George Wilfred Brook (30 August 1888 – 24 July 1966) was an English
first-class cricketer who played for
Worcestershire in the 1930s.
Brook had appeared for
Yorkshire's Second XI as early as 1919,
and also played as the professional for
Bacup Cricket Club
Bacup Cricket Club, based at Lanehead in Bacup, Lancashire, are a 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 compri ...
in the
Lancashire League.
Moving south, he played for
Kidderminster Cricket Club
Kidderminster Cricket Club is a cricket club in Kidderminster, Worcestershire, England. Their 1st and 2nd XIs currently play in the Birmingham and District Premier League Premier Division. Their 3rd, 4th and 5th XIs play in the Worcestershire Co ...
,
[Obituary. '' Wisden Cricketers' Almanack 1967''.]
but it was not until 1930 that he made his first-class debut for Worcestershire, against the touring
Australians at
New Road. The county side were crushed by an innings and 165 runs, but Brook took four good wickets: those of
Woodfull,
Jackson,
Bradman
Sir Donald George Bradman, (27 August 1908 – 25 February 2001), nicknamed "The Don", was an Australian international cricketer, widely acknowledged as the greatest batsman of all time. Bradman's career Test batting average of 99.94 has b ...
and
McCabe McCabe may refer to:
People
*McCabe (surname), origin of the names ''MacCabe/McCabe'' and a list of people with the surnames
Places
*McCabe Memorial Church
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*McCabe school
*McCabe Lake
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*Live at McCabe's (disamb ...
.
Brook kept his place in the Worcestershire side throughout the remainder of the 1930 season, and produced a number of excellent performances: 6-80 against
Nottinghamshire in early June was followed by 5-40 and 7-50 (his career best) versus
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 ...
a fortnight later. Indeed, he claimed five wickets in an innings on 12 occasions in total that summer, finishing with a fine season's return of 132 first-class wickets at 21.88 to top Worcestershire's
bowling average
In cricket, a player's bowling average is the number of runs they have conceded per wicket taken. The lower the bowling average is, the better the bowler is performing. It is one of a number of statistics used to compare bowlers, commonly use ...
s ahead of
Fred Root.
From 1931 to 1934, Brook was a regular in the Worcestershire side, but he could never quite recapture his outstanding form of 1930: in those four years he took 81, 71, 82 and 87 wickets, with a total of 11 five-wicket hauls — one fewer than he had managed in a single season in his first summer at the county. His bowling average varied considerably, from an acceptable 24.34 in 1931 to an expensive 37.56 two years later. With the bat Brook was nothing special, but he did manage two half-centuries in 1932 and another (a career-best 56 in a high-scoring draw against
Gloucestershire) in 1933.
He played only three more games for Worcestershire, in May 1935, his final wicket being that of Yorkshire's
Arthur Mitchell. He then left the first-class arena for good to play for
Keighley.
Brook was born in
Mirfield,
Yorkshire; he died in
Bournemouth
Bournemouth () is a coastal resort town in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole council area of Dorset, England. At the 2011 census, the town had a population of 183,491, making it the largest town in Dorset. It is situated on the Southern ...
at the age of 77.
Notes
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brook, George
1888 births
1966 deaths
English cricketers
Worcestershire cricketers
Sportspeople from Mirfield
Cricketers from West Yorkshire