Leonard George Crawley (26 July 1903 – 9 July 1981) was an English
sportsman and later
journalist
A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...
. He was most accomplished at
golf
Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible.
Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...
and
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 ...
as detailed below, but also played
tennis
Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...
to a very high standard and was an excellent ice-skater, a good
rackets
Racket may refer to:
* Racket (crime), a systematised element of organized crime
** Protection racket, a scheme whereby a group provides protection to businesses or other groups through violence outside the sanction of the law
* Racket (sports equ ...
player and a fine shot.
[
][Obituary. '']Wisden Cricketers' Almanack
''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'', or simply ''Wisden'', colloquially the Bible of Cricket, is a cricket reference book published annually in the United Kingdom. The description "bible of cricket" was first used in the 1930s by Alec Waugh in a ...
'' 1982.
Golf
Crawley was a very accomplished
golf
Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible.
Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...
er, playing four times in the
Walker Cup
The Walker Cup is a golf trophy contested in odd-numbered years by leading male amateur golfers in two teams: United States, and Great Britain and Ireland. The official name is the Walker Cup Match (not "Matches" as in Ryder Cup Matches). It is ...
and winning the
English Amateur
The English Amateur is the national amateur match play golf championship of England. It has been played annually since 1925 (except for war years) and is organised by England Golf.
The English Men's Amateur Championship is contested through t ...
in 1931, and after retiring from playing sport he spent a quarter of a century as golf correspondent for the ''
Daily Telegraph
Daily or The Daily may refer to:
Journalism
* Daily newspaper, newspaper issued on five to seven day of most weeks
* ''The Daily'' (podcast), a podcast by ''The New York Times''
* ''The Daily'' (News Corporation), a defunct US-based iPad new ...
''.
As correspondent for the ''
Daily Telegraph
Daily or The Daily may refer to:
Journalism
* Daily newspaper, newspaper issued on five to seven day of most weeks
* ''The Daily'' (podcast), a podcast by ''The New York Times''
* ''The Daily'' (News Corporation), a defunct US-based iPad new ...
'' newspaper, Crawley was the only British journalist present at
Hazeltine National Golf Club
Hazeltine National Golf Club ( ) is a golf club located in Chaska, Minnesota, a suburb southwest of Minneapolis, United States. It is a private club and therefore closed to guests not accompanied by a member. The golf course was designed by Robert ...
in 1970 when
Tony Jacklin
Anthony Jacklin CBE (born 7 July 1944) is a retired English golfer. He was the most successful British player of his generation, winning two major championships, the 1969 Open Championship and the 1970 U.S. Open. He was also Ryder Cup captain ...
became the first Briton to win the
U.S. Open since 1924. Crawley accompanied Jacklin during the tournament and became increasingly conscious of his responsibility as Jacklin improved his lead with each passing day. "By God, I have all England at my feet" he was heard to say.
He played for Cambridge University v Oxford University in 1925.
He won the
English Amateur Championship
The English Amateur Championship, an annual snooker competition, is the highest-ranking and most prestigious amateur event in England. It is also the oldest and longest-running snooker tournament in the world, having been established in 1916, a ...
in 1931, and was a beaten finalist (at 37th) in 1934 and 1937.
Won the Presidents Putter in 1932,1947,1951 and 1952.
Won the
Worplesdon Mixed Foursomes
The Worplesdon Open Scratch Mixed Foursomes is an open mixed foursomes golf tournament contested annually at the Worplesdon Golf Club in Surrey since 1921. From its inception until the 1960s the event attracted many of the leading amateur golfer ...
in 1937 with
Molly Heppel
Molly, Mollie or mollies may refer to:
Animals
* ''Poecilia'', a genus of fishes
** ''Poecilia sphenops'', a fish species
* A female mule (horse–donkey hybrid)
People
* Molly (name) or Mollie, a female given name, including a list of persons ...
and in 1949 and 1950 with
Frances Stephens
Won the London Amateur Foursomes with
Philip Scrutton
Philip Furse Scrutton (1923 – 30 October 1958) was an English amateur golfer. He played in the Walker Cup in 1955 and 1957. He was killed in a road traffic accident at the age of 35.
Golf career
Scrutton remains one the few amateur golfers to ...
in 1952.
Won the
Berkshire Trophy
The Berkshire Trophy is the amateur stroke play golf championship played at The Berkshire Golf Club in England. It has been played annually since 1946. The format is 72 hole stroke play contested over two days. Both the Blue and Red courses are us ...
in 1948.
Runner-up in the
French Open
The French Open (french: Internationaux de France de tennis), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a major tennis tournament held over two weeks at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, beginning in late May each year. The tournament and ven ...
in 1937.
Played for Great Britain & Ireland in the Walker Cup in 1932, 1934, 1938, and 1947.
Played for England in the Home International Matches in 1931-32-33-34-36-37-46-47-48-49.
Won numerous amateur events in the 1930s and 1940s and many medals in the Royal and Ancient Golf club's Spring and Autumn meetings. Was a member of numerous Harrovian winning
Halford Hewitt sides.
In 1932 he received an enquiry as to his availability to go to Australia on the M.C.C. Tour (the Bodyline Series) but had to decline as he had already been selected for the Walker Cup match at Brookline, at which he was the only British player to score a point.
