Edward William John Brooks (8 July 1898 – 10 February 1960) 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. A

wicket-keeper The wicket-keeper in the sport of cricket is the player on the fielding side who stands behind the wicket or stumps being watchful of the batsman and ready to take a catch, stump the batsman out and run out a batsman when occasion arises. Th ...

, he played

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 ...

for

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. ...

from 1925 to 1939, all but five of his first-class appearances being for the county. Only

Herbert Strudwick Herbert Strudwick (28 January 1880 – 14 February 1970) was an English wicket-keeper. His record of 1,493 dismissals is the third-highest by any wicket-keeper in the history of first-class cricket. Biography Born in Mitcham, Surrey, Strudwic ...

has exceeded his 810 dismissals for the county. He originally joined the Surrey staff as a medium-paced bowler. In a minor match in 1923 he kept wicket when the regular wicketkeeper was injured, and did so well that he concentrated on his keeping from then on. When Strudwick retired after the 1927 season, Brooks succeeded him as the regular first team keeper, having already played in some matches from 1925 to 1927 when Strudwick was injured or away playing for England. He was notably acrobatic behind the stumps and kept particularly well to fast bowling. That he was regarded highly as a keeper is indicated by the fact that he played four times for the Players against the Gentlemen between 1931 and 1935. He took six catches in an innings against Kent at Blackheath in 1935, which equalled the Surrey record. Though no better than a useful tail-end batsman, when he made his highest score of 70, 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 ...

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 ...

in 1936, he shared a stand of 168 for the ninth wicket with

Errol Holmes Errol Reginald Thorold Holmes (21 August 1905 – 16 August 1960) was an English cricketer who played first-class cricket for Oxford University, Surrey and England between 1924 and 1955. A dashing right-handed batsman, Holmes believed that cri ...

in just 75 minutes. This remains the Surrey record partnership for that wicket. He was noted as a humorist, both on and off the field. In one match he missed two stumpings off Freddie Brown in one over and another in Brown's next over, all from the same batsman. In the following over he held a fine diving catch off

Alf Gover Alfred Richard Gover (29 February 1908 – 7 October 2001) was an English Test cricketer. He was the mainstay of the Surrey bowling attack during the 1930s and played four Tests before and after the Second World War. He also founded and ran ...

to dismiss the batsman. Brooks walked up to Brown and said: "I can catch 'em if I can't stump 'em." Gordon Ross, ''A History of County Cricket: Surrey'', Arthur Barker Ltd, 1971, , p83.

References

External links

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ESPNcricinfo (includes obituary from ''The Cricketer'')
*''Surrey County Cricket Club First-Class Records 1846-2000, Limited Overs Records 1963-2000'', compiled by The Surrey Statistics Group, published by Surrey County Cricket Club. {{DEFAULTSORT:Brooks, Ted 1898 births 1960 deaths English cricketers London Counties cricketers Surrey cricketers Players cricketers English cricketers of 1919 to 1945 H. D. G. Leveson Gower's XI cricketers Wicket-keepers Cricketers from Camberwell