Harry Foster

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Henry Knollys "Harry" Foster, born at Malvern, Worcestershire, on October 30, 1873 and died at Kingsthorne, Herefordshire on June 23, 1950, was a cricketer who played for Oxford University and Worcestershire.

The oldest of seven brothers who played cricket for Worcestershire, Harry Foster was a forceful right-handed middle-order batsman who acted as captain at Worcestershire for 11 of the first 12 season in which the county competed in the County Championship. He was also for many of those seasons the county's leading batsman.

Foster first played first-class cricket at Oxford. Not picked for any matches at all in 1893, he won a Blue against Cambridge in each of the next three seasons. In the Varsity match of 1895, he scored 121 in two hours as Oxford, set a target of 331 to win, reached just 196 all out.

Foster captained Worcestershire in the county's very first Championship match in 1899 and led the side every season until 1910, except for 1901. He scored 1,000 runs in a season eight times, and five times averaged more than 40 runs per innings. Among his 29 first-class centuries, he hit 216 against Somerset in 1903 and 215 against Warwickshire in 1908, both at Worcester.

Unlike his brother Tip Foster, Harry Foster did not play Test cricket, but he led the amateur side in both Gentlemen v Players matches in 1910, and was named as a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1911. He stood down as Worcestershire captain after 1910, but returned for the 1913 season. He then played intermittently until 1925, when he finally retired. In 1907, 1912 and again after the First World War, he acted as an England selector.

Foster was also a champion rackets player, being English singles champion eight times and winning several doubles titles. He also represented Oxford University at rackets for four years. He was appointed an MBE.