Alfred Graham Skinner (11 August 1910 – 19 January 1997) was an English

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. Skinner was a right-handed batsman who bowled right-arm off break. He was born in Calcutta and educated at Oundle School in England. Skinner made his debut for

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (), abbreviated Bucks, is a ceremonial county in South East England that borders Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, Oxfordshire to the west, Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-ea ...

against the Kent Second XI in 1927. He played Minor counties cricket on a regular basis up to 1933, even making two first-class appearances for the Minor Counties in 1933, against Oxford University and the touring West Indians. While serving in the

Raj Raj or RAJ may refer to: History * British Raj, the 1858–1947 rule of the British Crown over India * Company Raj, the 1757–1858 rule of the East India Company in South Asia * Licence Raj, the Indian system of elaborate licences, regulation ...

in 1935, Skinner made his debut for the

Europeans Europeans are the focus of European ethnology, the field of anthropology related to the various ethnic groups that reside in the states of Europe. Groups may be defined by common genetic ancestry, common language, or both. Pan and Pfeil (2004) ...

against the Muslims. Early the following year he made his debut for Bengal against

Central Provinces and Berar The Central Provinces and Berar was a province of British India and later the Dominion of India which existed from 1903 to 1950. It was formed by the merger of the Central Provinces with the province of Berar, which was territory leased by the B ...

in the

Ranji Trophy The Ranji Trophy (also known as Mastercard Ranji Trophy for sponsorship reasons) is a domestic first-class cricket championship played in India between multiple teams representing regional and state cricket associations. Board of Control for Cr ...

. He would make six further first-class appearances for Bengal, the last of which came against

Southern Punjab South Punjab may refer to: *the southern part of the region of Punjab in South Asia *South Punjab (region), an historic region in the 8th–9th centuries; see Timeline of Pakistani history *two proposed provinces in this region in Pakistan: **Sara ...

in the 1938–39 Ranji Trophy. He scored 365 runs for Bengal at an average of 33.18, with high score of 125. This score, which was his only first-class

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 ...

, came against Nawanagar in the final of the 1936–37 Ranji Trophy. He also took seven wickets for Bengal at a

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 ...

of 36.85, with best figures of 3/44. Late in 1936 he made a further first-class appearance for the Europeans against the Parsees. Skinner next made appearances for Buckinghamshire in the Minor Counties Championship in 1938, playing nine times in that season. With the start of World War II, he was mentioned in the ''

London Gazette London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

'' in June 1940 as having passed out of the Officers' Training Corps with the rank of

2nd Lieutenant Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces, comparable to NATO OF-1 rank. Australia The rank of second lieutenant existed in the military forces of the Australian colonies and Australian Army until ...

. While on active service in India, he later made his final first-class appearance for the Europeans, which came against the Hindus in the 1943–44

Bombay Pentangular The Bombay Quadrangular was an influential cricket tournament held in Bombay, British India between 1892–93 and 1945–46. At other times it was known variously as the Presidency Match, Bombay Triangular, and the Bombay Pentangular. Presidency ...

Tournament, as well as making his final career first-class appearance for a Services XI against an Indian XI in February 1944. Following the war, he returned to play for Buckinghamshire in 1952, making an appearance each against

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; in the 17th century sometimes spelt phonetically as Barkeshire; abbreviated Berks.) is a historic county in South East England. One of the home counties, Berkshire was recognised by Queen Elizabeth II as the Royal County of Berk ...

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the north west of South East England. It is a mainly rural county, with its largest settlement being the city of Oxford. The county is a centre of research and development, primarily ...

and Norfolk. He died in

Kensington Kensington is a district in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in the West End of London, West of Central London. The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up b ...

, London, on 19 January 1997.

References

External links

Graham Skinner
at ESPNcricinfo
Graham Skinner
at CricketArchive {{DEFAULTSORT:Skinner, Graham 1910 births 1997 deaths Cricketers from Kolkata People educated at Oundle School English cricketers Buckinghamshire cricketers Minor Counties cricketers Europeans cricketers Bengal cricketers British Army personnel of World War II Officers' Training Corps officers