Alonzo Drake

Personal information
Full name Alonzo Drake
Born 16 April 1884(1884-04-16)
Parkgate, Rotherham, Yorkshire, England
Died 14 February 1919(1919-02-14) (aged 34)
Honley, Yorkshire, England
Batting style Left-handed
Bowling style Left-arm slow-medium
Domestic team information
Years Team
1909–1914 Yorkshire
Career statistics
Competition First-class
Matches 157
Runs scored 4,816
Batting average 21.69
100s/50s 3/20
Top score 147*
Balls bowled 21,293
Wickets 480
Bowling average 18.03
5 wickets in innings 29
10 wickets in match 1
Best bowling 10/35
Catches/stumpings 93/–
Source: Cricinfo, 21 April 2011

Alonzo Drake (16 April 1884 – 14 February 1919)[1] was an English first-class cricketer who played 157 matches for Yorkshire between 1909 and 1914.[2] 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 World War I.

Life and career

Born in Parkgate, Rotherham, Yorkshire, England, Drake played for the Yorkshire Second XI in 1908 and 1909, the year he first broke into the first team. He took 12 wickets in five matches, and 28 in 1910 including a spell of 5/10 against Western Counties, at Titwood, Glasgow. In 1911, he finally established himself in the Yorkshire side. A more than useful left-handed batsman, he averaged 35 with the bat and took 79 wickets at 22.40.

In 1913, he took 102 wickets at the top of the Yorkshire averages and, in the last season of a truncated career, claimed 135 wickets at 15.30, including 11 five wicket hauls. 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 five wickets in an innings 29 times.

He claimed remarkable 4/4 and 3/3 returns, for match figures of 7/7, against Somerset at The Recreation Ground, Bath in 1913. He grabbed 5/6 in the second innings against Derbyshire at Queen's Park, Chesterfield in 1914, including the wickets of Richard Baggallay, Gilbert Curgenven, Colin Hurt and Thomas Forrester in consecutive balls. His most famous feat was the taking all ten Somerset wickets for 35 at Clarence Park, Weston-super-Mare in 1914, when he took 15 in the match for 51 runs. Only Drake, Hedley Verity (twice), and Frank Smailes, have taken all ten wickets in an innings for Yorkshire.[3]

He took a hat-trick against Essex at Fartown Ground, Huddersfield in 1912, in a spell in which he took 5 wickets and conceded no runs. He took three wickets in four balls in a first-class 'friendly' Roses Match at The Circle, Kingston upon Hull that year. He bowled unchanged with Major Booth throughout the game in consecutive matches in 1914 - against Gloucestershire and Somerset.

His batting continued to be useful. He scored 4,816 runs in all, with three centuries and a best of 147* against Derbyshire, for an average of 21.69.

He fell into ill health, and died aged 34 in February 1919, in Honley, Yorkshire.

References

  1. ^ Warner, David (2011). The Yorkshire County Cricket Club: 2011 Yearbook (113th ed.). Ilkley, Yorkshire: Great Northern Books. p. 367. ISBN 978-1-905080-85-4. 
  2. ^ "Player profile: Alonzo Drake". ESPNcricinfo. http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/player/12248.html. Retrieved 21 April 2011. 
  3. ^ Warner, David (2011). The Yorkshire County Cricket Club: 2011 Yearbook (113th ed.). Ilkley, Yorkshire: Great Northern Books. p. 73. ISBN 978-1-905080-85-4. 

External links