Adam Seymour
Encyclopedia
Adam Charles Hilton Seymour (born 7 December 1967 in Royston
, Hertfordshire
) is a former English
cricket
er who played for a variety of teams in his 12-year career; most of his games were for Essex
and Worcestershire
.
Batting at number eight, Seymour scored 102 not out
at the age of 16 for Essex Second XI against their Middlesex
counterparts at South Hampstead. Essex II, however, lost the game by one wicket.
He made more than 20 further appearances for Essex II and Essex Under-25s, the bulk of these in 1985, but never even reached 50, let alone 100.
Seymour was given his first-class
debut by Essex in May 1988, when he was chosen for the match against Cambridge University
at Fenner's
, hitting 33*
down the order in a comfortable Essex victory.
This was the first first-class game to be umpired
by Vanburn Holder
.
He made no first-team appearances in 1989, but played some very good innings at Second XI level, including 168* and 42* against Lancashire II
in September.
His next chance in the first team came in 1990, when he made his List A debut against the Zimbabweans at Chelmsford; he opened the batting with John Stephenson, but made only 6 before falling lbw
to Eddo Brandes
.
Two days later Seymour played in a first-class game against Cambridge at Fenner's, making 28 and 89.
He was soon out of the team again, though, and was not recalled until June 1991, when he made 67 against Worcestershire at Ilford.
After one more Second XI game, Seymour enjoyed the longest run in the Essex first team of his career, lasting almost until the end of the season; the highlight was the career-best 157 he made against Glamorgan
at Cardiff in late July.
For 1992 Seymour moved to Worcestershire, making an immediate impression for his new county by scoring 133 in his first innings, against Oxford University
at The University Parks.
He thus became only the fifth player to hit a century on his Worcestershire debut.
He held down a first-team place until the middle of June, but the lack of any more major scores saw him largely relegated to the seconds thereafter.
1991 and 1992 were the only years in which Seymour passed 500 first-class runs in a season.
He played regular first-team cricket for the first part of 1993, but made only one fifty in either form of the game, hitting an unbeaten 54 against the Australians at Worcester
in early May. Seymour shared in a defiant unbroken stand of 121 with Stuart Lampitt
after Worcestershire had been forced to follow on.
He accompanied Worcestershire on their 1993-94 tour of Zimbabwe, scoring 30 against a Matabeleland
Invitation XI at Bulawayo
.
In 1994 he was almost a one-day
specialist for Worcestershire, turning out in nine List A matches but only three first-class games; these were the last first-class matches of his career.
A minor one-day highlight was his solitary wicket at first-team level: that of Norfolk
's Rodney Bunting
, whom he trapped lbw in a first-round NatWest Trophy match at Lakenham
in June.
In 1994-95, Seymour travelled to New Zealand
to play state cricket with Northern Districts. He made only two appearances, both in one-day games against Wellington at the Basin Reserve
; in the first of these, his 62 earned him the man-of-the-match award.
Returning to England, he played only a handful of Second XI matches for Essex in 1995, as well as playing for Cornwall
in minor counties cricket, something he also did in 1997.
In June 1995, he played List A cricket for Cornwall in the NatWest Trophy, but made a duck
against Middlesex.
1998 saw Seymour switch minor counties to Suffolk
, for whom he played a considerable number of games until 2000.
He never reached three figures for Suffolk, but twice came close in August 1998, when he made 99 and 84 against Lincolnshire
at Ipswich.
He played the final List A game of his career in May 2000, when he scored 22 against Lancashire Cricket Board at Mildenhall
in the NatWest Trophy
.
Seymour played club cricket
after his county career had wound down. Around the turn of the 21st century he played for Clacton in the East Anglian Premier League. In May 1999 he produced an excellent all-round display as Clacton beat Bury St Edmunds, first claiming 4-10 in eight overs of "practically unplayable" spin (not the medium-pacers he had occasionally used in his earlier career) and then hitting 60 not out.
He later played in the Essex Cricket League for Colchester and East Essex; in two single-innings matches against Gidea Park and Romford he made 100* and 87*.
Royston, Hertfordshire
Royston is a town and civil parish in the District of North Hertfordshire and county of Hertfordshire in England.It is situated on the Greenwich Meridian, which brushes the towns western boundary, and at the northernmost apex of the county on the same latitude of towns such as Milton Keynes and...
, Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England. The county town is Hertford.The county is one of the Home Counties and lies inland, bordered by Greater London , Buckinghamshire , Bedfordshire , Cambridgeshire and...
) is a former English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
cricket
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
er who played for a variety of teams in his 12-year career; most of his games were for Essex
Essex County Cricket Club
Essex County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh national cricket structure, representing the historic county of Essex. Its limited overs team is called the Essex Eagles, their team colours this season are blue.The club plays most of its home games...
and Worcestershire
Worcestershire County Cricket Club
Worcestershire County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Worcestershire...
.
