Ralph Augustin Williams (2 February 1879 – 1 December 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 and

barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include taking cases in superior courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, researching law and ...

. Williams was a right-handed batsman who bowled right-arm medium pace. He was born in

Caversham, Berkshire Caversham is a suburb of Reading, England. Originally a village founded in the Middle Ages, it lies on the north bank of the River Thames, opposite the rest of Reading. Caversham Bridge, Reading Bridge, Christchurch Bridge, and Caversham Lock pr ...

Life

Educated at Winchester College, Williams made a single

Minor Counties Championship The NCCA 3 Day Championship (previously the Minor Counties Cricket Championship) is a season-long competition in England and Wales that is contested by the members of the National Counties Cricket Association (NCCA), the so-called national cou ...

appearance for

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (), abbreviated Bucks, is a ceremonial county in South East England that borders Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, Oxfordshire to the west, Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-ea ...

against

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the north west of South East England. It is a mainly rural county, with its largest settlement being the city of Oxford. The county is a centre of research and development, primarily ...

in 1895. He played for Oxfordshire in the 1896 season, making 3 appearances in the Minor Counties Championship. The season after that, he joined

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; in the 17th century sometimes spelt phonetically as Barkeshire; abbreviated Berks.) is a historic county in South East England. One of the home counties, Berkshire was recognised by Queen Elizabeth II as the Royal County of Berk ...

, who he made his debut for against Wiltshire in the Minor Counties Championship. Following his education at Winchester College, Williams undertook studies at University College, Oxford. It was in 1899 that he made his first-class debut for Oxford University against Worcestershire. He made 11 further first-class appearances for the university, the last of which came against Cambridge University in 1902. In his 12 first-class matches for the university, he scored 443 runs at an average of 23.31, with a high score of 65. This score, one of four fifties he scored for the university, came against Ireland in 1902. With the ball, he took 22 wickets at a

bowling average In cricket, a player's bowling average is the number of runs they have conceded per wicket taken. The lower the bowling average is, the better the bowler is performing. It is one of a number of statistics used to compare bowlers, commonly use ...

of 34.90, with best figures of 5/30. These figures, which were his only

five wicket haul In cricket, a five-wicket haul (also known as a "five–for" or "fifer") occurs when a bowler takes five or more wickets in a single innings. This is regarded by critics as a notable achievement, equivalent to a century from a batsman. Taking ...

for the university, came against

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

in 1902. In late 1902, he toured India with an

Oxford University Authentics 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 Un ...

team, playing 3 first-class matches on the tour, one each against Bombay, the

Parsees Parsis () or Parsees are an ethnoreligious group of the Indian subcontinent adhering to Zoroastrianism. They are descended from Persians who migrated to Medieval India during and after the Arab conquest of Iran (part of the early Muslim co ...

and the

Gentlemen of India A gentleman (Old French: ''gentilz hom'', gentle + man) is any man of good and courteous conduct. Originally, ''gentleman'' was the lowest rank of the landed gentry of England, ranking below an esquire and above a yeoman; by definition, the ra ...

. The tour was a successful one for Williams, with him scoring 141 runs at an average of 28.20, with the tour including his only first-class

century 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 ...

, a score of 105 which came against Bombay. He was equally as successful with the ball, taking 18 wickets at an average of 18.38, which included two five wicket hauls. Williams continued to play Minor counties cricket for Berkshire until 1904, when he made his final appearance for the county 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 that season's Minor Counties Championship. A barrister by profession, Williams was appointed to the Inner Temple in 1903.

References

External links

Ralph Williams
at ESPNcricinfo
Ralph Williams
at CricketArchive {{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Ralph 1879 births 1958 deaths People from Caversham, Reading People educated at Winchester College Alumni of University College, Oxford English cricketers Buckinghamshire cricketers Oxfordshire cricketers Berkshire cricketers Oxford University cricketers English barristers Members of the Middle Temple 20th-century King's Counsel Oxford University Authentics cricketers