Harding Isaac "Sailor" Young (5 February 1876 – 12 December 1964) was a professional cricketer who played for

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 Grea ...

and

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. Young was a left-arm medium-pace bowler and a capable lower-order batsman. His bowling achieved considerable turn off the wicket, and was described in

Wisden ''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 ...

as having "a deceptive curl". Young's cricketing successes in minor matches led Essex to buy him out of the Royal Navy. He played a few games in 1898, but came to prominence early the following year, when he took eleven wickets for 74 runs against a powerful Australian touring side and gave Essex a surprising victory by 126 runs. ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' (f ...

'', describing his bowling in the second innings when he took seven for 32, said "Young's bowling could not be played", that he "came off the pitch at a great pace" and "turned six inches with his arm". He continued to bowl so well in a very dry summer of prolific run scoring that by July he was regarded by some as "the best hard wicket bowler at England's disposal".''The Times'', 10 July 1899, Gentlemen v Players Sailor Young was picked for two Test matches that season and took six wickets in each of them, finishing at the top of the England averages. However, as a result of him losing form somewhat after bowling the Players to victory at

The Oval The Oval, currently known for sponsorship reasons as the Kia Oval, is an international cricket ground in Kennington, located in the borough of Lambeth, in south London. The Oval has been the home ground of Surrey County Cricket Club since ...

, Sailor Young was discarded for the last match of the series and never played Test cricket again. He still took 139 wickets for the year, making him the sixth highest wicket-taker. Young's success in 1899 led to great expectations for him, but after an excellent performance for the

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) against

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other English counties, functions have ...

early in the year "Sailor" surprisingly fell off to such an extent that for Essex in county matches he took only forty-three wickets as against eighty-nine. After improving a little in 1901 and doing an impressive performance on a soft pitch against

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

early in 1902 "Sailor" nevertheless fell off completely. By 1903 his wicket tally was down to just 52 and after that season he dropped out of regular cricket because of severe rheumatism in his muscles. Sailor Young continued to play a few matches for Essex and as a member of the MCC ground staff right up to 1912, but could never undertake anything more than very short bowling spells. In 1910-11 he was a member of the MCC team that toured the West Indies. From 1921 to 1931, Young was a first-class umpire and he officiated in two Test matches in 1924 and 1926.

References

First-Class Bowling in Each Season
* Wisden Cricketers' Almanack, 1970 edition, page 1027. Young's death in 1964 went unreported until the 1970 edition of Wisden. {{DEFAULTSORT:Young, Sailor 1876 births 1964 deaths England Test cricketers English cricketers Essex cricketers English Test cricket umpires Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers North v South cricketers Players cricketers People from Leyton Cricketers from the London Borough of Waltham Forest Home Counties cricketers C. I. Thornton's XI cricketers