Herbert Strudwick (28 January 1880 – 14 February 1970) was an English

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. ...

. 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 Mitcham is an area within the London Borough of Merton in South London, England. It is centred southwest of Charing Cross. Originally a village in the county of Surrey, today it is mainly a residential suburb, and includes Mitcham Common. It h ...

, Surrey, Strudwick took to wicket-keeping, apparently on the advice of a local lady, at the age of ten. He first played for Surrey in a few games in 1902, but during his first full season the following year dismissed a record 91 batsmen (71 catches and 20 stumpings) – a feat made more remarkable by the decline of Surrey's top

fast bowlers Fast bowling (also referred to as pace bowling) is one of two main approaches to bowling (cricket), bowling in the sport of cricket, the other being spin bowling. Practitioners of pace bowling are usually known as ''fast'' bowlers, ''quicks'', ...

Tom Richardson and William Lockwood and the exceptionally wet weather of that summer. From that time on, Strudwick became regarded as the natural successor to Dick Lilley as England's

Test Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film), ...

wicket-keeper, and he toured Australia in 1903/1904 without playing a Test. Continuing his good form, Strudwick maintained his place among the top wicket-keepers right through the 1900s and played his first Test in 1909/1910 against South Africa. In 1911, though overshadowed in county cricket by Kent veteran Fred Huish, Studwick was chosen as the first-choice wicket-keeper to Australia because of his relative youth and did not disappoint, taking the bowling of Frank Foster and

Sydney Barnes Sydney Francis Barnes (19 April 1873 – 26 December 1967) was an English professional cricketer who is regarded as one of the greatest bowlers of all time. He was right-handed and bowled at a pace that varied from medium to fast-medium wit ...

with skill. His skill was seen to even greater effect taking Barnes on the matting wickets of South Africa in 1914: with Barnes' bowling bouncing and turning. In the following season, Strudwick's skill was an essential part of Surrey's success in winning the

County Championship The County Championship (referred to as the LV= Insurance County Championship for sponsorship reasons) is the domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales and is organised by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). It bec ...

for the only time during his career. After

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

halted county cricket, Strudwick re-established himself in the England side until he retired in 1927 – though he was dropped to improve the batting during the disastrous 1921 series against Armstrong's Australians. After his playing days he became a respected coach and for many years was the Surrey scorer. In his later years Strudwick, renowned for his abstinence from

tobacco Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...

and alcohol at a time when the health of sportsmen was not taken seriously, wrote many articles about the game 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 ...

''. The most famous of these is ''From Dr. Grace to Peter May'' in the 1959 Wisden, which outlines how Strudwick saw the game both during his career and as a spectator after retiring. Not much of a batsman, he nonetheless twice added over 100 for the last wicket with Bill Hitch (one of only four pairs with more than one tenth-wicket century stand in

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 officia ...

). His record of 1,493 dismissals is the third-highest by any wicket-keeper in the history of first-class cricket. He died in

Shoreham-by-Sea Shoreham-by-Sea (often shortened to Shoreham) is a coastal town and port in West Sussex, England. The town is bordered to its north by the South Downs, to its west by the Adur Valley and to its south by the River Adur and Shoreham Beach on th ...

, Sussex, aged 90.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Strudwick, Herbert 1880 births 1970 deaths England Test cricketers English cricketers English cricketers of 1890 to 1918 Surrey cricketers Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers Players cricketers North v South cricketers Wisden Cricketers of the Year People from Mitcham English cricket coaches English cricketers of 1919 to 1945 Players of the South cricketers C. I. Thornton's XI cricketers L. H. Tennyson's XI cricket team A. E. R. Gilligan's XI cricketers Lord Londesborough's XI cricketers Wicket-keepers Marylebone Cricket Club Australian Touring Team cricketers Marylebone Cricket Club South African Touring Team cricketers