Famous Cricketers No 76 - J.N.Crawford

newly elected captain following Lord Dalmeny. Crawford himself led the side on a few occasions, once against the Leicestershire side captained by his brother Vivian. Contemporary reports indicate that Crawford was clearly his side’s best performer with the ball (92 wickets at 20.45) but as the summer advanced he became stale and lost his effectiveness. The fact that he was apt to lose his length in an endeavour to get additional spin was not viewed as a young bowler’s possible attempt to compensate for his unaccustomed lack of penetration. Crawford’s batting (1258 runs at 40) left him fourth in the county aggregate and third in the averages, and included his career highest score of 232 in four hours against Somerset at The Oval in early June, a century against Derbyshire a week later, and another hundred against Hampshire in July. However, his batting too declined in the course of the season. The dual falling away seems to have been a consequence of his heavy workload in Australia and it is easy to identify precisely when it occurred. In Crawford’s last ten matches beginning at the end of July his batting figures for eleven innings were 161 runs at 14.63 and 181.5-37-565-13 at 43.36 at three runs per over with the ball. He dismissed his brother Vivan in each innings when playing for the MCC’s Australian side against Mr Bamford’s XI in the last match of the season. Own Team O M R W Opp Ct Total Total 108. Surrey v Gentlemen of England, Kennington Oval, April 20, 21, 22 (Surrey won by an innings and 41 runs) c V.F.S.Crawford b J.J.Cameron 46 390 7 1 35 0 219 11 3 21 4 C.T.A.Wilkinson b 130 R.T.Crawford b J.J.Cameron b P.R.May c F.E.Smith 109. Surrey v Gloucestershire, Kennington Oval, May (14), (15), 16 (Match drawn) c E.G.Dennett b P.T.Mills 40 206 4.1 3 2 2 T.Dean b 98 E.G.Dennett st H.Strudwick not out 14 34-1d 7 3 12 3 T.Langdon lbw 40-6 R.T.Godsell b A.E.Winstone b 110. Surrey v Worcestershire, Worcester, May 18, 19, 20 (Surrey won by 14 runs) lbw b F.A.Pearson 33 229 13 0 62 0 257 b G.T.Simpson-Hayward 76 334 33 3 104 4 F.H.Bowley b 292 W.B.Burns b F.H.Hunt c H.Strudwick R.D.Burrows b 111. Surrey v Warwickshire, Edgbaston, May 21, 22, 23 (Match drawn) b F.E.Field 10 252 24 6 56 5 N.K.Street c E.G.Hayes 221 1 S.Hargreave b W.G.Quaife c F.C.Holland A.F.A.Lilley b G.W.Stephens c A.Marshal c W.G.Quaife b F.E.Field 29 181-9d 16 1 44 1 C.S.Baker c F.C.Holland 115-6 112. Surrey v Yorkshire, Headingley, May 25, 26 (Yorkshire won by seven wickets) b S.Haigh 3 90 16.1 2 41 1 D.Hunter b 113 1 b S.Haigh 5 69 12.4 3 23 2 W.Rhodes b 48-3 1 D.Denton c and b 113. Surrey v Leicestershire, Leicester, May 28, 29, 30 (Surrey won by 86 runs) c J.Shields b C.J.B.Wood 70 274 23 4 48 3 H.Whitehead c F.C.Holland 183 2 T.Jayes b W.W.Odell c F.C.Holland c H.Whitehead b J.H.King 25 212 30.1 7 62 4 H.Whitehead c F.C.Holland 217 C.J.B.Wood c W.C.Smith W.E.Astill c F.C.Holland J.Shields b 114. Surrey v Essex, Kennington Oval, June 1, 2, 3 (Surrey won by an innings and 5 runs) b C.P.McGahey 21 316 17.2 4 40 2 E.J.Freeman lbw 191 W.Mead b 18