George Davenport (5 May 1860 – 4 October 1902) 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 cricketer made 27 appearances in first-class cricket. He was mostly for the

Marylebone Cricket Club Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) is a cricket club founded in 1787 and based since 1814 at Lord's Cricket Ground, which it owns, in St John's Wood, London. The club was formerly the governing body of cricket retaining considerable global influence ...

(MCC), who whom he was employed as a groundsman at their

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 ...

home.

Life and first-class cricket

Davenport was born in Nantwich. He was employed as a groundsman at

for many years. 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 ...

came for the North of England in the

North v South The North of England and South of England cricket teams appeared in first-class cricket between the 1836 and 1961 seasons, most often in matches against each other but also individually in games against touring teams, Marylebone Cricket Club (M ...

fixture of 1884 at Lord's. He made four first-class appearances for the

(MCC) in 1885, as well as appearing again in the North v South fixture. He played in three matches for the MCC in 1886, as well as appearing in the North v South fixture and for CI Thornton's XI against the touring

Australians Australians, colloquially known as Aussies, are the citizens, nationals and individuals associated with the country of Australia. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or ethno-cultural. For most Australians, several (or all) ...

. Davenport played three first-class matches in 1887, appearing once more in the North v South fixture, as well as for the MCC and the

Players of the North The purpose of this list is to identify all historically significant English cricket clubs and teams which played in significant matches, some of which may have been given first-class status. It concentrates on those which are now defunct or not ...

in the Players of the South versus Players of the North match. He appeared once for the MCC in 1888, before making four appearances for the club in 1889. He continued to play first-class cricket for the MCC into the early 1890s, making two appearances in 1890, two in 1891 and one in 1893. His final first-class appearances came in 1895 and 1896, when he made three more appearances for the MCC. Making a total of 27 appearances in first-class cricket, mostly as a

wicket-keeper The wicket-keeper in the sport of cricket is the player on the fielding side who stands behind the wicket or stumps being watchful of the batsman and ready to take a catch, stump the batsman out and run out a batsman when occasion arises. Th ...

, Davenport scored 625 runs 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 16.44. He made one

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 ...

, which he made against

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 ...

in 1885 at

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

. He played

minor counties cricket The National Counties, known as the Minor Counties before 2020, are the cricketing counties of England and Wales that do not have first-class status. The game is administered by the National Counties Cricket Association (NCCA), which comes unde ...

for

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's county t ...

in the 1895

Minor Counties Championship The NCCA 3 Day Championship (previously the Minor Counties Cricket Championship) is a season-long competition in England and Wales that is contested by the members of the National Counties Cricket Association (NCCA), the so-called national cou ...

, including playing in Cheshire's inaugural match in the competition against

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands Cou ...

. Davenport also stood as 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'', ...

in two first-class matches, separated by a period of over a decade. He died at Nantwich in October 1902, aged 42.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Davenport, George 1860 births 1902 deaths People from Nantwich English cricketers North v South cricketers Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers C. I. Thornton's XI cricketers Players of the North cricketers English cricket umpires Cheshire cricketers Cricketers from Cheshire