Bart King
Encyclopedia
John Barton "Bart" King (October 19, 1873 – October 17, 1965) was an American cricket
er, active in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. King was one of the Philadelphian
cricketers that played from the end of the 19th century until the outbreak of World War I
. This period of cricket in the United States was dominated by gentleman
players—men of independent wealth who did not need to work. King was an amateur from a middle-class
family, who was able to devote time to cricket thanks to a job set up by his teammates.
King was a skilled batsman, but proved his worth as a bowler. During his career, he set numerous records in North America and led the first-class
bowling averages in England in 1908. He successfully competed against the best cricketers from England and Australia. King was the dominant bowler on his team when it toured England in 1897, 1903, and 1908. He dismissed batsmen with his unique delivery, which he called the "angler," and helped develop the art of swing bowling
in the sport. Many of the great bowlers of today still use the strategies and techniques that he developed. Sir Pelham Warner
described Bart King as one of the finest bowlers of all time, and Donald Bradman
called him "America's greatest cricketing son."
trade. Although this was the family business, his father later allowed him to leave to enter the insurance
industry. King was not a member of the aristocratic
and wealthy families of Philadelphia that produced many of the era's top cricketers. King's obituary in Cricket Quarterly suggests that his career in insurance was set up for him by those families to allow him to continue playing the game. In 1913, King married a young woman by the name of Lockhart; the marriage lasted for fifty years. King's wife died in 1963, and he died in 1965 in his native Philadelphia just two days short of his 92nd birthday. This was also the year which saw the United States gain membership in the ICC
after it had been denied during his playing career.
Bart King was regarded by many of his contemporaries as an affable person. Ralph Barker called him the Bob Hope
of cricket thanks to his quips and stories. King was also noted for making jabs at opponents, but leaving them laughing at themselves. The same held true when he would question umpires
that turned down his appeals
. He is said to have spoken for ninety minutes at a dinner during his last tour to England, punctuated every few seconds with laughs. The dinner guests were kept laughing even while King spoke with a dead-pan expression. One man who attended the dinner noted that King "told his impossible tales with such an air of conviction...that his audiences were always in doubt when to take him seriously. He made their task doubly difficult by sprinkling in a fair mixture of truth with his fiction."
Like most young American men of this era, Bart King came to cricket only after first playing baseball
. He began to play club cricket
at Tioga Cricket Club
in 1888, aged 15, starting out as a batsman. Tioga was one of the lesser Philadelphian cricket clubs. King played his first recorded match for the club in 1889, when he was tried as a bowler due to his physique. He took 37 wicket
s for 99 run
s for the club in the 1889 cricket season.
King played for Tioga until 1896, when he joined Belmont Cricket Club
. King joined the Philadelphian cricket team
for three tours of England while playing at Belmont. King's most dominating matches came during these tours, playing with the premier American team of the era.
stopped by Philadelphia on its way home from a tour of England
. Australia fielded a strong side, but the team was tired after a long tour and trip. In spite of this fatigue, the Australians chose to face the full strength of the Gentlemen of Philadelphia in a three day match starting September 29.
On a small ground at Belmont
, the September grass was coarse. It had been rolled so that balls moved very quickly across the ground. The Australian side, fielding first, dropped many catches and could not cope with the short boundary
, allowing the Philadelphians reach the huge total of 525 runs. King came in to bat last, at number 11, making 36 runs. The leading Australian bowlers, Hugh Trumble
and George Giffen
, took 2 for 104 and 0 for 114 respectively. When the Australians came to bat, they hoped that they would have recovered from their tiring journey, but they ran into problems in dealing with Bart King's developing swing bowling. The side was all out for 199, with King taking 5 wickets for 78 runs. The Australians followed on
and were all out again for 268, allowing the Gentlemen of Philadelphia to win by an innings
and 68 runs.
The cricket world was stunned that a single American city could turn out a side capable of beating the full strength of Australia. The Australians won the return match on 6 October by six wickets, but the Australian captain, Jack Blackham
, said to the Americans, "You have better players here than we have been led to believe. They class with England's best."
, ending in late July at The Oval
almost 2 months later. The schedule included fifteen matches against all of the top county cricket
teams, the Oxford
and Cambridge University teams
, the Marylebone Cricket Club
, and two other sides, though only a few of the counties thought it worthwhile to put their best elevens onto the field.
While the tour initially aroused some curiosity, many English fans lost interest until Bart King and the Philadelphians met the full Sussex team at Brighton
on June 17. King demonstrated his batting ability in first innings with a fourth-wicket stand of 107 with John Lester
. He then took 7 wickets for 13 runs, and Philadelphia dismissed Sussex for 46 in less than an hour. King took 6 for 102 in Sussex's second innings, helping the Philadelphians to a victory by 8 wickets.
Despite the excitement surrounding King's performance, the Americans did not fare well overall, and the results may have been worse than hoped for the tour's promoters. Philadelphia won only two of their fifteen matches, losing nine and earning a draw in the remaining four. After their win against Sussex, the only other win of the tour came against Warwickshire
. During this match, King took 5 for 95 and 7 for 72 and scored 46 runs. According to Wisden Cricketers' Almanack
, King proved himself to be the best bowler on the American side and had to do much of the work. He bowled three hundred over
s, more than anyone else in the team, taking 72 wickets with a bowling average
of a little over 24 runs. In addition to his bowling, King scored 441 runs as a batsman at a batting average
of just over 20.
Following the 1897 tour, many English counties were interested in securing King's services. It was thought that he would not play as a professional, so alternative means of remuneration had to be found: one county reportedly offered to arrange a marriage with a widow who had an income of £
7000 per year. In the end, King returned to the United States, where he continued to perform very well in club cricket.
and Surrey
. King played in 13 of the 15 matches on the tour, missing two with a strained side. In his first match, against Cambridge University, he took 5 for 136 and 4 for 28. He followed that with 8 for 39 in the first innings against Oxford University, though the match was eventually abandoned as a draw due to rain. In his next match, against Gloucestershire
, he took 2 for 26 in the first innings but did not bowl in the second. He also took 7 for 51 and 2 for 28 against a strong MCC
side at Lord's
. Then came the Lancashire match at Old Trafford Cricket Ground.
