John Howarth

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Career record	First-class	List A
Matches	13	5
Runs scored	0	9
Batting average	0.00	4.50
100s/50s	0/0	0/0
Top score	0*	5
Balls bowled	1242	282
Wickets	19	8
Bowling average	33.78	18.12
5 wickets in innings	0	0
10 wickets in match	0	n/a
Best Bowling	3/30	3/30
Catches/Stumpings	3/0	2/0
As of 10 July 2006 Source: CricInfo Edit this template

John Stirling Howarth (born 26 March 1945) is a former English county cricketer who played for Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club. A right-arm fast-medium bowler of some success, he is believed to hold the unfortunate record of most first class matches played without scoring a run.

Howarth was born in Stockport, Cheshire and played for Notts in the 1966 and 1967 English cricket seasons. In 13 first class games he took 19 wickets at an average just below 34.^[1] He is, however, best known for his remarkable record of scoring no runs in this time. Steven Lynch, deputy editor of the Wisden Group, has investigated the matter and believes that a career of 13 first class matches without a run is the world record.^[2] However, Howarth only batted seven innings in these matches (out of a theoretical maximum of 26, had he batted in two innings per game). In those he was dismissed four times for a duck, and finished not out without scoring on three other occasions, giving him a career best score of 0*.^[1] According to Lynch, the record for most innings in a career without scoring a run appears to belong to Seymour Clark, who played for Somerset County Cricket Club as a wicket-keeper and notoriously poor batsman^[2] in the 1930 season. In five matches he batted nine innings, with seven ducks and two scores of 0*.^[3]

Howarth, who also played for Minor Counties, had success in his one-day cricket career, although he was limited to 5 List A matches spread from 1967 to the 1977 season. He took 8 wickets at the low average of 18.12, with a strike rate of 35 balls per wicket and an economy rate of just 3.08 runs per over. His best bowling figures were 3/30, coincidentally identical to his first class best. Howarth also had (slightly) more success with his right-handed batting, being dismissed only twice in four innings for a total of nine runs at an average of 4.50. His highest score was 5.^[1]

Howarth's world record for matches played in a first class career without a run scored only came to light almost 40 years after his final first class match. Interested in his unusual career statistics, he wrote to Wisden editor Steven Lynch, who published his reply confirming Howarth's achievement in his Ask Steven column on cricinfo.com in July 2006. The column, entitled Unmasked: the slowest batsmen, and the worst, answered a variety of submitted questions. "The slowest batsmen" in the title referred to a separate query about batsmen's strike rates in One Day Internationals, while "the worst" clearly referred to Howarth and Clark.^[2]

[edit] References

Persondata
NAME	Howarth, John Stirling
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Howarth, John
SHORT DESCRIPTION	English county cricketer; fast-medium bowler for Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club
DATE OF BIRTH	March 26, 1945
PLACE OF BIRTH	Stockport, Cheshire, England
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH