H. D. G. Leveson-Gower

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H D G Leveson-Gower England (Eng)
Batting style	Right-handed batsman (RHB)
Bowling type	Leg break
	Tests	First-class
Matches	3	277
Runs scored	95	7638
Batting average	23.75	23.72
100s/50s	0/0	4/42
Top score	31	155
Balls bowled	0	2261
Wickets	0	46
Bowling average	n/a	29.95
5 wickets in innings	0	3
10 wickets in match	0	0
Best bowling	n/a	6/49
Catches/stumpings	1/0	103/0
Test debut: 1 January 1910 Last Test: 3 March 1910 Source: [1]

Sir Henry Dudley Gresham Leveson-Gower (pronounced "Loosen Gore", IPA: /luːsən gɔə/) (born 8 May 1873 in Titsey Place, Surrey, died 1 February 1954 in London) was an English cricketer who played for Oxford University and Surrey as well as England. He captained England in all three of the Test matches he played, winning one and losing two against South Africa in 1909/10, with Frederick Fane captaining on the other two Test matches of the series.

He was captain of Surrey from 1908 to 1910, and the club's president from 1929 to 1939. He was an England Test selector in 1909, and chairman of selectors in 1924 and from 1927 to 1930.^[1] Leveson-Gower was knighted for his services to cricket in 1953. In the same year he published a book of reminiscences entitled Off and On the Field.

Leveson-Gower was nicknamed "Shrimp" but few cricket sources refer to him by anything other than his initials. During a tour of America in 1897 organised by Plum Warner^[2] that Leveson-Gower took part in, the Philadelphian cricket poet Ralph D. Paine published the following piece of humorous verse concerning the pronunciation of his surname:

At one end stocky Jessop frowned,

The human catapult

Who wrecks the roofs of distant towns

When set in his assault.

His mate was that perplexing man

We know as "Looshun-Gore",

It isn’t spelt at all that way,

We don’t know what it’s for.

But as with Cholmondeley and St. John^[3]

The alphabet is mixed,

And Yankees cannot help but ask -

"Why don't you get it fixed?"^[4]

Preceded by Archie MacLaren

English national cricket captain 1909/10

Succeeded by Johnny Douglas

[edit] Notes

1. ^ The Cricket Captains of England, Alan Gibson, 1989, The Pavilion Library, ISBN 1-85145-390-3, p112
2. ^ Warner's Wisden obituary refers
3. ^ Pronounced Chumly and Sinjun respectively
4. ^ The Cricket Captains of England, Alan Gibson, 1989, The Pavilion Library, ISBN 1-85145-390-3, p114

[edit] External reference

• Cricinfo page on H D G Leveson-Gower