In Lancashire's first innings, King bowled 27 overs and took 5 wickets for 46 runs. The Philadelphians passed Lancashire's first innings score, but their lead was quickly overtaken in Lancashire's second innings. With the wind strong over King's left shoulder, the scene was set for him to dominate the opposition. In his first over after the lunch break on day two of the match, he yorked
one of Lancashire's opening batsmen and his replacement with successive balls. He clean bowled
two more batsmen in his second over, and bowled a stump
out of the ground in the third. In 3 overs, he had taken 5 wickets for 7 runs. After this performance, King had to be rested in the field. One batsman was run out
before King returned to take 4 more wickets, ending the innings with 9 for 62. The Philadelphians won next morning by nine wickets.
Against Surrey on August 6, King was overpowering again. It was in this match that King gave what Barker called his finest first-class performance ever. Batting first, he scored 98 runs in the Philadelphian's first innings before being run out
, and he then took 3 for 89 in Surrey's reply. In the second innings, he made 113 not out
and then took 3 for 98. Surrey lost the match by 110 runs. Apparently, King was so exhausted after his performance that he fell asleep during a speech by the Lord Chief Justice
Lord Alverstone
at a banquet after the match.
. The Philadelphians won by 36 behind the bowling of King and Ranji Hordern
. The pair took all 20 wickets of the Welsh side. After this, the first-class matches began with Worcestershire
on July 9. Again the Philadelphians won and again Hordern and King took most of the wickets. This trend continued throughout the tour. In the first-class matches that King played, the Philadelphians recorded four wins and six losses. Although he was already 35 years old, King had posted extraordinary numbers in his bowling. He topped the bowling averages for the entire 1908 English cricket season
at 11.01. This mark was not bettered until 1958, when Les Jackson
of Derbyshire
posted an average of 10.99.
. On a rainy afternoon at Philadelphia in 1906, King bowled into a slight breeze to capture 8 wickets for 17 runs. This record came in a four-year period during which King focused on club cricket in Philadelphia, when he won the city's batting award three times and the bowling award four times.
King played in his last two international matches in 1912, against Australia. His performances were of the highest quality, given that he was nearing his fortieth year. In the first match, he took 9 wickets for 78 runs to help Philadelphia win by 2 runs; in the second, Australia won by 45 runs despite him taking 8 for 74.
King joined the Philadelphia Cricket Club
after the 1912 season. Despite being well past his 40th year, he continued to play competitive cricket for another 4 years. His 27-year career ended with his last game for the Philadelphia Cricket Club against Frankford, on July 20, 1916. On this occasion, his bowling and batting skills had declined, but he maintained a batting average of 43.33 for that final season.
King died at a nursing home
in his native Philadelphia in 1965, two days short of his 92nd birthday. The Times
newspaper in the UK ran an obituary for him, which quoted Plum Warner
as saying that: "Had he been an Englishman or an Australian, he would have been even more famous than he was."
Though King focused on bowling throughout his career, he was also a very fine batsman. In 1905, he established a North American record batting record by scoring 315 at the Germantown Cricket Club. The following year, he scored 344 not out for Belmont against the Merion Cricket Club
, setting a North American batting record which still stands. He scored 39 centuries in his North American career, and he topped 1,000 runs in six seasons. He took over 100 wickets in eight seasons, including a double of 1,000 runs and 100 wickets in four seasons. In his whole career, he scored 19,808 runs at an average of 36.47, and took 2,088 wickets at an average of 10.47. He took all 10 wickets in an innings on three occasions, and took 9 wickets in an innings five times. One of these occasions, in the Gentlemen of Ireland's first innings in 1909, was followed by a hat-trick
in the second innings.
There is an apocryphal story of King emulating a famous baseball pitcher of the day, Rube Waddell
, by sending all his fielders back into the pavilion and finishing off the opponent's innings on his own. King and Belmont were playing Trenton in the Halifax Cup at Elmwood Cricket Ground. Some versions of the story have him banishing the fielders and then calling one of them to a position 22 yards (20.1 m) back and 4 yards (3.7 m) to the leg side. This fielder was stationed there to pick up the bails
which landed at his feet after King bowled his trademark "angler." This story was disputed some years later by the captain of Trenton, who claimed that when he "went in to bat that afternoon, King had four balls left in his over." He claimed to have "hit the first delivery to cover point but of course there was no one there. The ball stopped within three feet of the boundary, and King had to chase it. By the time he got back we had run six." The captain claimed to be the only batsmen to have hit four consecutive sixes off King, but commended the bowler on his ability to spin a tale.
Thanks to his dominant performance over his career and his renown in the world of cricket, King was elected an honorary member of the Incogniti Cricket Club in 1908 and an honorary life member of the Marylebone Cricket Club
in 1962. When Plum Warner was asked to name the greatest bowler who ever lived, he said that John Barton King, "at the top of his power and speed, was at least the equal of the greatest of them all."
King is credited as one of the first bowlers to perfect swing bowling
. Other bowlers in his time could sometimes get the ball to swing, but King could do so at will with an old or new ball. He made use of a lethal delivery which he called the "angler", a product of his experience as a baseball pitcher, to confuse the English batsmen. He would come in with the ball clasped above his head in both hands as would a baseball pitcher. He was famous for his late swing—in and out—and would produce the in-swinger with his right hand coming down from a point over his left shoulder. He described it as an in-swinger which, if properly bowled, would change direction sharply in the last 10 or 15 feet (4.6 m) of flight. King used this ball only sparingly and only against good batsmen. After a tour to Philadelphia by an Australian side in 1896, George Giffen
said "the Philadelphians really have some high-class players, but it was the fact of their bowlers playing us with baseball curves that upset our batsmen."
The impact of King's bowling was very far-reaching. Before King and the Philadelphians toured England, English fast bowlers depended on sheer pace
, with a possible last-second application of spin. After seeing King's work with the ball, many became "complete anglers" in the Barton King mold. A bowler like Yorkshire's
George Hirst started to shatter stumps with balls that ducked in with the force of a hard throw in from mid-off. The "swingers" became even more numerous through the decades.