Batting at number eight, Seymour scored 102 not out
Not out
In cricket, a batsman will be not out if he comes out to bat in an innings and has not been dismissed by the end of the innings. One may similarly describe a batsman as not out while the innings is still in progress...
at the age of 16 for Essex Second XI against their Middlesex
Middlesex County Cricket Club
Middlesex County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Middlesex. It was announced in February 2009 that Middlesex changed their limited overs name from the Middlesex Crusaders, to the...
counterparts at South Hampstead. Essex II, however, lost the game by one wicket.
He made more than 20 further appearances for Essex II and Essex Under-25s, the bulk of these in 1985, but never even reached 50, let alone 100.
Seymour was given his first-class
First-class cricket
First-class cricket is a class of cricket that consists of matches of three or more days' scheduled duration, that are between two sides of eleven players and are officially adjudged first-class by virtue of the standard of the competing teams...
debut by Essex in May 1988, when he was chosen for the match against Cambridge University
Cambridge University Cricket Club
Cambridge University Cricket Club is a first-class cricket team. It now plays all but one of its first-class cricket matches as part of the Cambridge University Centre of Cricketing Excellence , which includes Anglia Ruskin University...
at Fenner's
Fenner's
Fenner's is the University of Cambridge's cricket ground.-History:Fenner's has hosted first-class cricket since 1848, and many of the world's great players have graced the wicket. The ground was established on land leased for the purpose by Francis Fenner, after whom the ground is named.Playing for...
, hitting 33*
Not out
In cricket, a batsman will be not out if he comes out to bat in an innings and has not been dismissed by the end of the innings. One may similarly describe a batsman as not out while the innings is still in progress...
down the order in a comfortable Essex victory.
This was the first first-class game to be umpired
Umpire (cricket)
In cricket, an umpire is a person who has the authority to make judgements on the cricket field, according to the Laws of Cricket...
by Vanburn Holder
Vanburn Holder
Vanburn Alonzo Holder is a former West Indian cricketer who played in forty Tests and twelve ODIs from 1969 to 1979.Holder played in the golden era of West Indian fast bowling...
.
He made no first-team appearances in 1989, but played some very good innings at Second XI level, including 168* and 42* against Lancashire II
Lancashire County Cricket Club
Lancashire County Cricket Club represents the historic county of Lancashire in cricket's County Championship. The club was founded in 1864 as a successor to Manchester Cricket Club and has played at Old Trafford since then...
in September.
His next chance in the first team came in 1990, when he made his List A debut against the Zimbabweans at Chelmsford; he opened the batting with John Stephenson, but made only 6 before falling lbw
Leg before wicket
In the sport of cricket, leg before wicket is one of the ways in which a batsman can be dismissed. An umpire will rule a batsman out LBW under a series of circumstances which primarily include the ball striking the batsman's body when it would otherwise have continued on to hit the batsman's...
to Eddo Brandes
Eddo Brandes
Eddo André Brandes is a former Zimbabwean cricketer who played in 10 Tests and 59 ODIs from 1987 to 1999, spanning four World Cups...
.
Two days later Seymour played in a first-class game against Cambridge at Fenner's, making 28 and 89.
He was soon out of the team again, though, and was not recalled until June 1991, when he made 67 against Worcestershire at Ilford.
After one more Second XI game, Seymour enjoyed the longest run in the Essex first team of his career, lasting almost until the end of the season; the highlight was the career-best 157 he made against Glamorgan
Glamorgan County Cricket Club
Glamorgan County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh national cricket structure, representing the historic county of Glamorgan aka Glamorganshire . Glamorgan CCC is the only Welsh first-class cricket club. Glamorgan CCC have won the English County...
at Cardiff in late July.
For 1992 Seymour moved to Worcestershire, making an immediate impression for his new county by scoring 133 in his first innings, against Oxford University
Oxford University Cricket Club
Oxford University Cricket Club is a first-class cricket team, representing the University of Oxford. It plays its home games at the University Parks in Oxford, England...
at The University Parks.
He thus became only the fifth player to hit a century on his Worcestershire debut.
He held down a first-team place until the middle of June, but the lack of any more major scores saw him largely relegated to the seconds thereafter.
1991 and 1992 were the only years in which Seymour passed 500 first-class runs in a season.
He played regular first-team cricket for the first part of 1993, but made only one fifty in either form of the game, hitting an unbeaten 54 against the Australians at Worcester
New Road, Worcester
New Road, Worcester, England, has been the home cricket ground of Worcestershire County Cricket Club since 1896. Immediately to the northwest is a road called New Road, part of the A44, hence the name.- Overview :...
in early May. Seymour shared in a defiant unbroken stand of 121 with Stuart Lampitt
Stuart Lampitt
Stuart Lampitt was an English cricketer. He was a right-handed batsman and a right-arm medium-pace bowler. He played for Worcestershire from 1985 to 2002. During his career he was victorious in the 1986 final of the William Younger Cup, and helped his team to the semi-finals of the Benson and...
after Worcestershire had been forced to follow on.
