John Fox (7 September 1904 – 15 November 1961) was an English

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

er who played 140 first-class matches

between the wars In the history of the 20th century, the interwar period, also known as the interbellum (), lasted from 11 November 1918 to 1 September 1939 (20 years, 9 months, 21 days) – from the end of World War I (WWI) to the beginning of World War II ( ...

, 46 for

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Staffordshire and Leicestershire to the north, Northamptonshire to the east, Ox ...

and 94 for

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Shropshire, Staffordshire, and the West Midlands (county), West ...

. Fox made his first-class debut for Warwickshire against Worcestershire at

Amblecote Amblecote is a village in the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. It lies immediately north of the historic town of Stourbridge on the southwestern edge of the West Midlands conurbation. Histori ...

in June 1922. In a 223-run Warwickshire win, he made 21 in his only innings and bowled two overs without reward. He then appeared in the extraordinary game against

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...

Edgbaston Edgbaston () is a suburb of Birmingham, West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. It lies immediately south-west of Birmingham city centre, and was historically in Warwickshire. The Ward (electoral subdivision), wards of Edgbaston and Nort ...

in which Hampshire, having been bowled out for 15, made 521

following on In cricket, a team who batted second and scored significantly fewer runs than the team who batted first may be forced to follow-on: to take their second innings immediately after their first. The follow-on can be enforced by the team who batted f ...

and won by 155 runs. Fox's personal contribution to the match was minimal, although he did take his maiden first-class wicket, that of

William Shirley William Shirley (2 December 1694 – 24 March 1771) was a British colonial administrator who served as the governor of the British American colonies of Massachusetts Bay and the Bahamas. He is best known for his role in organizing the succ ...

. Fox played a few more times that season without notable success, and continued to appear sporadically for the next few summers. Although he took a career-best 4–27 against Worcestershire in 1926, it was only the following year that he started to play more regularly, appearing 18 times. He had a terrible season, however, claiming just four wickets at a woeful

bowling average In cricket, a player's bowling average is the number of runs they have conceded per wicket taken. The lower the bowling average is, the better the bowler is performing. It is one of a number of statistics used to compare bowlers, commonly use ...

of 81.50, while his

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is ...

was pushed above 20 only because of nine

not out In cricket, a batsman is not out if they come out to bat in an innings and have not been dismissed by the end of an innings. The batsman is also ''not out'' while their innings is still in progress. Occurrence At least one batter is not out at ...

s in 17 innings. He did play two more games for Warwickshire in 1928, but after that he took the short journey to New Road to play for Worcestershire. 1929, Fox's first season with his new county, was something of a mixed bag: his tally of 505 runs was higher than the aggregate of his career up to that point, and although he averaged only 15.78, he did hit 60 and 19 opening the batting against

Glamorgan Glamorgan (), or sometimes Glamorganshire ( or ), was Historic counties of Wales, one of the thirteen counties of Wales that existed from 1536 until their abolishment in 1974. It is located in the South Wales, south of Wales. Originally an ea ...

in late July. His bowling, however, was again unproductive: four wickets at 71. This, however, was followed by unquestionably the best season of Fox's career: in 1930 he scored 861 runs at 22.65 and took 16 wickets at 28.37. After this, Fox's career gradually declined. Although he was still capable of useful scores, such as the career-best 73 he made against

Northamptonshire Northamptonshire ( ; abbreviated Northants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Leicestershire, Rutland and Lincolnshire to the north, Cambridgeshire to the east, Bedfordshi ...

in May 1931, these were never very frequent and for the last three years of his career he struggled to push his batting average beyond the low teens. Nor could his bowling rescue him: he never again took more than five wickets in a season, and at an average of around 50 runs apiece he was simply too expensive. Fox played his last first-class match at the end of 1933, against

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...

. In a drawn game he made 19 in his only innings and took the single wicket of Arthur Wood. He was born in

Selly Park Selly Park is a residential suburban district in south-west Birmingham, England. The suburb of Selly Park is located between the Bristol Road ( A38) and the Pershore Road ( A441). Toponymy Selly Park is named after the parkland that was origin ...

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

; he also died in Birmingham, aged 57.

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fox, John 1904 births 1961 deaths English cricketers Warwickshire cricketers Worcestershire cricketers Cricketers from Birmingham, West Midlands 20th-century English sportsmen