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, active in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. King was one of the Philadelphian
Philadelphian cricket team
The Philadelphian cricket team was a team that represented Philadelphia in first-class cricket between 1878 and 1913. Even with the United States having played the first ever international cricket match against Canada in 1844, the sport began a slow decline in the country. This decline was...
cricketers that played from the end of the 19th century until the outbreak of World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
. This period of cricket in the United States was dominated by gentleman
History of English amateur cricket
The history of English amateur cricket describes the concept and importance of amateur players in English cricket.-Co-development of amateur and professional cricket to 1800:...
players—men of independent wealth who did not need to work. King was an amateur from a middle-class
Middle class
The middle class is any class of people in the middle of a societal hierarchy. In Weberian socio-economic terms, the middle class is the broad group of people in contemporary society who fall socio-economically between the working class and upper class....
family, who was able to devote time to cricket thanks to a job set up by his teammates.
King was a skilled batsman, but proved his worth as a bowler. During his career, he set numerous records in North America and led the 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...
bowling averages in England in 1908. He successfully competed against the best cricketers from England and Australia. King was the dominant bowler on his team when it toured England in 1897, 1903, and 1908. He dismissed batsmen with his unique delivery, which he called the "angler," and helped develop the art of swing bowling
Swing bowling
Swing bowling is a technique used for bowling in the sport of cricket. Practitioners are known as swing bowlers. Swing bowling is generally classed as a subtype of fast bowling.-Physics of swing bowling:...
in the sport. Many of the great bowlers of today still use the strategies and techniques that he developed. Sir Pelham Warner
Plum Warner
Sir Pelham Francis Warner MBE , affectionately and better known as Plum Warner, or even "the Grand Old Man" of English cricket was a Test cricketer....
described Bart King as one of the finest bowlers of all time, and Donald Bradman
Donald Bradman
Sir Donald George Bradman, AC , often referred to as "The Don", was an Australian cricketer, widely acknowledged as the greatest batsman of all time...
called him "America's greatest cricketing son."
Early and personal life
King was born in Philadelphia in 1873. Early in his life, he worked in the linenLinen
Linen is a textile made from the fibers of the flax plant, Linum usitatissimum. Linen is labor-intensive to manufacture, but when it is made into garments, it is valued for its exceptional coolness and freshness in hot weather....
trade. Although this was the family business, his father later allowed him to leave to enter the insurance
Insurance
In law and economics, insurance is a form of risk management primarily used to hedge against the risk of a contingent, uncertain loss. Insurance is defined as the equitable transfer of the risk of a loss, from one entity to another, in exchange for payment. An insurer is a company selling the...
industry. King was not a member of the aristocratic
Aristocracy
Aristocracy , is a form of government in which a few elite citizens rule. The term derives from the Greek aristokratia, meaning "rule of the best". In origin in Ancient Greece, it was conceived of as rule by the best qualified citizens, and contrasted with monarchy...
and wealthy families of Philadelphia that produced many of the era's top cricketers. King's obituary in Cricket Quarterly suggests that his career in insurance was set up for him by those families to allow him to continue playing the game. In 1913, King married a young woman by the name of Lockhart; the marriage lasted for fifty years. King's wife died in 1963, and he died in 1965 in his native Philadelphia just two days short of his 92nd birthday. This was also the year which saw the United States gain membership in the ICC
International Cricket Council
The International Cricket Council is the international governing body of cricket. It was founded as the Imperial Cricket Conference in 1909 by representatives from England, Australia and South Africa, renamed the International Cricket Conference in 1965, and took up its current name in 1989.The...
after it had been denied during his playing career.
Bart King was regarded by many of his contemporaries as an affable person. Ralph Barker called him the Bob Hope
Bob Hope
Bob Hope, KBE, KCSG, KSS was a British-born American comedian and actor who appeared in vaudeville, on Broadway, and in radio, television and movies. He was also noted for his work with the US Armed Forces and his numerous USO shows entertaining American military personnel...
of cricket thanks to his quips and stories. King was also noted for making jabs at opponents, but leaving them laughing at themselves. The same held true when he would question umpires
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...
that turned down his appeals
Appeal (cricket)
In the sport of cricket, an appeal is the act of a player on the fielding team asking an umpire for a decision regarding whether a batsman is out or not. According to the Laws of Cricket, an umpire may not rule a batsman out unless the fielding side appeals...
. He is said to have spoken for ninety minutes at a dinner during his last tour to England, punctuated every few seconds with laughs. The dinner guests were kept laughing even while King spoke with a dead-pan expression. One man who attended the dinner noted that King "told his impossible tales with such an air of conviction...that his audiences were always in doubt when to take him seriously. He made their task doubly difficult by sprinkling in a fair mixture of truth with his fiction."
Cricketing career
Baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...
. He began to play 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...
at Tioga Cricket Club
Tioga Cricket Club
The Tioga Cricket Club was a cricket club in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. The club was located at Westmoreland Station, and was one of the clubs contributing members to the famous Philadelphian cricket team. This was the first club team for which Bart King played after switching from...
in 1888, aged 15, starting out as a batsman. Tioga was one of the lesser Philadelphian cricket clubs. King played his first recorded match for the club in 1889, when he was tried as a bowler due to his physique. He took 37 wicket
Wicket
In the sport of cricket the word wicket has several distinct meanings:-Definitions of wicket:Most of the time, the wicket is one of the two sets of three stumps and two bails at either end of the pitch...
s for 99 run
Run (cricket)
In the sport of cricket, a run is the basic unit of scoring. Runs are scored by a batsman, and the aggregate of the scores of a team's batsmen constitutes the team's score. A batsman scoring 50 or 100 runs , or any higher multiple of 50 runs, is considered a particular achievement...
s for the club in the 1889 cricket season.
