William Lowe
Encyclopedia
William Walter Lowe was an English
cricketer
: a Cambridge University
and Worcestershire
all-rounder
who bowled right-arm fast
and batted right-handed, generally in the lower middle order
.
Born in Stamford
, Lincolnshire
, Lowe was educated at Malvern College
and Pembroke College, Cambridge
. He made his first-class
debut for Cambridge against Somerset
in 1895
. He finished the English season with 309 runs at 30.90
and 31 wickets at 25.32
, including 5-48 in the University Match against Oxford University
, and was invited to join F Mitchell
's XI on a tour of North America
that autumn. It was while there that Lowe recorded his best bowling figures, taking 6-15 against the Philadelphians.
On his return to England, Lowe played three times for Cambridge in 1896
, but was then out of the game until August 1899
when he joined Worcestershire in the county's maiden first-class season. The highlight of his summer was undoubtedly the unbeaten 102 he hit against Derbyshire
, when he added 87 in barely half an hour with Robert Burrows
for the ninth wicket to set up a crushing innings win
, one of only two County Championship
wins by the county all season.
The following year
Lowe made ten appearances for Worcestershire, passing 500 first-class runs for the only time in his career, and in 1901
he averaged nearly 42 with the bat and made his highest score of 154 against Leicestershire
; the innings took only 150 minutes and remains (as of 2009) the highest score for Worcestershire in first-class cricket for a man batting at seven.
However, his form trailed off and after 1902
he dropped out of the first-class game, though he did have a brief and unsuccessful comeback in 1910
and 1911
; his only wicket in his last year being that of Test
all-rounder Len Braund
.
Lowe died in Hartley Wintney
, Hampshire
, at the age of 71.
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...
cricketer
Cricketer
A cricketer is a person who plays the sport of cricket. Official and long-established cricket publications prefer the traditional word "cricketer" over the rarely used term "cricket player"....
: a 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...
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...
all-rounder
All-rounder
An all-rounder is a cricketer who regularly performs well at both batting and bowling. Although all bowlers must bat and quite a few batsmen do bowl occasionally, most players are skilled in only one of the two disciplines and are considered specialists...
who bowled right-arm fast
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...
and batted right-handed, generally in the lower middle order
Batting order (cricket)
In cricket, the batting order is the sequence in which batsmen play through their team's innings, there always being two batsmen taking part at any one time...
.
Born in Stamford
Stamford, Lincolnshire
Stamford is a town and civil parish within the South Kesteven district of the county of Lincolnshire, England. It is approximately to the north of London, on the east side of the A1 road to York and Edinburgh and on the River Welland...
, Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire is a county in the east of England. It borders Norfolk to the south east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south west, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire to the west, South Yorkshire to the north west, and the East Riding of Yorkshire to the north. It also borders...
, Lowe was educated at Malvern College
Malvern College
Malvern College is a coeducational independent school located on a 250 acre campus near the town centre of Malvern, Worcestershire in England. Founded on 25 January 1865, until 1992, the College was a secondary school for boys aged 13 to 18...
and Pembroke College, Cambridge
Pembroke College, Cambridge
Pembroke College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England.The college has over seven hundred students and fellows, and is the third oldest college of the university. Physically, it is one of the university's larger colleges, with buildings from almost every century since its...
. He made 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 for Cambridge against 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...
in 1895
1895 English cricket season
The 1895 English cricket season saw Surrey win the County Championship title for the fifth time in six years, despite increased competition, as the tournament was expanded from nine to fourteen teams...
. He finished the English season with 309 runs at 30.90
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 :...
and 31 wickets at 25.32
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...
, including 5-48 in the University Match 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...
, and was invited to join F Mitchell
Frank Mitchell
Frank Mitchell was a cricketer and rugby union player.-School, University and Yorkshire:...
's XI on a tour of North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
that autumn. It was while there that Lowe recorded his best bowling figures, taking 6-15 against the Philadelphians.
On his return to England, Lowe played three times for Cambridge in 1896
1896 English cricket season
The 1896 English cricket season saw Yorkshire win the County Championship title after only losing three of 26 games, setting a points percentage record with 68.42...
, but was then out of the game until August 1899
1899 English cricket season
In the 1899 English cricket season, Surrey won the County Championship for the first time in four years, and the title turned out to be their last until 1914. Surrey's season was dominated by draws, with fourteen out of 26 games drawn, just like the season in general - especially the Australian...
when he joined Worcestershire in the county's maiden first-class season. The highlight of his summer was undoubtedly the unbeaten 102 he hit 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...
, when he added 87 in barely half an hour with Robert Burrows
Robert Burrows
Robert Dixon Burrows was a first class cricketer who played for Worcestershire CCC between 1899 and 1919, he also umpired one test match and set a world record in 1911 when he sent a bail spinning 67 yards and 6 inches when he bowled Huddleston at Old Trafford.He bowled right arm fast medium and...
for the ninth wicket to set up a crushing innings win
The result in cricket
The result in a game of cricket may be a win for one of the two teams playing, a draw or a tie. In the case of a limited overs game, the game can also end with no result...
, one of only two County Championship
County Championship
The County Championship is the domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales...
wins by the county all season.
The following year
1900 English cricket season
The 1900 English cricket season saw Yorkshire finish the season unbeaten in the County Championship, the first time this had happened since the start of the official championship in 1890. They therefore became county champions, while defending champions Surrey finished in the middle of the pack in...
Lowe made ten appearances for Worcestershire, passing 500 first-class runs for the only time in his career, and in 1901
1901 English cricket season
Yorkshire defended their County Championship title in the 1901 English cricket season, though, unlike in 1900, they lost one game during the season, to 12th-placed Somerset....
he averaged nearly 42 with the bat and made his highest score of 154 against 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....
; the innings took only 150 minutes and remains (as of 2009) the highest score for Worcestershire in first-class cricket for a man batting at seven.
However, his form trailed off and after 1902
1902 English cricket season
The 1902 English cricket season saw the first Ashes series in England since 1899, when Australia had won a series in England for the first time since 1882. Australia won again, this time 2–1, with the first two Tests rained off...
he dropped out of the first-class game, though he did have a brief and unsuccessful comeback in 1910
1910 English cricket season
-Honours:*County Championship - Kent*Minor Counties Championship - Norfolk*Wisden - Harry Foster, Alfred Hartley, Charles Llewellyn, Razor Smith, Frank Woolley-External sources:*...
and 1911
1911 English cricket season
-Honours:*County Championship - Warwickshire*Minor Counties Championship - Staffordshire*Wisden - Frank Foster, J W Hearne, Sep Kinneir, Phil Mead, Herbert Strudwick-External sources:*...
; his only wicket in his last year being that of Test
Test cricket
Test cricket is the longest form of the sport of cricket. Test matches are played between national representative teams with "Test status", as determined by the International Cricket Council , with four innings played between two teams of 11 players over a period of up to a maximum five days...
all-rounder Len Braund
Len Braund
Leonard Charles Braund, born October 18, 1875, at Clewer, Berkshire, and died December 23, 1955, Putney Common, London, was a cricketer who played for Surrey, Somerset and England....
.
Lowe died in Hartley Wintney
Hartley Wintney
Hartley Wintney is a large village and civil parish in the English county of Hampshire.-Location and character:Hartley Wintney is in the Hart district of North-East Hampshire...
, Hampshire
Hampshire
Hampshire is a county on the southern coast of England in the United Kingdom. The county town of Hampshire is Winchester, a historic cathedral city that was once the capital of England. Hampshire is notable for housing the original birthplaces of the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force...
, at the age of 71.