Joseph William Hancock was an English 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 first class cricket for 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...

 from 1897 to 1900 and for Scotland in 1906

Hancock was born at Old Tupton

Old Tupton

Old Tupton is a village in Derbyshire, England. It is located on the A61 Derby road, near to Tupton, and to the south of Chesterfield....

, Derbyshire

Derbyshire

Derbyshire is a county in the East Midlands of England. A substantial portion of the Peak District National Park lies within Derbyshire. The northern part of Derbyshire overlaps with the Pennines, a famous chain of hills and mountains. The county contains within its boundary of approx...

, the son of Alfted Hancock, a coal miner, and his wife Eliza. Hancock made his debut for Derbyshire in the 1897 season

Derbyshire County Cricket Club in 1897

Derbyshire County Cricket Club in 1897 was the cricket season when the English club Derbyshire had been playing for twenty six years. It was their third season in the County Championship and they came fourteenth after failing to win a match..-1897 season:...

 aged 20. In May 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...

 he took 4 wickets at a cost of 140 runs. He played regularly for the next three years. In the 1898 season

Derbyshire County Cricket Club in 1898

Derbyshire Country Cricket Club in 1898 was the cricket season when the English club Derbyshire had been playing for twenty-seven years. It was their fourth season in the County Championship and they won three matches to finish ninth in the Championship table.-1898 season:Derbyshire played...

 he achieved his best bowling performance with 5 for 61 against 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....

. The 1899 season

Derbyshire County Cricket Club in 1899

Derbyshire Country Cricket Club in 1899 was the cricket season when the English club Derbyshire had been playing for twenty-eight years. It was their fifth season in the County Championship and they won three matches to finish fifteenth in the Championship table.-1899 season:Derbyshire played...

 was Hancock's best for batting, when his average reached 11.43 and he scored 43 not out against 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...

. Hancock left Derbyshire in 1900 after playing three matches in the 1900 season

Derbyshire County Cricket Club in 1900

Derbyshire Country Cricket Club in 1900 was the cricket season when the English club Derbyshire had been playing for twenty-nine years. It was their sixth season in the County Championship and they won three matches to finish thirteenth in the Championship table.-1900 season:Derbyshire played...

, but turned out for Scotland in 1906 against the West Indies.

Hancock was a left-arm medium pace bowler and took 94 first class wickets at an average of 29.73 and a best performance of 5 for 61. He was a left-hand batsman and played 77 innings in 48 first class matches with an average of 7.91 and a top score of 43 not out.

Hancock died at Clifton, Rotherham

Rotherham

Rotherham is a town in South Yorkshire, England. It lies on the River Don, at its confluence with the River Rother, between Sheffield and Doncaster. Rotherham, at from Sheffield City Centre, is surrounded by several smaller settlements, which together form the wider Metropolitan Borough of...

, Yorkshire, at the age of 62.