King played for Tioga until 1896, when he joined Belmont Cricket Club
Belmont Cricket Club
The Belmont Cricket Club was one of the four chief cricket clubs in Philadelphia that played from the end of the 19th century until the outbreak of World War I. It was founded in 1874 in west Philadelphia and was disbanded in 1914. Bart King, arguably America's greatest cricketer during its golden...
. King joined the Philadelphian cricket team
Philadelphian cricket team
The Philadelphian cricket team was a team that represented Philadelphia in first-class cricket between 1878 and 1913. Even with the United States having played the first ever international cricket match against Canada in 1844, the sport began a slow decline in the country. This decline was...
for three tours of England while playing at Belmont. King's most dominating matches came during these tours, playing with the premier American team of the era.
Australia in Philadelphia
In 1893, the Australian teamAustralian cricket team
The Australian cricket team is the national cricket team of Australia. It is the joint oldest team in Test cricket, having played in the first Test match in 1877...
stopped by Philadelphia on its way home from a tour of England
Australian cricket team in England in 1893
The Australian cricket team in England in 1893 played 31 first-class matches including 3 Tests.England won the Test series 1-0 with 2 matches drawn:* – match drawn* – England won by an innings and 43 runs...
. Australia fielded a strong side, but the team was tired after a long tour and trip. In spite of this fatigue, the Australians chose to face the full strength of the Gentlemen of Philadelphia in a three day match starting September 29.
On a small ground at Belmont
Belmont Cricket Club
The Belmont Cricket Club was one of the four chief cricket clubs in Philadelphia that played from the end of the 19th century until the outbreak of World War I. It was founded in 1874 in west Philadelphia and was disbanded in 1914. Bart King, arguably America's greatest cricketer during its golden...
, the September grass was coarse. It had been rolled so that balls moved very quickly across the ground. The Australian side, fielding first, dropped many catches and could not cope with the short boundary
Boundary (cricket)
Boundary has two distinct meanings in the sport of cricket:# the edge or boundary of the playing field, and# a manner of scoring runs.-Edge of the field:...
, allowing the Philadelphians reach the huge total of 525 runs. King came in to bat last, at number 11, making 36 runs. The leading Australian bowlers, Hugh Trumble
Hugh Trumble
Hugh Trumble was an Australian cricketer who played 32 Test matches as a bowling all-rounder between 1890 and 1904. He captained the Australian team in two Tests, winning both. Trumble took 141 wickets in Test cricket—a world record at the time of his retirement—at an average of...
and George Giffen
George Giffen
George Giffen was a cricketer who played for South Australia and Australia. An all-rounder who batted in the middle order and often opened the bowling with medium-paced off-spin, Giffen captained Australia during the 1894–95 Ashes series and was the first Australian to score 10,000 runs and...
, took 2 for 104 and 0 for 114 respectively. When the Australians came to bat, they hoped that they would have recovered from their tiring journey, but they ran into problems in dealing with Bart King's developing swing bowling. The side was all out for 199, with King taking 5 wickets for 78 runs. The Australians followed on
Follow-on
Follow-on is a term used in the sport of cricket to describe a situation where the team that bats second is forced to take its second batting innings immediately after its first, because the team was not able to get close enough to the score achieved by the first team batting in the first innings...
and were all out again for 268, allowing the Gentlemen of Philadelphia to win by an innings
Innings
An inning, or innings, is a fixed-length segment of a game in any of a variety of sports – most notably cricket and baseball during which one team attempts to score while the other team attempts to prevent the first from scoring. In cricket, the term innings is both singular and plural and is...
and 68 runs.
The cricket world was stunned that a single American city could turn out a side capable of beating the full strength of Australia. The Australians won the return match on 6 October by six wickets, but the Australian captain, Jack Blackham
Jack Blackham
John McCarthy Blackham was a Test cricketer who played for Victoria and Australia.A specialist wicket-keeper, Blackham played in the first Test match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in March 1877 and the famous Ashes Test match of 1882...
, said to the Americans, "You have better players here than we have been led to believe. They class with England's best."
Tour of England in 1897
King won the Child's Bowling Cup, the premier award for bowling in American cricket, for the first time in 1896, and joined the Philadelphian cricket team's tour of England in 1897. The tour was very ambitious, and was arranged mainly for educational purposes: few of those on the American side expected to win many matches. Previous tours had tended to involve amateur English sides with a low level of competition. In 1897, the tour started on June 7 at OxfordOxford
The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...
, ending in late July at The Oval
The Oval
The Kia Oval, still commonly referred to by its original name of The Oval, is an international cricket ground in Kennington, in the London Borough of Lambeth. In the past it was also sometimes called the Kennington Oval...
almost 2 months later. The schedule included fifteen matches against all of the top county cricket
County Championship
The County Championship is the domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales...
teams, the Oxford
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...
and Cambridge University teams
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...
, the Marylebone Cricket Club
Marylebone Cricket Club
Marylebone Cricket Club is a cricket club in London founded in 1787. Its influence and longevity now witness it as a private members' club dedicated to the development of cricket. It owns, and is based at, Lord's Cricket Ground in St John's Wood, London NW8. MCC was formerly the governing body of...
, and two other sides, though only a few of the counties thought it worthwhile to put their best elevens onto the field.
While the tour initially aroused some curiosity, many English fans lost interest until Bart King and the Philadelphians met the full Sussex team at Brighton
Brighton
Brighton is the major part of the city of Brighton and Hove in East Sussex, England on the south coast of Great Britain...
on June 17. King demonstrated his batting ability in first innings with a fourth-wicket stand of 107 with John Lester
John Lester
John Ashby Lester was an American cricketer, active in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Lester was one of the Philadelphian cricketers who played from the end of the 19th century until the outbreak of World War I...
. He then took 7 wickets for 13 runs, and Philadelphia dismissed Sussex for 46 in less than an hour. King took 6 for 102 in Sussex's second innings, helping the Philadelphians to a victory by 8 wickets.
