Edward Apsey English (1 January 1864 – 5 September 1966) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

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. English was born at

Dorking Dorking () is a market town in Surrey in South East England, about south of London. It is in Mole Valley District and the council headquarters are to the east of the centre. The High Street runs roughly east–west, parallel to the Pipp Br ...

in January 1864. He first came to cricketing prominence when he represented the young players of Surrey as a 19 year old.102nd Birthday. ''Torbay Express and South Devon Echo''. 3 January 1966. p. 3 It wouldn't be until 1898, at the age of 34, that English would make his debut in

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officiall ...

for

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...

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 ...

Old Trafford Old Trafford () is a football stadium in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, and the home of Manchester United. With a capacity of 74,310 it is the largest club football stadium (and second-largest football stadium overall after Wemb ...

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 ...

. His first season saw him score what would be his highest first-class score, 98 against

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

on a difficult wicket at

The Oval The Oval, currently known for sponsorship reasons as the Kia Oval, is an international cricket ground in Kennington, located in the borough of Lambeth, in south London. The Oval has been the home ground of Surrey County Cricket Club since ...

; his 98 formed part of a 164 runs partnership for the fifth wicket with

Arthur Webb Arthur Stuart Webb (6 August 1868 – 3 December 1952) was an English first-class cricketer. Webb was a right-handed batsman who bowled right-arm medium pace. Webb made his first-class debut for Hampshire County Cricket Club in the 1895 ...

. English was notably dismissed off the last ball of the ball of the match by Tom Richardson while attempting to reach his

century A century is a period of 100 years. Centuries are numbered ordinally in English and many other languages. The word ''century'' comes from the Latin ''centum'', meaning ''one hundred''. ''Century'' is sometimes abbreviated as c. A centennial or ...

. He played first-class cricket for Hampshire until 1901, making a total of 18 appearances as an

amateur An amateur () is generally considered a person who pursues an avocation independent from their source of income. Amateurs and their pursuits are also described as popular, informal, autodidacticism, self-taught, user-generated, do it yourself, DI ...

. He scored 565 runs in total, at an

average In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7, ...

of 18.83. He remained an active sportsman long after his first-class cricket career had finished, with him playing

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...

until 91; at the age of 82 he hit a hole-in-one at

Alton Alton may refer to: People *Alton (given name) *Alton (surname) Places Australia *Alton National Park, Queensland *Alton, Queensland, a town in the Shire of Balonne Canada * Alton, Ontario * Alton, Nova Scotia New Zealand * Alton, New Zealand, ...

Golf Club. He was resident at Alton, where he was a member of the Conservative Club and at the age of 93 he reached the final of the club's

snooker Snooker (pronounced , ) is a cue sports, cue sport played on a Billiard table#Snooker and English billiards tables, rectangular table covered with a green cloth called baize, with six Billiard table#Pockets 2, pockets, one at each corner and o ...

competition. English was by profession a registrar at Alton for 36 years. He later retired to Higher Ball Farm near Tiverton in

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devon is ...

, where he celebrated his 102nd birthday in January 1966. English died there in September 1966. At the time of his death he was the oldest surviving

county cricket Inter-county cricket matches are known to have been played since the early 18th century, involving teams that are representative of the historic counties of England and Wales. Since the late 19th century, there have been two county championship ...

er and the oldest first-class cricketer in the world. He is one of four Hampshire players known to have lived to the age of 100, the others being George Deane,

Neil McCorkell Neil Thomas McCorkell (23 March 1912 – 28 February 2013) was an English cricketer. He was right-handed batsman who fielded as a wicket-keeper. He was born at Portsmouth, Hampshire. Debuting for Hampshire County Cricket Club in 1932, McCo ...

and John Manners.

References

External links

* 1864 births 1966 deaths People from Dorking English cricketers Hampshire cricketers English centenarians British men centenarians Cricketers from Surrey {{England-cricket-bio-1860s-stub