George Lambert (cricketer)
Encyclopedia
George Ernest Edward Lambert (11 May 1919 – 30 October 1991) played in 334 first-class
cricket
matches for Gloucestershire
between 1938 and 1957. He later became cricket coach at Somerset
and played three times for the first team in an injury crisis in 1960. He was born at Paddington
, London
and died in Bristol
.
Lambert was a right-handed lower-order batsman and a right-arm fast-medium bowler who was, in his prime, sometimes genuinely fast. Played by Gloucestershire primarily as the new-ball bowler in an attack dominated throughout his career by spin bowling, he often made useful runs and, in a side which frequently had a very long tail, often batted higher up the batting order than he might have done had he played for other teams.
ground staff at Lord's before joining Gloucestershire in 1937, making his first-class debut a year later in the match against Lancashire
and taking a wicket in each innings. He became a regular member of the Gloucestershire first team in 1939, taking 74 wickets in the season, including match figures of 10 wickets for 148 in the game against Derbyshire
which was lost by just one run.
Lambert returned to Gloucestershire after Second World War service and was a regular in the first team for the next 10 years, though in terms of wicket-taking he played second fiddle to spin bowlers, first Tom Goddard
and Sam Cook and later, after Goddard's retirement, John Mortimore
and Bryan Wells; unsurprisingly, his best seasons were the years from 1950 to 1952 in the interregnum between the Goddard era and the Mortimore era, when Gloucestershire had a more balanced attack.
In 1946, Lambert and Gloucestershire's other seam bowlers took only 95 County Championship
wickets between them, against 293 for the spin bowlers, and in 1947, the county took advice from soil experts and applied "liberal" amounts of sand to its pitches to help the spin bowlers: the result was one of the most successful seasons for the county, but Goddard, with 206 Championship wickets, took more than four times as many wickets as Lambert, who had just 51 Championship victims.
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...
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...
matches for 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....
between 1938 and 1957. He later became cricket coach at 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...
and played three times for the first team in an injury crisis in 1960. He was born at Paddington
Paddington
Paddington is a district within the City of Westminster, in central London, England. Formerly a metropolitan borough, it was integrated with Westminster and Greater London in 1965...
, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
and died in Bristol
Bristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
.
Lambert was a right-handed lower-order batsman and a right-arm fast-medium bowler who was, in his prime, sometimes genuinely fast. Played by Gloucestershire primarily as the new-ball bowler in an attack dominated throughout his career by spin bowling, he often made useful runs and, in a side which frequently had a very long tail, often batted higher up the batting order than he might have done had he played for other teams.
Cricket career
Lambert was on the MCCMarylebone 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...
ground staff at Lord's before joining Gloucestershire in 1937, making his first-class debut a year later in the match against 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...
and taking a wicket in each innings. He became a regular member of the Gloucestershire first team in 1939, taking 74 wickets in the season, including match figures of 10 wickets for 148 in the game against 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...
which was lost by just one run.
Lambert returned to Gloucestershire after Second World War service and was a regular in the first team for the next 10 years, though in terms of wicket-taking he played second fiddle to spin bowlers, first Tom Goddard
Tom Goddard
Tom Goddard was the fifth highest wicket taker in first-class cricket....
and Sam Cook and later, after Goddard's retirement, John Mortimore
John Mortimore (cricketer)
John Brian Mortimore is a former English cricketer, who played in nine Tests for England from 1959 to 1964, and captained Gloucestershire between 1965 and 1967....
and Bryan Wells; unsurprisingly, his best seasons were the years from 1950 to 1952 in the interregnum between the Goddard era and the Mortimore era, when Gloucestershire had a more balanced attack.
In 1946, Lambert and Gloucestershire's other seam bowlers took only 95 County Championship
County Championship
The County Championship is the domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales...
wickets between them, against 293 for the spin bowlers, and in 1947, the county took advice from soil experts and applied "liberal" amounts of sand to its pitches to help the spin bowlers: the result was one of the most successful seasons for the county, but Goddard, with 206 Championship wickets, took more than four times as many wickets as Lambert, who had just 51 Championship victims.