Despite the excitement surrounding King's performance, the Americans did not fare well overall, and the results may have been worse than hoped for the tour's promoters. Philadelphia won only two of their fifteen matches, losing nine and earning a draw in the remaining four. After their win against Sussex, the only other win of the tour came against Warwickshire
Warwickshire County Cricket Club
Warwickshire 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 Warwickshire. Its limited overs team is called the Warwickshire Bears. Their kit colours are black and gold and the shirt sponsor...
. During this match, King took 5 for 95 and 7 for 72 and scored 46 runs. According to Wisden Cricketers' Almanack
Wisden Cricketers' Almanack
Wisden Cricketers' Almanack is a cricket reference book published annually in the United Kingdom...
, King proved himself to be the best bowler on the American side and had to do much of the work. He bowled three hundred over
Over (cricket)
In the sport of cricket, an over is a set of six consecutive balls bowled in succession. An over is normally bowled by a single bowler. However, in the event of injury preventing a bowler from completing an over, it is completed by a teammate....
s, more than anyone else in the team, taking 72 wickets with a bowling average
Bowling average
Bowling average is a statistic measuring the performance of bowlers in the sport of cricket.A bowler's bowling average is defined as the total number of runs conceded by the bowlers divided by the number of wickets taken by the bowler, so the lower the average the better. It is similar to earned...
of a little over 24 runs. In addition to his bowling, King scored 441 runs as a batsman at a batting average
Batting average
Batting average is a statistic in both cricket and baseball that measures the performance of cricket batsmen and baseball hitters. The two statistics are related in that baseball averages are directly descended from the concept of cricket averages.- Cricket :...
of just over 20.
Following the 1897 tour, many English counties were interested in securing King's services. It was thought that he would not play as a professional, so alternative means of remuneration had to be found: one county reportedly offered to arrange a marriage with a widow who had an income of £
Pound sterling
The pound sterling , commonly called the pound, is the official currency of the United Kingdom, its Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, British Antarctic Territory and Tristan da Cunha. It is subdivided into 100 pence...
7000 per year. In the end, King returned to the United States, where he continued to perform very well in club cricket.
Tour of England in 1903
The Philadelphian team returned to England in 1903. This proved to be King's most successful tour, particularly his performances in the matches against LancashireLancashire 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...
and Surrey
Surrey county cricket teams
Surrey county cricket teams have been traced back to the 17th century but the county's involvement in cricket goes back much further than that. The first definite mention of cricket anywhere in the world is dated c.1550 in Guildford.-17th century:...
. King played in 13 of the 15 matches on the tour, missing two with a strained side. In his first match, against Cambridge University, he took 5 for 136 and 4 for 28. He followed that with 8 for 39 in the first innings against Oxford University, though the match was eventually abandoned as a draw due to rain. In his next match, against Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire County Cricket Club
Gloucestershire 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 Gloucestershire. Its limited overs team is called the Gloucestershire Gladiators....
, he took 2 for 26 in the first innings but did not bowl in the second. He also took 7 for 51 and 2 for 28 against a strong MCC
Marylebone Cricket Club
Marylebone Cricket Club is a cricket club in London founded in 1787. Its influence and longevity now witness it as a private members' club dedicated to the development of cricket. It owns, and is based at, Lord's Cricket Ground in St John's Wood, London NW8. MCC was formerly the governing body of...
side at Lord's
Lord's Cricket Ground
Lord's Cricket Ground is a cricket venue in St John's Wood, London. Named after its founder, Thomas Lord, it is owned by Marylebone Cricket Club and is the home of Middlesex County Cricket Club, the England and Wales Cricket Board , the European Cricket Council and, until August 2005, the...
. Then came the Lancashire match at Old Trafford Cricket Ground.
In Lancashire's first innings, King bowled 27 overs and took 5 wickets for 46 runs. The Philadelphians passed Lancashire's first innings score, but their lead was quickly overtaken in Lancashire's second innings. With the wind strong over King's left shoulder, the scene was set for him to dominate the opposition. In his first over after the lunch break on day two of the match, he yorked
Yorker
Yorker is a term used in cricket that describes a ball bowled which hits the cricket pitch around the batsman's feet. When a batsman assumes a normal stance this generally means that the cricket ball bounces on the cricket pitch on or near the batsman's popping crease...
one of Lancashire's opening batsmen and his replacement with successive balls. He clean bowled
Bowled
Bowled is a method of dismissing a batsman in the sport of cricket. This method of dismissal is covered by Law 30 of the Laws of cricket.A batsman is out bowled if his wicket is put down by a ball delivered by the bowler...
two more batsmen in his second over, and bowled a stump
Stump (cricket)
Stump is a term used in the sport of cricket where it has three different meanings:# part of the wicket# a manner of dismissing a batsman# the end of the day's play .-Part of the wicket:...
out of the ground in the third. In 3 overs, he had taken 5 wickets for 7 runs. After this performance, King had to be rested in the field. One batsman was run out
Run out
Run out is a method of dismissal in the sport of cricket. It is governed by Law 38 of the Laws of cricket.-The rules:A batsman is out Run out if at any time while the ball is in play no part of his bat or person is grounded behind the popping crease and his wicket is fairly put down by the opposing...
before King returned to take 4 more wickets, ending the innings with 9 for 62. The Philadelphians won next morning by nine wickets.
Against Surrey on August 6, King was overpowering again. It was in this match that King gave what Barker called his finest first-class performance ever. Batting first, he scored 98 runs in the Philadelphian's first innings before being run out
Run out
Run out is a method of dismissal in the sport of cricket. It is governed by Law 38 of the Laws of cricket.-The rules:A batsman is out Run out if at any time while the ball is in play no part of his bat or person is grounded behind the popping crease and his wicket is fairly put down by the opposing...
, and he then took 3 for 89 in Surrey's reply. In the second innings, he made 113 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...
and then took 3 for 98. Surrey lost the match by 110 runs. Apparently, King was so exhausted after his performance that he fell asleep during a speech by the Lord Chief Justice
Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales
The Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales is the head of the judiciary and President of the Courts of England and Wales. Historically, he was the second-highest judge of the Courts of England and Wales, after the Lord Chancellor, but that changed as a result of the Constitutional Reform Act 2005,...
