William Reeves (22 June 1875 – 22 March 1944) was an English
cricketer
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...
, who at the conclusion of his playing career became an
umpire
An umpire is an official in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection.
The term derives from the Old French nonper, ''non'', "not" and ''per'', ...
, officiating in five
Test Matches Test match in some sports refers to a sporting contest between national representative teams and may refer to:
* Test cricket
* Test match (indoor cricket)
* Test match (rugby union)
* Test match (rugby league)
* Test match (association football)
...
. According to
Dudley Carew he was "the
Sam Weller of umpires, quick of retort, ingenious of smile, unfailing in friendliness".
R.C. Robertson-Glasgow wrote: "If silence or dullness fell upon the game, there was Bill Reeves to put it right."
Playing career
Bill Reeves was a medium-pace bowler and a useful hard-hitting batsman who played for
Essex
Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...
from 1897 to 1921, having begun by joining the groundstaff at
Leyton Cricket Ground
Leyton Cricket Ground (formerly known as the County Ground or the Lyttelton Ground) is a cricket ground in Leyton, London. The ground was the headquarters and main home match venue of Essex County Cricket Club from 1886 until 1933, and was also ...
, which was then the county's headquarters. His best years with the bat were 1905 and 1906. In the former season he reached 1,000 runs for the only time, with 1174 at an average of 29.35, and scored two of his three hundreds. His career highest score of 135 came against Lancashire in only two hours. He also scored 71 out of 90 in 50 minutes against the powerful Yorkshire side, assisting Essex to a score of 521. Yorkshire had to follow-on, and had seven wickets down in their second innings at the end of the game. He scored his other century the following year, 104 against Sussex, when he and
Claude Buckenham
Claude Percival Buckenham (16 January 1876 – 23 February 1937) was an English first-class cricketer who played for Essex and England. He also won a gold medal playing football at the Olympic Games in 1900.
Life and career
Tall and gangling, an ...
added 163 for the eighth wicket in only seventy minutes.
In 1901 he took the last five Derbyshire wickets in 11 balls without conceding a run. His most productive season with the ball was 1904, when he took 106 wickets at 26.16, the only occasion when he reached 100 wickets. He took five wickets or more in an innings 11 times that season, and ten or more in a match on three occasions. In 1907 against Nottinghamshire he and
Walter Mead bowled unchanged through both innings. From 1910 to 1913 he played in no more than nine matches in any season, but as late as 1920 – when he became 45 years of age – he surprisingly took 62 wickets at 22.59, including the best innings figures of his career, 7/33. He only played in four matches in 1921, his final year and benefit season.
Umpiring career
He umpired in one match in 1920, and then – following his retirement as a player – regularly from 1921 to 1939. His five Tests were in 1924 (two matches, England v South Africa), 1926 (one match, England v Australia), 1937 (one match, England v New Zealand) and 1939 (one match, England v West Indies). He was also due to stand in the 1938 England v Australia match at Old Trafford, but it was abandoned without a ball being bowled.
He was renowned for his witticisms. When a batsman protested that he was not out, Reeves responded: "Weren't you? Wait till you see the papers in the morning." When he thought that a bowler was appealing too often, he observed: "There's only one man who appeals more than you do." "Oh, who's that?" the bowler innocently asked. "
Doctor Barnardo," said Reeves.
In 1931 he got into trouble when, in a rain-affected match, he and his fellow umpire allowed the two captains to make freak
declarations in order to try to produce a definite result. The authorities decided that
Law 54 had been broken. As a result, he, the other umpire and both captains were summoned to
Lord's
Lord's Cricket Ground, commonly known as Lord's, is a cricket venue in St John's Wood, London. Named after its founder, Thomas Lord, it is owned by Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and is the home of Middlesex County Cricket Club, the England and ...
. The match had been played in Wales and Reeves said: "That rule doesn't apply, sir. We were in a foreign country."
References
External links
*
CricketArchive
{{DEFAULTSORT:Reeves, Bill
1875 births
1944 deaths
English cricketers
Essex cricketers
English Test cricket umpires
Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers
North v South cricketers
Non-international England cricketers
East of England cricketers