Joseph Bowden (8 October 1884 – 1 March 1958) 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 first-class cricket 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 ...

from 1909 to 1930. Bowden was born at

Glossop Glossop is a market town in the Borough of High Peak, Derbyshire, England. It is located east of Manchester, north-west of Sheffield and north of the county town, Matlock. Glossop lies near Derbyshire's borders with Cheshire, Greater Manches ...

. He made his debut for Derbyshire in the 1909 season against

Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...

in May when he made 6 and 14. Over the next four years he played about five games a year, but in the 1914 season he played 16 matches for the club. Cricket was interrupted by the First World War, and Bowden did not return to the first-class game until the 1921 season. In that season he scored his first century of 108 against

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of Gl ...

. He played steadily in the 1922 season and in the 1923 season scored 114 against

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

. After good but uneventful seasons in

1924 Events January * January 12 – Gopinath Saha shoots Ernest Day, whom he has mistaken for Sir Charles Tegart, the police commissioner of Calcutta, and is arrested soon after. * January 20– 30 – Kuomintang in China hol ...

and

1925 Events January * January 1 ** The Syrian Federation is officially dissolved, the State of Aleppo and the State of Damascus having been replaced by the State of Syria. * January 3 – Benito Mussolini makes a pivotal speech in the Italia ...

, Bowden managed an average of 30.52 in the 1926 season, clocking up 1221 runs and making 106 against

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 ...

. He maintained form over the next three years and made his top score of 120 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 ...

in the 1929 season when he partnered Harry Storer who made 209 to put on 322 for the first wicket. As of 2009, this remains the record first-wicket stand for Derbyshire. In the 1930 season, which was his last, he played fewer matches and his average was down to 9.69 Bowden was a right-hand batsman and played 395 innings in 231 first-class matches with an average of 20.57. He made over 7,600 runs and scored four centuries with a top score of 120. He was a right-arm medium pace bowler who took one wicket in 21 overs at an average of 54.00.Joseph Bowden at Cricket Archive
/ref> Bowden died at Glossop at the age of 73.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bowden, Joseph 1884 births 1958 deaths Derbyshire cricketers English cricketers English cricketers of 1890 to 1918 English cricketers of 1919 to 1945 Sportspeople from Glossop Cricketers from Derbyshire