Lord Alverstone
Richard Webster, 1st Viscount Alverstone
Richard Everard Webster, 1st Viscount Alverstone, GCMG, QC was a British barrister, politician and judge who served in many high political and judicial offices.-Background and education:...
at a banquet after the match.
Tour of England in 1908
King toured England with the Philadelphians a third time in 1908. This tour included both first-class matches and more minor ones. The first match that was played was against South Wales in CardiffCardiff
Cardiff is the capital, largest city and most populous county of Wales and the 10th largest city in the United Kingdom. The city is Wales' chief commercial centre, the base for most national cultural and sporting institutions, the Welsh national media, and the seat of the National Assembly for...
. The Philadelphians won by 36 behind the bowling of King and Ranji Hordern
Ranji Hordern
Dr. Herbert Vivian "Ranji" Hordern was an Australian cricketer who played in 7 Tests from 1911 to 1912. He was the first major leg-spin and googly bowler to play for Australia...
. The pair took all 20 wickets of the Welsh side. After this, the first-class matches began with 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...
on July 9. Again the Philadelphians won and again Hordern and King took most of the wickets. This trend continued throughout the tour. In the first-class matches that King played, the Philadelphians recorded four wins and six losses. Although he was already 35 years old, King had posted extraordinary numbers in his bowling. He topped the bowling averages for the entire 1908 English cricket season
1908 English cricket season
The 1908 English cricket season was the year in which American John Barton "Bart" King topped the bowling averages as a member of the touring Philadelphian cricket team.-Honours:*County Championship - Yorkshire...
at 11.01. This mark was not bettered until 1958, when Les Jackson
Les Jackson
Les Jackson was an English cricketer. A fast or fast-medium bowler renowned for his accurate bowling and particular hostility on uncovered wickets, he played county cricket for Derbyshire from 1947 to 1963, and was regularly at, or near the top of, the English bowling averages...
of Derbyshire
Derbyshire County Cricket Club
Derbyshire County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the England and Wales domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Derbyshire...
posted an average of 10.99.
Later career
King's cricketing career did not end with his last first-class match. He continued to play club matches in Philadelphia and participated in non-first-class fixtures around the continent. King is noted for holding the bowling record against CanadaCanadian cricket team
The Canada cricket team is the national cricket team representing Canada in men's international competition. It is run by Cricket Canada.While Canada is not sanctioned to play Test matches, the team does take part in One Day International matches and also in first-class games against other...
. On a rainy afternoon at Philadelphia in 1906, King bowled into a slight breeze to capture 8 wickets for 17 runs. This record came in a four-year period during which King focused on club cricket in Philadelphia, when he won the city's batting award three times and the bowling award four times.
King played in his last two international matches in 1912, against Australia. His performances were of the highest quality, given that he was nearing his fortieth year. In the first match, he took 9 wickets for 78 runs to help Philadelphia win by 2 runs; in the second, Australia won by 45 runs despite him taking 8 for 74.
King joined the Philadelphia Cricket Club
Philadelphia Cricket Club
The Philadelphia Cricket Club, founded in 1854, is the oldest country club in the United States. It has two locations: Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia, and Flourtown, Pennsylvania.-History:...
after the 1912 season. Despite being well past his 40th year, he continued to play competitive cricket for another 4 years. His 27-year career ended with his last game for the Philadelphia Cricket Club against Frankford, on July 20, 1916. On this occasion, his bowling and batting skills had declined, but he maintained a batting average of 43.33 for that final season.
King died at a nursing home
Nursing home
A nursing home, convalescent home, skilled nursing unit , care home, rest home, or old people's home provides a type of care of residents: it is a place of residence for people who require constant nursing care and have significant deficiencies with activities of daily living...
in his native Philadelphia in 1965, two days short of his 92nd birthday. The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
newspaper in the UK ran an obituary for him, which quoted Plum Warner
Plum Warner
Sir Pelham Francis Warner MBE , affectionately and better known as Plum Warner, or even "the Grand Old Man" of English cricket was a Test cricketer....
as saying that: "Had he been an Englishman or an Australian, he would have been even more famous than he was."
Achievements and legacy
Merion Cricket Club
Merion Cricket Club is a private club in Haverford, Pennsylvania, founded in 1865. The current clubhouse is its sixth, the last four having been designed by Philadelphia architect Frank Furness and his partner, Allen Evans .-History:...
, setting a North American batting record which still stands. He scored 39 centuries in his North American career, and he topped 1,000 runs in six seasons. He took over 100 wickets in eight seasons, including a double of 1,000 runs and 100 wickets in four seasons. In his whole career, he scored 19,808 runs at an average of 36.47, and took 2,088 wickets at an average of 10.47. He took all 10 wickets in an innings on three occasions, and took 9 wickets in an innings five times. One of these occasions, in the Gentlemen of Ireland's first innings in 1909, was followed by a hat-trick
Hat-trick
A hat-trick or hat trick in sport is the achievement of a positive feat three times during a game, or other achievements based on threes. The term was first used in 1858 in cricket to describe HH Stephenson's feat of taking three wickets in three balls. A collection was held for Stephenson, and he...
in the second innings.
There is an apocryphal story of King emulating a famous baseball pitcher of the day, Rube Waddell
Rube Waddell
George Edward Waddell was an American southpaw pitcher in Major League Baseball. In his thirteen-year career he played for the Louisville Colonels , Pittsburgh Pirates and Chicago Orphans in the National League, and the Philadelphia Athletics and St. Louis Browns in the American League...
, by sending all his fielders back into the pavilion and finishing off the opponent's innings on his own. King and Belmont were playing Trenton in the Halifax Cup at Elmwood Cricket Ground. Some versions of the story have him banishing the fielders and then calling one of them to a position 22 yards (20.1 m) back and 4 yards (3.7 m) to the leg side. This fielder was stationed there to pick up the bails
Bail (cricket)
In the sport of cricket, a bail is one of the two smaller sticks placed on top of the three stumps to form a wicket. The bails are used to determine when the wicket is broken, which in turn is one of the critical factors in determining whether a batsman is out bowled, stumped, run out or hit wicket...
which landed at his feet after King bowled his trademark "angler." This story was disputed some years later by the captain of Trenton, who claimed that when he "went in to bat that afternoon, King had four balls left in his over." He claimed to have "hit the first delivery to cover point but of course there was no one there. The ball stopped within three feet of the boundary, and King had to chase it. By the time he got back we had run six." The captain claimed to be the only batsmen to have hit four consecutive sixes off King, but commended the bowler on his ability to spin a tale.
