Seymour Clark

Arthur Henry Seymour Clark, (born at Weston-super-Mare on 26 March 1902 and died there on 17 March 1995), was a first-class cricketer who played five times for Somerset in the 1930 English cricket season and set a record that appears not to have been surpassed.

Clark, a local club cricketer in Weston and a locomotive driver with the Great Western Railway, was called into the Somerset side for five matches when regular wicketkeeper Wally Luckes was ill. He took eight catches, and Wisden Cricketers' Almanack for 1931 said that he "rendered useful service in that capacity".

Clark is chiefly remembered as a batsman. In nine innings in the five games, he failed to score a single run.^[1] In the match against Northamptonshire at Kettering, he was not out in both innings and failed to score, but otherwise he was out for 0, bowled five times and caught twice. Nine innings is believed to be the record for a first-class cricketer who failed to score a single run. John Howarth of Nottinghamshire played in 13 matches without scoring, but batted only seven times.

In Clark's obituary in Wisden 1996 edition, it is reported that the Essex and England bowler Peter Smith, bowling Essex to an overwhelming victory at Colchester, attempted to give him a run. He bowled so gently to Clark that the ball bounced twice before reaching the batsman. Clark was still bowled by it. In club cricket, Clark reckoned his highest score was three.

He returned to his career on the railways after this brief taste of first-class cricket.

References

1. ↑ David Foot (16 February 2008). "Nine innings ... no runs: Seymour Clark had a county career of five matches, during which he kept wicket brilliantly ... and never once got off the mark".  This article was first published in the July 1988 edition of Wisden Cricket Monthly.

• Wisden Cricketers' Almanack, 1931 and 1996 editions