by David Jeater
Many cricketers who have made a small contribution to the outcomes of County Championship cricket have special achievements to their names in other fields. Often, of course, they have had other, more worthwhile things to do with their lives. Perhaps we can think of them as the ‘Sundry Extras’ of county cricket.
The register below, a fourth edition of this little enterprise, seeks to recognise the achievements of nearly 1,100 such cricketers in many areas of public life, including fields administrative, commercial, cultural, judicial, military, political, professional and sporting. This new version includes material kindly suggested by respondents to earlier versions and material derived from various publications issued in the last couple of years.
It covers cricketers with United Kingdom residency who played in fewer than 100 matches in the ‘official’ County Championship between the start of the 1890 season and the end of the 2017 season, who no longer play high-level cricket, and who fall into one or more of the categories listed in the paragraph below.
They have:
[a] played for England in a Test match;
[b] been identified as cricketer of the year by Wisden, or as a young cricketer of the season by the Cricket Writers’ Club;
[c] been appointed a county captain in the Championship for more than one season;
[d] an exceptional individual achievement to their name in Championship cricket;
[e] held an important administrative position at national level in cricket;
[f] played at national or international level in another sport;
[g] umpired in 100 or more Championship matches;
[h] other achievements in the public eye, including UK civilian or military honours;
[i] been a director of a well-known business;
[j] died while on active service.
The details provided for each player derive from a wide range of sources and comprise, where appropriate:
[1] surname, forenames and well-used nicknames;
[2] date and place of birth;
[3] secondary schools and higher education institutions attended;
[4] details of UK residence;
[5] playing methods, as batsman, bowler and fielder;
[6] details of counties represented in the Championship, seasons played, and playing status;
[7] career record in the Championship, comprising matches played, runs scored and average, wickets taken and average, catches and stumpings made;
[8] highest Championship score;
[9] best innings bowling return in the Championship;
[10] other cricket achievements, including Test appearances and Championship matches umpired;
[11] major cricket or sports awards received;
[12] close relatives who played Championship cricket;
[13] achievements at national or international level in other sports;
[14] other achievements in the public eye, including civilian and military honours;
[15] an apposite comment or quotation;
[16] date and place of death.
Further details about the entries can be seen in notes at the end of the register.
The list is an attempt at a comprehensive register of those meeting the qualifications set out above. The author would welcome additions to the list, and information leading to corrections to the existing entries, at davidjeater@yahoo.co.uk. He hopes that the list informs and entertains.
The fourth edition of this work (updated March 2024) is available on this website as a pdf, via the link below.