Thanks to his dominant performance over his career and his renown in the world of cricket, King was elected an honorary member of the Incogniti Cricket Club in 1908 and an honorary life member of the Marylebone Cricket Club
Marylebone Cricket Club
Marylebone Cricket Club is a cricket club in London founded in 1787. Its influence and longevity now witness it as a private members' club dedicated to the development of cricket. It owns, and is based at, Lord's Cricket Ground in St John's Wood, London NW8. MCC was formerly the governing body of...
in 1962. When Plum Warner was asked to name the greatest bowler who ever lived, he said that John Barton King, "at the top of his power and speed, was at least the equal of the greatest of them all."
King is credited as one of the first bowlers to perfect swing bowling
Swing bowling
Swing bowling is a technique used for bowling in the sport of cricket. Practitioners are known as swing bowlers. Swing bowling is generally classed as a subtype of fast bowling.-Physics of swing bowling:...
. Other bowlers in his time could sometimes get the ball to swing, but King could do so at will with an old or new ball. He made use of a lethal delivery which he called the "angler", a product of his experience as a baseball pitcher, to confuse the English batsmen. He would come in with the ball clasped above his head in both hands as would a baseball pitcher. He was famous for his late swing—in and out—and would produce the in-swinger with his right hand coming down from a point over his left shoulder. He described it as an in-swinger which, if properly bowled, would change direction sharply in the last 10 or 15 feet (4.6 m) of flight. King used this ball only sparingly and only against good batsmen. After a tour to Philadelphia by an Australian side in 1896, George Giffen
George Giffen
George Giffen was a cricketer who played for South Australia and Australia. An all-rounder who batted in the middle order and often opened the bowling with medium-paced off-spin, Giffen captained Australia during the 1894–95 Ashes series and was the first Australian to score 10,000 runs and...
said "the Philadelphians really have some high-class players, but it was the fact of their bowlers playing us with baseball curves that upset our batsmen."
The impact of King's bowling was very far-reaching. Before King and the Philadelphians toured England, English fast bowlers depended on sheer pace
Fast bowling
Fast bowling, sometimes known as pace bowling, is one of the two main approaches to bowling in the sport of cricket. The other is spin bowling...
, with a possible last-second application of spin. After seeing King's work with the ball, many became "complete anglers" in the Barton King mold. A bowler like Yorkshire's
Yorkshire County Cricket Club
Yorkshire County Cricket Club represents the historic county of Yorkshire as one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure....
George Hirst started to shatter stumps with balls that ducked in with the force of a hard throw in from mid-off. The "swingers" became even more numerous through the decades.
First-class statistics
| Batting | Bowling | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Opposition | Matches | Runs | Average | High Score | 50/100 | Runs | Wickets | Average | Best | 5I/10M |
| AM Wood's XI Arthur Wood (American cricketer) Arthur Machin Wood was an English-born American cricketer, active in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Though he started his cricket career with Derbyshire, Wood played most of his major matches with the Philadelphian cricket team... |
1 | 32 | 32 | 32 | 0 / 0 | - | - | - | - | - / - |
| Australia | 7 | 133 | 12.09 | 45 | 0 / 0 | 615 | 41 | 15.00 | 5–22 | 5 / 0 |
| BJT Bosanquet's XI Bernard Bosanquet (cricketer) Bernard James Tindal Bosanquet was an English cricketer best known for inventing the googly, a delivery designed to deceive the batsman. When bowled, it appears to be a leg break, but after pitching the ball turns in the opposite direction to that which is expected, behaving as an off break instead... |
2 | 22 | 5.50 | 9 | 0 / 0 | 267 | 23 | 11.50 | 8-78 | 3 / 1 |
| 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... |
2 | 74 | 18.50 | 53 | 1 / 0 | 303 | 13 | 23.30 | 5-136 | 1 / 0 |
| Derbyshire Derbyshire County Cricket Club Derbyshire County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the England and Wales domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Derbyshire... |
1 | 14 | 14.00 | 14 | 0 / 0 | 116 | 12 | 9.66 | 7-28 | 2 / 1 |
| F Mitchell's XI Frank Mitchell Frank Mitchell was a cricketer and rugby union player.-School, University and Yorkshire:... |
2 | 39 | 19.50 | 16 | 0 / 0 | 243 | 20 | 12.15 | 7-55 | 3 / 1 |
| Gloucestershire Gloucestershire County Cricket Club Gloucestershire 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 Gloucestershire. Its limited overs team is called the Gloucestershire Gladiators.... |
2 | 57 | 19.00 | 57 | 1 / 0 | 126 | 4 | 31.50 | 2-26 | 0 / 0 |
| Hampshire Hampshire County Cricket Club Hampshire County Cricket Club represents the historic county of Hampshire in cricket's County Championship. The club was founded in 1863 as a successor to the Hampshire county cricket teams and has played at the Antelope Ground from then until 1885, before moving to the County Ground where it... |
2 | 129 | 32.25 | 52 | 1 / 0 | 257 | 9 | 28.55 | 5-110 | 1 / 0 |
| Ireland | 3 | 56 | 28.00 | 54* 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... |
1 / 0 | 214 | 39 | 5.48 | 10-53 | 4 / 3 |
| Kent Kent County Cricket Club Kent County Cricket Club is one of the 18 first class county county cricket clubs which make up the English and Welsh national cricket structure, representing the county of Kent... |
5 | 213 | 21.30 | 47 | 0 / 0 | 511 | 32 | 15.96 | 7-39 | 3 / 0 |
| KS Ranjitsinhji's XI K S Ranjitsinhji Ranjitsinhji Vibhaji, Maharaja Jam Sahib of Nawanagar was an Indian prince and Test cricketer who played for the English cricket team... |
