James Thomas Eaglestone (24 July 1923 – 14 October 2000) 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 who played 60 first-class cricket matches, initially for Middlesex in 1947, before moving to

Glamorgan , HQ = Cardiff , Government = Glamorgan County Council (1889–1974) , Origin= , Code = GLA , CodeName = Chapman code , Replace = * West Glamorgan * Mid Glamorgan * South Glamorgan , Motto ...

for the 1948 and 1949 seasons. Known largely for his skills as a fielder – for he found only moderate success with the bat – Eaglestone enjoys the unusual distinction of having featured in two different County Championship-winning sides in consecutive seasons.

Career

Eaglestone was drawn to cricket after leaving school in 1938 when he joined the groundstaff at

Lord's Cricket Ground 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 ...

. He played for the Middlesex Second XI that year. A left-handed batsman, Eaglestone enjoyed limited success after a promising debut first-class game for the Marylebone Cricket Club in which he scored 77 in a 128-run partnership with

Denis Compton Denis Charles Scott Compton (23 May 1918 – 23 April 1997) was an English multi-sportsman. As a cricketer he played in 78 Test matches and spent his whole cricket career with Middlesex. As a footballer, he played as a winger and spent most o ...

. Having securing selection for Middlesex, he scored zero in his first outing for the county side, and though he made 55 in his next game he would score only seven half-centuries during his career and finish with a batting average of 15.77. Eaglestone played only seven matches for Middlesex in that solitary season for the club, scoring 151 runs. He decided to move to Glamorgan at the end of that year's County Championship – of which Middlesex were crowned champions. He played for Glamorgan in the 1948 season, and Glamorgan were victorious in that year's County Championship also – their maiden County Championship victory. This meant that Eaglestone had featured in Championship winning teams for two successive summers. His own contributions, however, were relatively modest. He scored 595 runs at 18.59 in the 1948 season and 341 runs at 11.36 in 1949. Eaglestone was acknowledged as a highly skilled and valued fielder.

Wilf Wooller Wilfred Wooller (20 November 1912 – 10 March 1997) was a Welsh cricketer, rugby union footballer, cricket administrator and journalist. He was acclaimed as one of the greatest all-round sportsmen that Wales has ever produced. He captained G ...

, his Glamorgan captain, noted his fearless fielding close to the wicket. ''Wisden'' in their obituary of Eaglestone praised his "razor-sharp fielding" and claimed that "it was Jimmy's abilities in the field that largely won him a regular place", and with his inclusion "Glamorgan could boast having the finest fielding side in the country". Eaglestone retired from the game in 1949 to run a

newsagent A newsagent's shop or simply newsagent's or paper shop (British English), newsagency (Australian English) or newsstand (American and Canadian English) is a business that sells newspapers, magazines, cigarettes, snacks and often items of local ...

's in

Paddington, London Paddington is an area within the City of Westminster, in Central London. First a medieval parish then a metropolitan borough, it was integrated with Westminster and Greater London in 1965. Three important landmarks of the district are Paddingto ...

. His death in 2000 followed a short illness.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Eaglestone, Jim 1923 births 2000 deaths Cricketers from the City of Westminster People from Paddington English cricketers Middlesex cricketers Glamorgan cricketers Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers