George Summers (21 June 1844 – 19 June 1870) 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 ...

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. He played all his

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

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated Notts.) is a landlocked county in the East Midlands region of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. The traditi ...

. Summers was the son of a Nottingham hotelier. In the match against MCC 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 ...

in 1870, Summers was hit by a short delivery from John Platts, at the time a

fast bowler Fast bowling (also referred to as pace bowling) is one of two main approaches to bowling in the sport of cricket, the other being spin bowling. Practitioners of pace bowling are usually known as ''fast'' bowlers, ''quicks'', or ''pacemen''. T ...

. He was carried off the field. He seemed to recover, and was not taken to hospital, but went by train back to Nottingham. He died from his injury four days later. Lord's at the time was renowned for being a poor pitch. After Summers' death, efforts were made to improve it, and the MCC paid for his gravestone. The death of Summers ensured that the lethal bowler, Platts, never bowled fast again. As a protest against what he saw as dangerous bowling, the next batsman—

Richard Daft Richard Daft (2 November 1835 – 18 July 1900) was an English cricketer. He was one of the best batsmen of his day, the peak of his first-class career (which lasted from 1858 to 1891) being the 1860s and early 1870s. Life and career Born ...

—came out to the wicket with his head wrapped in a towel.

References

Simon Rae Simon Rae is a British poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates ...

, ''W.G. Grace: A Life'', 1998, , p92
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Summers, George 1844 births 1870 deaths Nottinghamshire cricketers Players cricketers All-England Eleven cricketers North v South cricketers Cricketers from Nottingham Cricket deaths North of the Thames v South of the Thames cricketers English cricketers

See also

References