Thomas Forrester, also known as Thomas Forester, (21 September 1873 – 27 December 1927) 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 who played first-class cricket for

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avon an ...

from 1896 to 1899 and for

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...

from 1902 to 1920. Forrester was born at

Clay Cross Clay Cross is a town and a civil parish in the North East Derbyshire district of Derbyshire, England. It is a former industrial and mining town, about south of Chesterfield. It is directly on the A61. Surrounding settlements include North W ...

, Derbyshire, the son of Thomas Forester, a coal miner, and his wife Elizabeth. Forrester made his debut for Warwickshire against

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 ...

in May 1896. He took a wicket and two catches in each of the innings. In a match 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 ...

he took 7 wickets for 56. During the 1897 season he took 5 for 72 against Leicestershire in his nine games. In 1898 he was down to four matches and in 1899 played seven. After a break, he joined Derbyshire in the 1902 season. He played modestly in 1902 and 1903, and played just one game in the 1904 season. There was another break in his first-class cricket career, and he returned in the 1910 season a considerably developed player. He made 78 runs in a match against Hampshire although his bowling did not take off until the 1911 season. In that year he took 5 for 161 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. ...

, 5 for 36 against

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...

, 6 for 39 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 ...

and 6 for 30 against Hampshire. He also made 73 runs in a match against

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 G ...

. In the 1912 season he took 5 for 76 against an Australian touring side and his best performance of 7 for 18 against Northamptonshire. He also scored 84 not out against Essex. In the 1913 season he made his top score of 87 against Essex and took 5 for 76 against

Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...

, 5 for 88 against Hampshire, 6 for 72 against Lancashire and 7 for 127 against

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 the 1914 season he had two ten wicket matches with 5 for 47 and 5 for 83 in the same match against Lancashire, and 7 for 89 and 7 for 124 in the same match against Essex. First-class cricket was interrupted by the First World War, and Forrester played just two games in the 1920 season. Against

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

he maintained form, but in his last match against Lancashire, after failing to take a wicket in 20 overs he was absent hurt for the remainder of the game and did not play again. Forrester was a right-arm medium pace bowler and took 347 first-class wickets at an average of 25.70 and a best performance of 7 for 18. He took seventeen 5-wicket innings and three 10-wicket matches. He was a left-hand batsman and played 212 innings in 131 matches with an average of 15.80 and a top score of 87.Thomas Forrester at Cricket Archive
/ref> Forrester died at Standard Hill,

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east ...

at the age of 54.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Forrester, Thomas 1873 births 1927 deaths Derbyshire cricketers Warwickshire cricketers English cricketers People from Clay Cross Cricketers from Derbyshire