William James Perver Stewart (born 31 August 1934 in

Llanelly Llanelly ( cy, Llanelli) is the name of a parish and coterminous community in the principal area of Monmouthshire, within the historic boundaries of Brecknockshire, south-east Wales. It roughly covers the area of the Clydach Gorge. The popula ...

) is a former

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. He played for

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 ...

from 1955 to 1969, and for

Northamptonshire Northamptonshire (; abbreviated Northants.) is a county in the East Midlands of England. In 2015, it had a population of 723,000. The county is administered by two unitary authorities: North Northamptonshire and West Northamptonshire. It is ...

in 1971 and 1972.

Life and career

Jim Stewart was born in Wales and his family moved to

when he was a boy.

John Arlott Leslie Thomas John Arlott, OBE (25 February 1914 – 14 December 1991) was an English journalist, author and cricket commentator for the BBC's ''Test Match Special''. He was also a poet and wine connoisseur. With his poetic phraseology, he bec ...

, ''Arlott on Cricket'', Willow Books, London, 1984, pp. 130–32. He made his first-class debut for Warwickshire in 1955 and played frequently without establishing his place until 1959, when he scored 1799 runs at an average of 40.88 with five

centuries 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 ...

. He hit four of those centuries in five innings. Against

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...

he set a world first-class record by hitting 17

sixes Sixes, home to approximately 14,540, is an unincorporated community in western Cherokee County, Georgia, United States, located about three miles west of Holly Springs and near the eastern shore of current-day Lake Allatoona. The community is l ...

in the match. A tall, powerfully built opening batsman, he was an especially strong driver. He had another successful season in 1960, with 1764 runs at an average of 42.00. He was selected to tour New Zealand in 1960-61 with a team of young English players, making 354 runs in the first-class matches at 39.33 and playing in all three unofficial

Tests Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film), ...

against

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. His most successful season was 1962, when he scored 2318 runs, including 2100 runs at 42.85 in the

County Championship The County Championship (referred to as the LV= Insurance County Championship for sponsorship reasons) is the domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales and is organised by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). It bec ...

. His seven centuries that year included his highest score, when he made 182

not out In cricket, a batter is not out if they come out to bat in an innings and have not been dismissed by the end of an innings. The batter is also ''not out'' while their innings is still in progress. Occurrence At least one batter is not out at t ...

and 79 not out in the victory over

Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ; postal abbreviation Leics.) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East Midlands, England. The county borders Nottinghamshire to the north, Lincolnshire to the north-east, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire t ...

. A broken big toe on his left foot, which led to the toe's amputation, hampered his progress for the next few years, and he was also held back by an operation for arthritis in his right hand. Nevertheless, he still exceeded 1000 runs in 1965 and 1968. After leaving Warwickshire at the end of the 1969 season he played a few matches for

in the

John Player League The NatWest Pro40 League was a one-day cricket league for first-class cricket counties in England and Wales. It was inaugurated in 1999, but was essentially the old Sunday League retitled to reflect large numbers of matches being played on days o ...

in 1971 and 1972, but with little success. He was also a

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

player who played at full back in three of the

teams that won the rugby union

. He and his wife Frances were married in

Coventry Coventry ( or ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. It is on the River Sherbourne. Coventry has been a large settlement for centuries, although it was not founded and given its ...

in November 1960.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Stewart, Jim 1934 births Living people A. E. R. Gilligan's XI cricketers Cricketers from Monmouthshire English rugby union players Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers Non-international England cricketers Northamptonshire cricketers Rugby union players from Monmouthshire Warwickshire cricketers Welsh cricketers