Thomas Bowley (28 February 1857 — 8 November 1939) 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 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 1885 to 1891. Bowley was born in

Old Basford Old Basford is an area of Nottingham located next to Basford, Nottingham, New Basford being split by Valley Road/Western Boulevard. The parish church of St Leodegarius was built in the 12th century. The north aisle and north arcade were rebuilt i ...

, Nottinghamshire. He began playing for

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated Notts.) is a landlocked county in the East Midlands region of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. The traditi ...

in 1879 and for

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 ...

from 1880. In 1884, against Essex, he took all the wickets for Northamptonshire apart from one run out in the first innings. He made his first-class debut for Surrey in 1885 and became a formidable member of the Surrey attack with

George Lohmann George Alfred Lohmann (2 June 1865 – 1 December 1901) was an English cricketer, regarded as one of the greatest bowlers of all time. Statistically, he holds the lowest lifetime Test bowling average among bowlers with more than fifteen wicke ...

and Jack Beaumont.Wisden Obituaries 1939
/ref> Bowley had a hand in changing the rules of cricket to allow declaration. In a match between Surrey and Sussex in 1887, Surrey had set up a big lead and wanted to have a go at Sussex on a deteriorating pitch while Sussex wanted to hang on for a draw. Bowley, last man in, tried to get stumped but the wicketkeeper refused, and Sussex prolonged the innings by sending down a succession of no-balls. Eventually, Bowley kicked down his own stumps. However enough time had been lost to let Sussex hold the draw. One of Bowley’s best bowling performances was in 1889 when he took six Derbyshire wickets for 13 runs at Derby. In his first class career, he also played for the North, Players of the South and CI Thornton’s XI. He was an umpire for North v South and Players v Gentlemen between 1883 and 1893. Bowley was right-arm fast bowler and took 264 first-class wickets at an average of 16.82 and a best performance of 7 for 64. He was a right-handed batsman and played 111 innings in 83 first-class matches at an average of 8.58 and a top score of 46. In 1894, Bowley was appointed cricket coach at

Sherborne School (God and My Right) , established = 705 by Aldhelm, re-founded by King Edward VI 1550 , closed = , type = Public school Independent, boarding school , religion = Church of England , president = , chair_label = Chairman of the governors , ...

and held the position for seventeen years. He also played for

Dorset Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset (unitary authority), Dors ...

for several years. Bowley also played for

in the

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 ...

from 1897 to 1902. Bowley died in

Sherborne Sherborne is a market town and civil parish in north west Dorset, in South West England. It is sited on the River Yeo, on the edge of the Blackmore Vale, east of Yeovil. The parish includes the hamlets of Nether Coombe and Lower Clatcombe. T ...

, Dorset at the age of 82.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bowley, Thomas 1857 births 1939 deaths English cricketers Surrey cricketers North v South cricketers Dorset cricketers English cricket umpires English cricket coaches Players of the South cricketers C. I. Thornton's XI cricketers Cricketers from Nottingham