Lives in Cricket No 39 - Alec Watson

64 Selected Statistics Half Centuries: Score For Opponent Venue Season 74 Lancashire Derbyshire Old Trafford 1883 68* R.G.Barlow’s XI T.Emmett’s XI Batley 1883 60* Lancashire Surrey Old Trafford 1881 53 Lancashire Derbyshire Derby 1875 Batting for selected sides: Team Matches Runs Average Lancashire 283 4187 12.49 ‘England’/‘England XI’ 6 57 14.25 North 4 58 11.60 Players 2 7 2.33 Batting against selected sides: Team Matches Runs Average Yorkshire 40 414 7.81 Kent 38 571 11.89 Derbyshire 33 638 15.56 Gloucestershire 30 385 11.66 Nottinghamshire 30 389 11.78 Surrey 28 485 14.26 Sussex 20 298 16.55 MCC 19 267 10.26 Oxford University 19 336 16.80 Australians 12 177 11.06 Middlesex 12 216 15.42 Batting on selected grounds: Ground Matches Runs Average Old Trafford 128 1753 12.34 Lord’s 26 367 11.46 Derby 16 312 17.33 Trent Bridge 15 233 11.65 The Oval 15 233 10.13 Alec Watson’s batting was in one sense like his bowling: it was consistent. In most years his average was in the range of nine to thirteen runs per completed innings. For the first few years of his Lancashire career, he batted mainly in the upper order. He seems to have been contracted initially as much as a professional batsman as a bowler. However, it became clear that he was not really good enough to hold so high a place in the batting order, and as his bowling powers improved, so he went in further down the batting order. By the 1880s he was normally to be found in