William Hone (9 May 1842 – 20 March 1919)
/ref> was an Irish

cricketer 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 ...

. A right-handed

batsman In cricket, batting is the act or skill of hitting the ball with a bat to score runs and prevent the loss of one's wicket. Any player who is currently batting is, since September 2021, officially referred to as a batter (historically, the ...

, he played eleven times for the

Ireland cricket team The Ireland cricket team represents all of Ireland in international cricket. The Irish Cricket Union, operating under the brand Cricket Ireland is the sport's governing body in Ireland, and organises the international team. Ireland participa ...

between 1861 and 1878CricketEurope Stats Zone profile
/ref> and also played nine first-class matches, mostly for the MCC.First-class matches played by William Hone at Cricket Archive
/ref>

Playing career

Hone made his debut for Ireland in September 1861, playing against

I Zingari I Zingari (from dialectalized Italian , meaning "the Gypsies"; corresponding to standard Italian ') are English and Australian amateur cricket clubs, founded in 1845 and 1888 respectively. It is the oldest and perhaps the most famous of the 'wa ...

. He played against the Irish military the following month, against the MCC in May 1862 and against I Zingari in September 1863, before beginning his first-class career. He made his first-class debut for the MCC in July 1864, playing against

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, historic county in South East England, southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the Ceremonial counties of ...

Lord's Lord's Cricket Ground, commonly known as Lord's, is a cricket venue in St John's Wood, London. Named after its founder, Thomas Lord, it is owned by Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and is the home of Middlesex County Cricket Club, the England and ...

. He next played for them against

Oxford University 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 ...

and

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 1866. In 1867, he played three matches for the MCC, against

Cambridge University , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

, Oxford University and Surrey. He scored 76 in the first

innings An innings is one of the divisions of a cricket match during which one team takes its turn to bat. Innings also means the period in which an individual player bats (acts as either striker or nonstriker). Innings, in cricket, and rounders, is bot ...

of the match against Oxford University,Scorecard
of Oxford University v MCC match, 30 May 1867 at Cricket Archive his highest first-class score. He also played against Cambridge University for Southgate in a first-class match that year. He returned to the Irish side in September 1867, playing a match against I Zingari. He played another first-class match for the MCC, against

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 ...

at Lord's in June 1868 and three days later played against the MCC for Ireland on the same ground, during which he took 4/20, his best bowling figures for Ireland. He followed this with a match against I Zingari, scoring 91 in the Irish innings, his only half-

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 ...

for Ireland. He played four more times for Ireland, three times against I Zingari and once against the MCC, his last Irish game coming in August 1878 against I Zingari. He also played one more first-class match for the MCC, against Cambridge University in June 1877.

Statistics

In first-class cricket, Hone scored 266 runs at an

average In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7, ...

of 20.46 and took three

wickets In cricket, the term wicket has several meanings: * It is one of the two sets of three stumps and two bails at either end of the pitch. The fielding team's players can hit the wicket with the ball in a number of ways to get a batsman out. ...

at an

of 21.33. In matches for Ireland, he scored 274 runs at an average of 17.12 and took eight wickets at an average of 9.62.

Family

Hone came from a cricketing family. His brother Nathaniel also played for Ireland, as did another brother Leland who also played

Test cricket Test cricket is a form of first-class cricket played at international level between teams representing full member countries of the International Cricket Council (ICC). A match consists of four innings (two per team) and is scheduled to last fo ...

for

. Three of his cousins,

William William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...

Thomas Thomas may refer to: People * List of people with given name Thomas * Thomas (name) * Thomas (surname) * Saint Thomas (disambiguation) * Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church * Thomas the Ap ...

and Jeffery, also played for Ireland as did his son Pat.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hone, William Irish cricketers Irish people of Dutch descent Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers 1842 births 1919 deaths Cricketers from County Dublin Southgate cricketers