Pat Vaulkhard

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Patrick Vaulkhard (September 15, 1911 — April 1, 1995) was an English cricketer. He was a right-handed batsman, leg-break bowler and wicket-keeper, who played first-class cricket between 1934 and 1952. He was born in Nottingham.

This eighteen years was, in fact, representative of merely eight seasons in English cricket, Vaulkhard had debuted in the Minor Counties Championship at the age of nineteen, playing for his home county of Nottinghamshire in June 1931.

Vaulkhard debuted in the County Championship for Nottinghamshire in 1934, and they would finish in ninth place, while he would also take his sole first-class wicket as a bowler against Sussex in June of that year.

Vaulkhard spent twelve years out of the first-class game, playing during just one season, 1939, for Northumberland. He would return to first-class cricket in 1946, becoming one of the first post-war debutants for Derbyshire. During this season, he hit his first and only first-class century, a spectacular innings of 264, the highest score of any Derbyshire player of the season, which was, at the time of the publication of the 1995 Wisden Cricketers' Almanack, the year of Vaulkhard's death, the third highest score in first-class history by a player who would never hit another century during their career.[1] This innings was part of a fourth-wicket partnership with Denis Smith, which, at 328, remains a record for the team[2], and second in the list of single innings tallies for Derbyshire, only to George Davidson's innings of 274 in 1896. A powerful batsman, he would regularly be seen smashing sixes out of the County Ground.

1947 saw less involvement in first-class cricket for Vaulkhard, though Derbyshire finished fifth in the Championship, and, despite Vaulkhard's averages tailing off to just five in 1949, he was given another chance in the first team in 1950, as he, in his one and only season as Derbyshire club captain, played more first-class games during this season than any other, while averaging 21 and scoring five first-class half centuries.

During his final two years in first-class cricket, he played only five times, retiring from a first-class career spanning eighteen years in 1952, in spite of Derbyshire's good form, and fourth-placed finish, in the County Championship season. Vaulkhard was a middle-order batsman throughout his Derbyshire career, immediately prior to the emergence of Guy Willatt as a strong first-team player.

Vaulkhard died in Cambridge at the age of 83. Vaulkhard's brother, Geoffrey represented Nottinghamshire's Second XI in 1949, while another brother, Denis, represented the same team in 1931.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Wisden Almanack, Obituaries in 1995 - requires registration - Retrieved December 28, 2006.
  2. ^ Highest Partnership for Each Wicket for Derbyshire County Cricket Club - Retrieved December 28, 2006.

[edit] External links