2 | 51 | 12.75 | 40 | 0 / 0 | 191 | 4 | 47.75 | 3-89 | 0 / 0 |
| Lancashire 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... |
2 | 5 | 1.66 | 3 | 0 / 0 | 173 | 16 | 10.81 | 9-62 | 2 / 1 |
| Leicestershire Leicestershire County Cricket Club Leicestershire 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 Leicestershire. It has also been representative of the county of Rutland.... |
1 | 43 | 21.50 | 22 | 0 / 0 | 180 | 7 | 25.71 | 5-88 | 1 / 0 |
| Lord Hawke's XI Martin Hawke, 7th Baron Hawke Martin Bladen Hawke, 7th Baron Hawke of Towton , generally known as Lord Hawke, was an English amateur cricketer who played major roles in the sport's administration.... |
2 | 7 | 2.33 | 6 | 0 / 0 | 186 | 7 | 26.57 | 3-58 | 0 / 0 |
| Marylebone Cricket Club Marylebone Cricket Club Marylebone Cricket Club is a cricket club in London founded in 1787. Its influence and longevity now witness it as a private members' club dedicated to the development of cricket. It owns, and is based at, Lord's Cricket Ground in St John's Wood, London NW8. MCC was formerly the governing body of... |
7 | 250 | 19.23 | 83 | 1 / 0 | 642 | 38 | 16.89 | 7-51 | 2 / 0 |
| 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... |
2 | 43 | 10.75 | 22 | 0 / 0 | 162 | 11 | 14.72 | 4-19 | 0 / 0 |
| Northamptonshire Northamptonshire County Cricket Club Northamptonshire 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 Northamptonshire. Its limited overs team is called the Northants Steelbacks. The traditional club colour is Maroon. During the... |
1 | 34 | 17.00 | 34 | 0 / 0 | 102 | 6 | 17.00 | 3-51 | 0 / 0 |
| Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club Nottinghamshire 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 Nottinghamshire, and the current county champions. Its limited overs team is called the Nottinghamshire Outlaws... |
3 | 77 | 15.40 | 36 | 0 / 0 | 363 | 27 | 13.44 | 7-54 | 2 / 1 |
| 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... |
2 | 73 | 36.50 | 47 | 0 / 0 | 118 | 9 | 13.11 | 8-39 | 1 / 0 |
| Oxford University Past and Present 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... |
1 | 23 | 11.50 | 16 | 0 / 0 | 113 | 5 | 22.60 | 4-83 | 0 / 0 |
| PF Warner's XI Plum Warner Sir Pelham Francis Warner MBE , affectionately and better known as Plum Warner, or even "the Grand Old Man" of English cricket was a Test cricketer.... |
5 | 230 | 28.75 | 68 | 1 / 0 | 545 | 32 | 17.03 | 9-25 | 2 / 1 |
| Somerset Somerset County Cricket Club Somerset 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 Somerset... |
2 | 49 | 24.50 | 24* 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... |
0 / 0 | 137 | 5 | 27.40 | 3-34 | 0 / 0 |
| Surrey Surrey County Cricket Club Surrey County Cricket Club is one of the 18 professional county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Surrey. Its limited overs team is called the Surrey Lions... |
3 | 274 | 54.80 | 113* 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... |
1 / 1 | 493 | 19 | 25.94 | 6-47 | 1 / 0 |
| Sussex Sussex County Cricket Club Sussex County Cricket Club is the oldest of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Sussex. The club was founded as a successor to Brighton Cricket Club which was a representative of the county of Sussex as a... |
1 | 58 | 58.00 | 58 | 1 / 0 | 115 | 13 | 8.84 | 7-13 | 2 / 1 |
| Warwickshire Warwickshire County Cricket Club Warwickshire 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 Warwickshire. Its limited overs team is called the Warwickshire Bears. Their kit colours are black and gold and the shirt sponsor... |
2 | 68 | 22.66 | 46* 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... |
0 / 0 | 183 | 12 | 15.25 | 7-72 | 2 / 1 |
| 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... |
1 | 31 | 15.50 | 29 | 0 / 0 | 88 | 8 | 11.00 | 5-43 | 1 / 0 |
| Yorkshire Yorkshire County Cricket Club Yorkshire County Cricket Club represents the historic county of Yorkshire as one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure.... |
1 | 49 | 49.00 | 49 | 0 / 0 | 54 | 3 | 18.00 | 3-54 | 0 / 0 |
| Overall | 65 | 2134 | 20.51 | 113* 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... |
8 / 1 | 6497 | 415 | 15.65 | 10-53 | 38 / 11 |
Teams
- United States of America
- PhiladelphiansPhiladelphian cricket teamThe Philadelphian cricket team was a team that represented Philadelphia in first-class cricket between 1878 and 1913. Even with the United States having played the first ever international cricket match against Canada in 1844, the sport began a slow decline in the country. This decline was...
- GS Patterson's XIGeorge Patterson (cricketer)George Stuart Patterson was an American cricketer, active in the late 19th century. Patterson played most notably for the Philadelphians, which flourished from the end of the 19th century until the outbreak of World War I...
- PhiladelphiaPhiladelphia Cricket ClubThe Philadelphia Cricket Club, founded in 1854, is the oldest country club in the United States. It has two locations: Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia, and Flourtown, Pennsylvania.-History:...
- BelmontBelmont Cricket ClubThe Belmont Cricket Club was one of the four chief cricket clubs in Philadelphia that played from the end of the 19th century until the outbreak of World War I. It was founded in 1874 in west Philadelphia and was disbanded in 1914. Bart King, arguably America's greatest cricketer during its golden...
- TiogaTioga Cricket ClubThe Tioga Cricket Club was a cricket club in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. The club was located at Westmoreland Station, and was one of the clubs contributing members to the famous Philadelphian cricket team. This was the first club team for which Bart King played after switching from...
External links
- Player Profile: Bart King 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...