Phil Mead
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- "Philip Mead" redirects here. Philip Mead is also the fictional President of the United States in the year 2052 in the video game Deus Ex.
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| Batting style | Left-handed batsman (LHB) | |
| Bowling type | Slow left arm orthodox (SLA) | |
| Tests | First-class | |
| Matches | 17 | 814 |
| Runs scored | 1,185 | 55,061 |
| Batting average | 49.37 | 47.67 |
| 100s/50s | 4/3 | 153/258 |
| Top score | 182* | 280* |
| Balls bowled | 0 | 18,457 |
| Wickets | 0 | 277 |
| Bowling average | n/a | 34.70 |
| 5 wickets in innings | 0 | 5 |
| 10 wickets in match | 0 | 0 |
| Best bowling | n/a | 7-18 |
| Catches/stumpings | 4/0 | 675/0 |
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Test debut: 15 December 1911 |
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Charles Phillip Mead (born 9 March 1887 in Battersea, Surrey, died 26 March 1958 in Boscombe, Hampshire) was a left-handed batsman for Hampshire and England between 1905 and 1936. His exceptionally straight bat and quick footwork (surprising for a man of heavy build as he was) made him one of the most difficult batsmen to dismiss throughout his career. His mastery over the best county spin bowlers even on the most treacherous pitches is remarkable, but he could also be very good against the fastest bowling because he could get closer into line than just about any batsman in cricket history.
Mead holds many batting records, notably that of scoring the most runs in the County Championship and the fourth-highest total in all first-class matches. His number of runs for Hampshire, in fact, is the greatest number any batsman has scored for a single team. He also exceeded one thousand runs in every season of first-class cricket except his first - when he only played one match. He was also a fine fieldsman, holding 675 catches.
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[edit] Cricket career
Mead first trialled for Surrey, but qualified for Hampshire because Surrey's batting strength was such that they were unable to offer him a contract. After one match against the touring Australians when not qualified in 1905, Mead immediately became a regular with Hampshire, but faltered after a promising beginning including 109 against Yorkshire.
However, from 1907 onwards Mead, at this stage an opening batsman, advanced very rapidly, with his average reaching 39 in the very wet summer of 1909. In 1911, he moved down the order to his familiar position of number four, and so successful was this move that he was the leading run-scorer in 1911 and 1913, and toured Australia in 1911/1912 and South Africa in 1913/1914. He was not nearly so successful as might have been expected in Australia, but in South Africa he hit a Test century and played particularly well throughout.
After World War I halted county cricket, Mead's list of achievements grew, as his always-remarkable watchfulness and superb footwork made him the complete master of bowlers such as Tich Freeman who were deadly against batsmen of poorer technique. In 1921, after missing the first three Tests against Australia, Mead hit 182 not out at The Oval in the last Test - showing that England seriously erred in not choosing him for the earlier games when Jack Gregory and Ted McDonald had a complete mastery over their batsmen. He also hit his highest score of 280 not out that year against Nottinghamshire. Hampshire, remarkably, lost the match as they had been bowled out cheaply on a good wicket in their first innings!
Between 1922 and 1928, Mead was consistently one of the top batsmen in county cricket, but England's remarkable batting strength - with men like Herbert Sutcliffe, Wally Hammond, Jack Hobbs and Frank Woolley - meant Mead had few opportunities at Test level. After scoring over 3000 runs in 1928, Mead toured Australia for the second time, but was dropped after one Test so as to make room for another bowler.
In 1929, affected by injury, Mead declined substantially, failing to reach 2000 runs for the first time since the war. However, despite no longer being in the front rank of English batsmen, Mead was still feared for his great technical skill and reached a thousand runs every year until, at the age of forty-nine in 1936, he was not re-engaged by Hampshire. In his last innings, Mead played a superbly skillful 52 against Hedley Verity on a badly wearing wicket, and he played for Suffolk in the Minor Counties Championship with considerable success in 1938 and 1939.
Soon after World War II, Mead became totally blind, but he retained a great interest in cricket and often attended Hampshire matches right up to his death on March 26, 1958.
| Phil Mead | ||
| Personal information | ||
|---|---|---|
| Full name | Charles Phillip Mead | |
| Date of birth | March 9, 1887 | |
| Place of birth | Battersea, England | |
| Date of death | March 26, 1958 (aged 71) | |
| Place of death | Bournemouth, England | |
| Playing position | Goalkeeper | |
| Senior clubs1 | ||
| Years | Club | App (Gls)* |
| 1907 | Southampton | 1 (0) |
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1 Senior club appearances and goals |
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[edit] Football career
In 1907, Mead signed for Southampton for one season in order to assist the club's reserve team as a useful inside-forward, but he had no intention of taking up football as a full-time occupation. On 21 December 1907, he was at Fratton Park, Portsmouth for a reserve fixture when he was summoned to The Dell where the Saints had an emergency as both regular goalkeepers, Herbert Lock and Tom Burrows were unavailable through injury. Mead therefore played in goal in a Southern League match against West Ham United. According to Holley & Chalk's "The Alphabet of the Saints" he "shaped up well but was only required to save two shots and kept a blank sheet in a 0-0 draw."[1]
[edit] References
- ^ Duncan Holley & Gary Chalk (1992). The Alphabet of the Saints. ACL & Polar Publishing, pp.235-236. ISBN 0-9514862-3-3.
