George Arthur Davidson (29 June 1866 – 8 February 1899) was an English

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 ...

er who played for

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...

between 1886 and 1898 and for

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 ...

between 1888 and 1898. A useful all-rounder, he scored over 5500 runs and took 621 wickets in his first-class career. Davidson was born in

Brimington Brimington is a large village and civil parish in the Borough of Chesterfield in Derbyshire, England. The population of the parish taken at the 2011 census was 8,788. The town of Staveley is to the east, and Hollingwood is nearby. The parish in ...

, Derbyshire, the son of Josh Davidson, a coal miner and his wife Elizabeth. His father played one game annually for Derbyshire from 1871 to 1875. Davidson's first-class career began for Derbyshire in the 1886 season playing in the first match of the season against

, a game where he played in the lower order. He played regularly for the rest of the season. In the 1887 season he topped the batting and bowling figures for the club, scoring the first two half-centuries of his career and taking three five wicket overs. Derbyshire lost first-class status in 1888 and Davidson's few first-class appearances in the subsequent six years were mainly for

(MCC). He scored two further half-centuries, once in 1890 and once in 1892. He continued to carry his colours for Derbyshire being top wicket-taker every season between

1889 Events January–March * January 1 ** The total solar eclipse of January 1, 1889 is seen over parts of California and Nevada. ** Paiute spiritual leader Wovoka experiences a vision, leading to the start of the Ghost Dance movement in the ...

and

1893 Events January–March * January 2 – Webb C. Ball introduces railroad chronometers, which become the general railroad timepiece standards in North America. * Mark Twain started writing Puddn'head Wilson. * January 6 – Th ...

. In the 1894 season Davidson played in nineteen first-class games for the re-promoted Derbyshire side although they did not play in the County Championship until the following season. In the season he achieved ten 5 wicket innings and three 10-wicket games. In the 1895 season Derbyshire finished fifth, and Davidson achieved career-best single-innings bowling figures of 9–39, against a strong

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avon an ...

batting side on a pitch better than most of the period. Davidson in 1895 achieved nine 5-wicket innings and three 10-wicket games and became the first English cricketer since

W.G. Grace William Gilbert Grace (18 July 1848 – 23 October 1915) was an English amateur cricketer who was important in the development of the sport and is widely considered one of its greatest players. He played first-class cricket for a record-equal ...

in 1886 to achieve the double of 1,000 runs and 100 wickets. He played for the Players at

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 ...

though without success even on a fiery pitch against some brilliant amateur batting. But for the special portrait of Grace, George Davidson might have been a '' Cricketer of the Year'' in the 1896 ''

Wisden ''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'', or simply ''Wisden'', colloquially the Bible of Cricket, is a cricket reference book published annually in the United Kingdom. The description "bible of cricket" was first used in the 1930s by Alec Waugh in a ...

''. In the 1896 season, Davidson made his highest first-class score of 274 against Lancs. This innings was over 150 runs greater than any other tally he recorded during his first-class career, and remains as of 2013 Derbyshire's best single innings from an individual batsman in first-class cricket.

Chesney Hughes Chesney Francis Hughes (born 20 January 1991) is a West Indian cricketer who plays for the Leeward Islands cricket team. He was born in Anguilla. Having held a British passport, Hughes signed for Derbyshire County Cricket Club, Derbyshire in Jun ...

narrowly missed the record in April

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

with an unbeaten 270 as he

carried his bat In cricket, the term carry the bat (or carry one's bat) refers to an opening batsman (no. 1 and 2) who is not dismissed ("not out") when the team innings is closed. The term is mainly used when the innings closes after all 10 wickets have fall ...

against

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...

Headingley Headingley is a suburb of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, approximately two miles out of the city centre, to the north west along the A660 road. Headingley is the location of the Beckett Park campus of Leeds Beckett University and Headingle ...

. In the same year he also managed five 5-wicket innings and Derbyshire came seventh in the Championship table. In the 1897 season he scored 121 against Notts and took four 5-wicket innings. In the 1898 season he took 15–116 in a 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 ...

, the fourth-best bowling analysis in a match for Derbyshire, though Essex won easily on a fiery pitch. He took seven other 5-wicket innings and scored 108 against Hants. Derbyshire finished joint-ninth in the 1898 season, debuting

Billy Bestwick William Bestwick (24 February 1875 – 2 May 1938) was an English cricketer who played for Derbyshire between 1898 and 1926. He was a medium-fast bowler who took over 1,400 wickets for the county, including 10 in one innings. From his wild tem ...

. Davidson was a right-handed batsman and played 260 innings in 158 first-class matches, He made 5546 runs with an average of 23.80 and a top score of 274. He was a right-arm medium-fast bowler and took 621 first-class wickets at an average of 18.26. He had ten 10-wicket matches and 43 5-wicket innings with a best performance of 9 for 39. However 1898, a season in which his

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 ...

had been even better than in 1895, was to be his final season and, although it was naturally assumed that he would continue to play for many more years, Davidson contracted

influenza Influenza, commonly known as "the flu", is an infectious disease caused by influenza viruses. Symptoms range from mild to severe and often include fever, runny nose, sore throat, muscle pain, headache, coughing, and fatigue. These symptoms ...

and then

pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severity ...

from which he died in

Tividale Tividale is a district of the Metropolitan Borough of Sandwell, West Midlands. It straddles the borders of the towns of Dudley, Tipton, Oldbury. History Tividale Park has been known as Derygate (Deer Gate) Park; it can be traced back as ...

. '' The Wisden Book of Obituaries''; pp. 207–208. As well as his father, his brother

Frank Frank or Franks may refer to: People * Frank (given name) * Frank (surname) * Franks (surname) * Franks, a medieval Germanic people * Frank, a term in the Muslim world for all western Europeans, particularly during the Crusades - see Farang Curr ...

also played for

during the 1890s.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Davidson, George 1866 births 1899 deaths English cricketers Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers Derbyshire cricketers People from Brimington Non-international England cricketers Married v Single cricketers Players cricketers North v South cricketers West of England cricketers Midland Counties cricketers C. I. Thornton's XI cricketers Hurst Park Club cricketers Second Class Counties cricketers Deaths from pneumonia in England