Lives in Cricket No 23 - Brief Candles

38 Chapter Three Never Seen At least Fred Hyland was on the field for a couple of overs. There are around a dozen even less fortunate players, whose one and only first- class ‘appearance’ was spent wholly in the pavilion, or even away from the ground altogether. Yet they are quite properly classed as first-class cricketers because they were members of a side in a match that was started, even though bad weather or some other unlikely circumstance conspired to prevent them setting foot on the field at all. This unfortunate turn of events is known to be the case for the twelve listed in the table below, though the last two at least may have further opportunities. First-class cricketers who never set foot on the field of play W.Hunt English Residents v American-Born Nicetown 1882 T.J.Hearne Middlesex v Philadelphians Lord’s 1908 J.Coulthurst Lancashire v Northamptonshire Manchester 1919 P.Herbert Gentlemen of South v Players of South The Oval 1920 Abdur Rehman Baluchistan Governor’s XI v Sri Lanka B Quetta 1988/89 Mohammad Asad Baluchistan Governor’s XI v Sri Lanka B Quetta 1988/89 P.Imadura Moratuwa v Sinhalese Colombo 1989/90 Qamar Saeed Faisalabad v Islamabad Islamabad 1993/94 B.Ludidi Easterns v Free State Bloemfontein 2004/05 H.B.Ilangaratne Kurunegala Youth v Singha Kurunegala 2006/07 M.L.A.Fernando Sinhalese v Colombo Colombo 2009/10 K.Nagan KwaZulu-Natal v Easterns Benoni 2009/10 The seven listed below may have missed out in the same way, but the evidence examined so far is not conclusive. First-class cricketers who possibly never set foot on the field of play J.N.Dudlow Kent v Nottinghamshire Nottingham 1841 J.B.Mill Hampshire v MCC Lord’s 1842 G.F.B.Mortimer Surrey Club v MCC Lord’s 1852 J.T.Griffiths Nottinghamshire v Gloucestershire Clifton 1891 P.G.Peiser Rhodesia v Transvaal Bulawayo 1922/23