Alonzo Drake
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Alonzo Drake was a first class cricketer who played 157 matches for Yorkshire County Cricket Club between 1909 and 1914. Despite making his first class debut at the relatively late age of 25, Drake was a vital part of the Yorkshire team in the seasons before the World War I.
Born on April 16, 1884 in Parkgate, Rotherham, he played for the Yorkshire Second XI in 1908 and 1909, the year he first broke into the first team. He took 12 wickets in just five matches and 28 in 1910 including a spell of 5 for 10 against Western, at Glasgow. In 1911 he finally established himself in the Yorkshire side. A more than useful left handed batsman, he averaged 35 with the willow and took 79 wickets at 22.4.
In 1913 he took 102 wickets at the top of the Yorkshire averages and in the last season of a tragically truncated career claimed 135 wickets at 15.3, including 11 'five fors'. Like Schofield Haigh he was devastating on poor or rain affected wickets but unlike Haigh could bowl long spells and had a fine economy rate on flatter batting tracks. He took 5 wickets in an innings 29 times.
He claimed a remarkable 4 for 4 and 3 for 3, for match figures of 7 for 7, against Somerset CCC at Bath in 1913. He grabbed 5 for 6 in the second innings against Derbyshire CCC at Chesterfield in 1914 including the scalps of Baggallay, Curgenven, Hurt, Forrester in consecutive balls. His most famous feat was the taking all 10 Somerset CCC wickets for 35 at Weston-super-Mare in 1914, when he took 15 in the match for 51.
He took a hat trick against Essex CCC at Huddersfield in 1912 in a spell in which he took 5 wickets and conceded no runs. He took 3 wickets in 4 balls in a first class 'friendly' Roses Match at Hull that year. He bowled unchanged through a match, with Major Booth, who also died during the Great War, in consecutive matches in 1914 - against Gloucestershire CCC and Somerset CCC.
His batting continued to be useful. He scored 4,816 runs in all, with three centuries and a best of 147* against Derbyshire CCC, for an average of 21.69.
He fell into ill health and died, at just 34 on February 14, 1919, Honley, Huddersfield, Yorkshire.
