Harry Stanley Squires (22 February 1909 – 24 January 1950) was an English cricketer. He was primarily a notably stylish right-handed batsman, but was also a useful right-arm
off break and, later in his career,
leg break
Leg spin is a type of spin bowling in cricket. A leg spinner bowls right-arm with a wrist spin action. The leg spinner's normal delivery causes the ball to spin from right to left (from the bowler's perspective) when the ball bounces on the ...
bowler, as well as being a fine fielder.
Squires was born in
Kingston upon Thames,
Surrey
Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...
on 22 February 1909. He played
first-class cricket for
Surrey
Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...
from 1928 to 1949, the first two seasons as an amateur and subsequently as a professional. During that time he played in 410 first-class matches, all but eight of them for Surrey. He scored 19186 runs at an average of 31.24, with 37 hundreds and a highest score of 236 against
Lancashire at
The Oval in 1933. He took 306 wickets at 35.34, with best innings figures of 8/52. During his career he wore first spectacles and then contact lenses. His Wisden obituary said that "no more popular player wore the Surrey colours".
During
World War II he served with the
Royal Air Force, reaching the rank of
Flying Officer. Subsequently he ran a
pub.
Squires died in
Old Deer Park
Old Deer Park is an area of open space within Richmond, London, Richmond, owned by the Crown Estate, in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, England. It covers of which are leased as sports grounds for sports, particularly rugby and ...
,
Richmond
Richmond most often refers to:
* Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States
* Richmond, London, a part of London
* Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England
* Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada
* Richmond, California, ...
on 24 January 1950, at the age of 40. He was playing as well as ever in the season prior to his death, scoring 1,785 runs at 37.18. Shortly before his fatal illness, caused by a blood virus, he won a
golf foursome competition for his club, Fulwell. He was also a
boxer Boxer most commonly refers to:
* Boxer (boxing), a competitor in the sport of boxing
*Boxer (dog), a breed of dog
Boxer or boxers may also refer to:
Animal kingdom
* Boxer crab
* Boxer shrimp, a small group of decapod crustaceans
* Boxer snipe ee ...
, and played
squash,
rugby union and
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
.
References
Cricinfo profile including his Wisden obituary
1909 births
1950 deaths
English cricketers
Surrey cricketers
Royal Air Force cricketers
Minor Counties cricketers
Players cricketers
North v South cricketers
English cricketers of 1919 to 1945
{{England-cricket-bio-1900s-stub