Brian Anthony Langford (17 December 1935 – 12 February 2013) was an English first-class

cricket 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 ...

er who played as an off-spin bowler for

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

. He captained the county from 1969 until 1971 and his career tally of 1390 wickets ranks him third in the county's history, behind only Jack White and

Arthur Wellard Arthur William Wellard (8 April 1902 in Southfleet, Kent – 31 December 1980 in Eastbourne, Sussex) was a cricketer who played for Somerset and England. A late starter in county cricket, having been told by his native county, Kent, that he wo ...

. Langford made his debut for

1953 Events January * January 6 – The Asian Socialist Conference opens in Rangoon, Burma. * January 12 – Estonian émigrés found a Estonian government-in-exile, government-in-exile in Oslo. * January 14 ** Marshal Josip Broz Tito i ...

at the

Recreation Ground, Bath The Recreation Ground (commonly ''the Rec'') is a large open space in the centre of Bath, England, next to the River Avon, which is available to be used by permission from the Recreation Ground Trust for recreational purposes by the public at l ...

with an unremarkable appearance against

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...

, taking just one wicket in an innings and 24 run loss. In the next match against

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

, starting the following day on the same ground, he took 8/96 in the first innings, bowling a 41 over spell to see the innings through. He helped secure victory for Somerset with another 6 wickets in the second innings. At only 17 years and 5 months, this ten-wicket haul made him the youngest player to do so in the

County Championship The County Championship (referred to as the LV= Insurance County Championship for sponsorship reasons) is the domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales and is organised by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). It bec ...

, a record that stood until May 2007, when James Harris completed the feat a few days after his 17th birthday. A third game without break on the ground against

Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ; postal abbreviation Leics.) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East Midlands, England. The county borders Nottinghamshire to the north, Lincolnshire to the north-east, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire t ...

brought further success for Langford, although his 6/53 in the first innings and 5/81 in the second weren't enough to prevent Somerset from slipping to a 144 run loss. Unfortunately for Somerset and Langford, the 26 wickets he took his opening three matches for the county accounted for just over half of his season's total, as he took just 25 more in the remaining 15 matches in 1953. In a game against

in 1958, Langford finished the match with 15 wickets for 54 runs. This is the second best match figures for Somerset and his first innings' 9/26 is the third best performance in an innings. He finished the year with 116 wickets, a career best. In 1969, he had the following remarkable analysis in the John Player League (40 over

List A List A cricket is a classification of the limited-overs (one-day) form of the sport of cricket, with games lasting up to eight hours. List A cricket includes One Day International (ODI) matches and various domestic competitions in which the numbe ...

match) against

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 ...

at Yeovil: 8 overs, 8 maidens, 0 runs, 0 wickets. He remains the only person to have bowled a full complement of overs in a List A match without conceding a single run.

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Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Langford, Brian 1935 births 2013 deaths English cricketers Somerset cricket captains Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers T. N. Pearce's XI cricketers