented the catapulta (a bowling machine) as well as India-rubber batting gloves. A man of many talents, he was also a classical scholar, musician, linguist, inventor, writer and artist. Felix died at Wimborne Minster in Dorset and is buried in Wimborne cemetery.

References

* ''Scores & Biographies, Volume 1'' by Arthur Haygarth * ''Barclays' World of Cricket'' – 2nd Edition, 1980, Collins Publishers, , p. 10.

External links

* *
Felix on the Bat
{{DEFAULTSORT:Felix, Nicholas English cricketers Kent cricketers Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers All-England Eleven cricketers Surrey cricketers Gentlemen cricketers North v South cricketers English cricketers of 1826 to 1863 1804 births 1876 deaths Cricket historians and writers Surrey Club cricketers Left-Handed v Right-Handed cricketers Married v Single cricketers Nicholas Felix's XI cricketers Fast v Slow cricketers Gentlemen of Kent cricketers