Leslie Wright (20 January 1903 – 6 January 1956) was an English

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 who played 193 matches between 1925 and 1933, every one of them 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 ...

. He was primarily an

opening batsman In cricket, the batting order is the sequence in which batters play through their team's innings, there always being two batters taking part at any one time. All eleven players in a team are required to bat if the innings is completed (i.e., if ...

and an occasional medium-paced bowler. Wright played as a professional for Stourbridge Cricket Club before beginning his

county A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesChambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

career. 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 ...

'' 1957. His first-class debut came in May 1925, when he scored 31 and 14 against

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

The Parks The Oxford University Parks, commonly referred to locally as the University Parks, or just The Parks, is a large parkland area slightly northeast of the city centre in Oxford, England. The park is bounded to the east by the River Cherwell, thoug ...

. He did not play again that season, but in 1926 he appeared on 26 occasions, and ended the summer with 873 first-class runs 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 18.97. This tally included his maiden hundred, 111 against

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...

(sharing an opening partnership of 185 with

Maurice Jewell Maurice Frederick Stewart Jewell, CBE (15 September 1885 – 28 May 1978) was a Chilean-born English first-class cricketer: a right-handed batsman and slow left arm bowler who played the bulk of his cricket for Worcestershire between the wars. ...

) in midsummer. He also picked up the first of his 76 wickets when he removed

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 ...

Les Berry George Leslie "Les" Berry (28 May 1906 – 5 February 1985) was a cricketer who played for Leicestershire and holds many of the county's first-class batting records. A right-handed batsman who started his career in the middle order but beca ...

and

Alec Skelding Alexander Skelding (5 September 1886 – 18 April 1960) was a first-class cricketer and umpire, who is remembered as one of the great characters in the game. The fast bowler After playing for local clubs, he joined the Leicestershire County ...

in early June. From then until the end of his career in 1933, Wright was a regular sight in the Worcestershire team: in only two seasons (1931 and 1933) did he make fewer than 20 appearances. His most productive season was 1928, when he made 1,402 runs at 24.07, including 101 and 57 against Hampshire. He also passed his thousand runs in 1930, when he hit 1,180: this was the only year in which he made two centuries, of which the higher (his career best) was 134 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 ...

in July. He narrowly missed out on the landmark in 1929, making 992 runs that year. After 1930 Wright never scored another hundred, and although his form recovered somewhat after a dreadful 1931 in which he averaged less than 10, in 92 innings in the last three years of his career the highest score was the 86 he struck against the touring Indians 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 June 1932. He did hit another six half-centuries that summer, and a further three in his final season of 1933. His last 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 ...

in late August 1933, was an anticlimax: Wright was

bowled In cricket, the term bowled has several meanings. First, is the act of propelling the ball towards the wicket defended by a batsman. Second, it is a method of dismissing a batsman, by hitting the wicket with a ball delivered by the bowler. (Th ...

George Lavis George Lavis (17 August 1908 – 29 July 1956) was a Welsh cricketer active from 1928 to 1950 who played for Glamorgan. He was born in Monmouth and died in Pontypool. He appeared in 206 first-class matches as a righthanded batsman who bowled rig ...

for 3 in his only innings, and went wicketless from ten overs. Wright also played

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

as a

centre-forward Forwards (also known as attackers) are outfield positions in an association football team who play the furthest up the pitch and are therefore most responsible for scoring goals as well as assisting them. As with any attacking player, the role ...

in the Worcester League. After retiring from cricket, he ran a remand home in

Mitcham Mitcham is an area within the London Borough of Merton in South London, England. It is centred southwest of Charing Cross. Originally a village in the county of Surrey, today it is mainly a residential suburb, and includes Mitcham Common. It ha ...

, Surrey.

Notes

References

Leslie Wright
from CricketArchive * {{DEFAULTSORT:Wright, Leslie English cricketers Worcestershire cricketers 1903 births 1956 deaths Cricketers from County Durham