Cricket
After some excellent performances for the
Harrow XI, including a century against
Eton Eton most commonly refers to Eton College, a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England.
Eton may also refer to:
Places
*Eton, Berkshire, a town in Berkshire, England
* Eton, Georgia, a town in the United States
* Éton, a commune in the Meuse dep ...
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 1921,
Crawley made his
first-class debut for
Worcestershire
Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a county in the West Midlands of England. The area that is now Worcestershire was absorbed into the unified Kingdom of England in 927, at which time it was constituted as a county (see His ...
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_ ...
in early August 1922, even before he had appeared for
Cambridge
Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...
.
Although he did little in that game, against
Glamorgan
, HQ = Cardiff
, Government = Glamorgan County Council (1889–1974)
, Origin=
, Code = GLA
, CodeName = Chapman code
, Replace =
* West Glamorgan
* Mid Glamorgan
* South Glamorgan
, Motto ...
a few days later he – named as captain – made 91 out of 198 in Worcestershire's first innings.
In 1923 Crawley appeared regularly for Cambridge, fitting his Worcestershire appearances around those for the university, and he had a very successful year, ending with 801 first-class runs (his highest season's aggregate) at an
average
In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7, ...
of 44.50. His three games for Worcestershire in August included his maiden hundred: a knock of 161 against
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 ...
at
Worcester
Worcester may refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Worcester, England, a city and the county town of Worcestershire in England
** Worcester (UK Parliament constituency), an area represented by a Member of Parliament
* Worcester Park, London, Englan ...
. In this game he shared a third-wicket stand of 304 with
William Fox;
however,
Marylebone Cricket Club
Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) is a cricket club founded in 1787 and based since 1814 at Lord's Cricket Ground, which it owns, in St John's Wood, London. The club was formerly the governing body of cricket retaining considerable global influence ...
(MCC) declared both Crawley and Fox's qualifications to play for the county invalid.
Fox was to play on for Worcestershire after a two-season break, but Crawley left the county at the end of the summer.
Crawley went with MCC to the
Caribbean
The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...
in the winter of 1925–26, although as
West Indies
The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greater A ...
had yet to attain
Test
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), ...
status this was not considered a major tour, and he played no first-class games. Upon his return he joined
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 ...
, with whom he remained until the end of his county career. Although he never turned out for more than a few games each summer, he produced some notable feats of batting, such as the second-innings 176
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 ...
he hit, under pressure of time, to beat
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 1927.
Crawley's highest score of 222 was made in 1928 against Glamorgan, although this was a drawn game in which the teams' combined first innings approached a thousand.
A more impressive feat came in July 1936 (not 1937 as his ''Wisden'' obituary states) when he played his first match of the season (again against Glamorgan). In this game he made 118 in an innings where no other batsman passed 18.
The effort involved, however, meant that he was unable to bat in the second innings.
This was in fact to be the last century of his career, as he effectively retired at the end of the season, save only for one final outing, for MCC against Cambridge, in 1939.
[
]
A number of Crawley's relatives played first-class cricket: the most significant of these was his cousin
Aidan Crawley
Aidan Merivale Crawley (10 April 1908 – 3 November 1993) was a British journalist, television executive and editor, and politician. He was a member of both of Britain's major political parties: the Labour Party and Conservative Party, and wa ...
, who played 87 first-class matches, mostly between 1927 and 1932.
Golf team appearances
Amateur
*
Walker Cup
The Walker Cup is a golf trophy contested in odd-numbered years by leading male amateur golfers in two teams: United States, and Great Britain and Ireland. The official name is the Walker Cup Match (not "Matches" as in Ryder Cup Matches). It is ...
(representing Great Britain & Ireland):
1932
Events January
* January 4 – The British authorities in India arrest and intern Mahatma Gandhi and Vallabhbhai Patel.
* January 9 – Sakuradamon Incident (1932), Sakuradamon Incident: Korean nationalist Lee Bong-chang fails in his effort ...
,
1934
Events
January–February
* January 1 – The International Telecommunication Union, a specialist agency of the League of Nations, is established.
* January 15 – The 8.0 1934 Nepal–Bihar earthquake, Nepal–Bihar earthquake strik ...
,
1938
Events
January
* January 1
** The Constitution of Estonia#Third Constitution (de facto 1938–1940, de jure 1938–1992), new constitution of Estonia enters into force, which many consider to be the ending of the Era of Silence and the a ...
(winners),
1947
It was the first year of the Cold War, which would last until 1991, ending with the dissolution of the Soviet Union.
Events
January
* January–February – Winter of 1946–47 in the United Kingdom: The worst snowfall in the country in ...
*
England–Scotland Amateur Match
The England–Scotland Amateur Match was an annual men's amateur golf competition between teams representing England and Scotland. It was played from 1902 to 1931, although the match lapsed between 1913 and 1921. The match continued after 1931 but ...
(representing England): 1931
*England–Ireland Amateur Match (representing England): 1931 (winners)
References
External links
Leonard Crawleyfrom CricketArchive
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Crawley, Leonard
English male golfers
Amateur golfers
English cricketers
English cricketers of 1919 to 1945
Essex cricketers
Worcestershire cricketers
Cambridge University cricketers
Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers
Gentlemen cricketers
Free Foresters cricketers
H. D. G. Leveson Gower's XI cricketers
English sportswriters
People educated at Harrow School
1903 births
1981 deaths