An A to Z of Northamptonshire Cricketers

by Andrew Radd

Player number 97 (f-c debut for Northamptonshire – 9 July 1921) Birthplace Edmonton, Middlesex First-Class 2 matches, 11 runs @5.50 Harry Arkell played for the long-established Temperance club in Northampton Town League and was selected for both the league’s representative side (caught behind for a duck by Ben Bellamy, keeping wicket for the County League select) and Northants Club and Ground early in 1921. Called in as a late replacement to make his first-class debut for No

Player number 102 (f-c debut for Northamptonshire – 6 May 1922) Birthplace Sydenham, London First-Class 6 matches, 122 runs @11.09 After Westminster School and war service in France as an officer in the Grenadier Guards, Norman Andrews made an unpromising Northamptonshire debut in a grim defeat against Yorkshire at the start of the 1922 season – selection for which was surely the County’s answer to Lord Derby’s ‘Who? Who? Ministry’ of 1852. But the club persisted with him, r

Player number 123 (f-c debut for Northamptonshire – 28 June 1924) Birthplace Finedon, Northamptonshire First-Class 2 matches, 38 runs @38.00; 5 wickets @ 31.00; 1 catch ‘Cherry’ Addis was a towering figure for Finedon Dolben CC over many seasons, and his supporters felt he could have made a mark in county cricket had he chosen to make the game his profession. In 1923 he produced eye-catching figures of 7-19 in a losing cause against Northampton Saints (whose side could boast

Player number 91 (f-c debut for Northamptonshire – 26 June 1920) Birthplace Steeple Claydon, Buckinghamshire First-Class 38 matches, 1,125 runs @ 18.14; 0-67; 5 catches Northamptonshire would have been happy to see more of farmer Bill Adams and his adhesive qualities at the top of the batting order. A genuine ‘sticker’ with outstanding powers of concentration, if not a plethora of attractive strokes, left-hander Adams learned his cricket at Magdalen College School in Brackl

Player number 132 (f-c debut for Northamptonshire – 7 July 1926) Birthplace Northampton First-Class 11 matches, 158 runs @ 10.53; 13 wickets @ 19.23; 5 catches Employed in the County Treasurer’s department at County Hall in Northampton, leg-spinner Sidney Adams made a remarkable entrance into first-class cricket for Northamptonshire in 1926. He travelled to Ireland to play against Dublin University in June, was selected for the return match against the same opponents at Nort

Player number 212 (f-c debut for Northamptonshire – 29 June 1946) Birthplace Port-of-Spain, Trinidad First-Class 3 matches, 24 runs @ 12.00; 6 wickets @ 36.66 Trinidadian Ken Ablack achieved greater fame as a cricket commentator than as a player, but after turning out frequently in wartime matches (mainly for the fundraising British Empire XI, but also in fixtures between a West Indies XI and Northamptonshire at Spinney Hill) he appeared three times for the County – twice in