He accompanied Worcestershire on their 1993-94 tour of Zimbabwe, scoring 30 against a Matabeleland
Matabeleland
Modern day Matabeleland is a region in Zimbabwe divided into three provinces: Matabeleland North, Bulawayo and Matabeleland South. These provinces are in the west and south-west of Zimbabwe, between the Limpopo and Zambezi rivers. The region is named after its inhabitants, the Ndebele people...
Invitation XI at Bulawayo
Bulawayo Athletic Club
Bulawayo Athletic Club is a cricket club that competes in Zimbabwe's National League competition. It is also the name given to the club's ground. It can hold over 12,000 spectators....
.
In 1994 he was almost a one-day
One-day cricket
Limited overs cricket, also known as one-day cricket and in a slightly different context as List A cricket, is a version of the sport of cricket in which a match is generally completed in one day, whereas Test and first-class matches can take up to five days to complete...
specialist for Worcestershire, turning out in nine List A matches but only three first-class games; these were the last first-class matches of his career.
A minor one-day highlight was his solitary wicket at first-team level: that of Norfolk
Norfolk County Cricket Club
Norfolk County Cricket Club is one of the county clubs which make up the Minor Counties in the English domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Norfolk and playing in the Minor Counties Championship and the MCCA Knockout Trophy...
's Rodney Bunting
Rodney Bunting
Rodney Alan Bunting is a former English cricketer. Bunting was a right-handed batsman who bowled right-arm fast-medium. He was born in East Winch, Norfolk....
, whom he trapped lbw in a first-round NatWest Trophy match at Lakenham
County Ground, Lakenham
The County Ground in Lakenham, Norwich, Norfolk was a cricket ground for over two hundred years, hosting both first-class and List A cricket. Five first-class games, all involving touring international sides, were played here between 1912 and 1986,...
in June.
In 1994-95, Seymour travelled to New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
to play state cricket with Northern Districts. He made only two appearances, both in one-day games against Wellington at the Basin Reserve
Basin Reserve
The Basin Reserve , is a cricket ground in Wellington, New Zealand, used for Test, first-class and one-day cricket. Some argue that its proximity to the city, its Historic Place status and its age make it the most famous cricket ground in New Zealand...
; in the first of these, his 62 earned him the man-of-the-match award.
Returning to England, he played only a handful of Second XI matches for Essex in 1995, as well as playing for Cornwall
Cornwall County Cricket Club
Cornwall County Cricket Club is one of the county clubs which make up the Minor Counties in the English domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Cornwall and playing in the Minor Counties Championship and the MCCA Knockout Trophy...
in minor counties cricket, something he also did in 1997.
In June 1995, he played List A cricket for Cornwall in the NatWest Trophy, but made a duck
Duck (cricket)
In the sport of cricket, a duck refers to a batsman's dismissal for a score of zero.-Origin of the term:The term is a shortening of the term "duck's egg", the latter being used long before Test cricket began...
against Middlesex.
1998 saw Seymour switch minor counties to Suffolk
Suffolk County Cricket Club
Suffolk County Cricket Club is one of the county clubs which make up the Minor Counties in the English domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Suffolk....
, for whom he played a considerable number of games until 2000.
He never reached three figures for Suffolk, but twice came close in August 1998, when he made 99 and 84 against Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire County Cricket Club
Lincolnshire County Cricket Club is one of the county clubs, which make up the Minor Counties in the English domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Lincolnshire and playing in the Minor Counties Championship and the MCCA Knockout Trophy...
at Ipswich.
He played the final List A game of his career in May 2000, when he scored 22 against Lancashire Cricket Board at Mildenhall
Wamil Way
Wamil Way is a cricket ground in Mildenhall, Suffolk. The first recorded match on the ground was in 1976, when Suffolk played Huntingdonshire. The ground hosted its first Minor Counties Championship match in the same year when Suffolk played Norfolk...
in the NatWest Trophy
2000 NatWest Trophy
The 2000 NatWest Trophy was the 20th and last NatWest Trophy before being renamed the Cheltenham & Gloucester Trophy for the 2001 version. It was an English limited overs county cricket tournament which was held between 2 May and 26 August 2000...
.
Seymour played club cricket
Club cricket
Club cricket is a mainly amateur, but still formal, form of the sport of cricket, usually involving teams playing in competitions at weekends or in the evening. There is a great deal of variation in game format although the Laws of Cricket are always observed...
after his county career had wound down. Around the turn of the 21st century he played for Clacton in the East Anglian Premier League. In May 1999 he produced an excellent all-round display as Clacton beat Bury St Edmunds, first claiming 4-10 in eight overs of "practically unplayable" spin (not the medium-pacers he had occasionally used in his earlier career) and then hitting 60 not out.
He later played in the Essex Cricket League for Colchester and East Essex; in two single-innings matches against Gidea Park and Romford he made 100* and 87*.
External links
- Statistical summary from CricketArchiveCricketArchiveCricketArchive is a website that aims to provide a comprehensive archive of records relating to the sport of cricket. It claims to be the most comprehensive cricket database on the internet, including scorecards for all matches of first-class cricket , List A cricket , Women's Test cricket and...