William Kennedy Laidlaw (26 August 1912 – 4 June 1992) was a

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

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. Laidlaw was a right-handed batsman who bowled

leg break Leg spin is a type of spin bowling in cricket. A leg spinner bowls right-arm with a wrist spin action. The leg spinner's normal delivery causes the ball to spin from right to left (from the bowler's perspective) when the ball bounces on the ...

googly. He was born in Edinburgh,

Midlothian Midlothian (; gd, Meadhan Lodainn) is a historic county, registration county, lieutenancy area and one of 32 council areas of Scotland used for local government. Midlothian lies in the east-central Lowlands, bordering the City of Edinburgh, ...

and was educated at

Melville College Stewart's Melville College (SMC) is an independent day and boarding school in Edinburgh, Scotland. Classes are all boys in the 1st to 5th years and co-educational in Sixth (final) year. It has a roll of about 750 pupils. The school is twinned w ...

. Laidlaw made his first-class debut for Scotland against Yorkshire in 1938. His debut was an overwhelming success, with Laidlaw taking 7 wickets in the Yorkshire first-innings for the cost of 70 runs. He played first-class cricket for Scotland either side of World War II, making a total of 15 appearances, with his final match coming against Ireland in 1953 in Belfast. A bowler, Laidlaw took 40 wickets at an average of 26.62, with two

five wicket haul In cricket, a five-wicket haul (also known as a "five–for" or "fifer") occurs when a bowler takes five or more wickets in a single innings. This is regarded by critics as a notable achievement, equivalent to a century from a batsman. Taking ...

s, although he never managed to better the figures he took against Yorkshire in 1938. His other five wicket haul came against Ireland in 1949. His performances for Scotland caught the eye of Durham, then a

minor county The National Counties, known as the Minor Counties before 2020, are the cricketing counties of England and Wales that do not have first-class status. The game is administered by the National Counties Cricket Association (NCCA), which comes unde ...

. He made his debut for Durham in the 1948

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 ...

against Northumberland, with Laidlaw making a total of 26 appearances between 1948 and 1952. In 1950, he played his final two first-class matches when representing the Minor Counties against the Marylebone Cricket Club and the touring West Indians. Outside of cricket, he worked as an accountant. He died in the city of his birth on 4 June 1992.

References

External links

William Laidlaw
at ESPNcricinfo
William Laidlaw
at CricketArchive {{DEFAULTSORT:Laidlaw, William 1912 births 1992 deaths Cricketers from Edinburgh People educated at Stewart's Melville College Scottish cricketers Durham cricketers Minor Counties cricketers