Bill Bradley (cricketer)

Bill Bradley

Personal information
Full name	Walter Morris Bradley
Born	(1875-01-02)2 January 1875 Lower Sydenham, England
Died	19 June 1944(1944-06-19) (aged 69) Wandsworth Common, England
Batting style	Right-handed
Bowling style	Right arm fast
International information
National side	England
Test debut (cap 127)	17 July 1899 v Australia
Last Test	16 August 1899 v Australia
Domestic team information
Years	Team
1895–1903	Kent
1903	London County
Career statistics
Competition Test First-class Matches 2 144 Runs scored 23 956 Batting average 23.00 6.01 100s/50s 0/0 0/1 Top score 23 not out 67 not out Balls bowled 625 28,440 Wickets 6 633 Bowling average 38.83 22.65 5 wickets in innings 1 44 10 wickets in match – 10 Best bowling 5/67 9/87 Catches/stumpings 0/– 79/–
Source: Cricinfo, 10 September 2009

Walter Morris 'Bill' Bradley (born 2 January 1875, Sydenham, London, died 19 June 1944, Wandsworth, London) was an English cricketer who played in 2 Tests in 1899.

A well built, attacking right arm fast bowler, "Bill" Bradley played county cricket for Kent as an amateur between 1895 and 1903. Bowling off a long run with a high action, he pitched the ball up and bowled long spells, attributes which earned him two Test caps in 1899. He excelled in his first, taking 5 for 67 against Joe Darling's Australians at Old Trafford^[1] but met with less success in his second, at the Oval. The most successful amateur bowler of that season, taking 156 wickets at 19.1 including two hat tricks, he took 624 wickets in 9 seasons at 22.64. An old fashioned tail ender, he scored only 906 first-class runs at just 6.09 with 67 coming in one innings against Yorkshire at Canterbury in 1897, an unbeaten innings amassed in just 45 minutes.

He is one of only twenty cricketers to have taken a wicket with his first ball in a Test match.

References