William Clifford (cricketer)
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | William Clifford | ||||||||||||||
| Born | 1811[a] Bearsted, Kent | ||||||||||||||
| Died | 5 September 1841 (aged 29–30) Gravesend, Kent | ||||||||||||||
| Batting | Right-handed | ||||||||||||||
| Bowling | Right-arm slow | ||||||||||||||
| Role | Wicket-keeper | ||||||||||||||
| Relations |
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| Domestic team information | |||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | ||||||||||||||
| 1834–1841 | Kent | ||||||||||||||
| FC debut | 7 July 1834 Kent XI v England XI | ||||||||||||||
| Last FC | 7 June 1841 Kent XI v Sussex | ||||||||||||||
| Career statistics | |||||||||||||||
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Source: CricInfo, 1 June 2022 | |||||||||||||||
William Clifford (christened 14 December 1811 – 5 September 1841) was an English cricketer who played for Kent county teams between 1834 and 1841. He was a right-handed batsman and a slow bowler who often fielded as a wicket-keeper.[3]
Clifford was christened at Bearsted in Kent in December 1811.[1] He was the son of Robert and Catherine Clifford;[2] his grandfather, also Robert Clifford, was a well-known all-rounder who bowled leg breaks for Kent sides at the end of the 18th-century and made more than 70 appearances in top-level matches. William's brother, Francis Clifford, also played in first-class matches for Kent County Cricket Club during the mid-19th century.[4]
Playing club cricket for a range of sides, including Bearsted and Leeds, William Clifford made his first-class cricket debut in 1834.[1] Renowned as one of the best batsmen in the Kent side, he played 17 of his 29 first-class matches for Kent teams, often opening the batting.[2] He played four times for the Players against the Gentlemen and for England sides[b] and three times for the South against the North.[2] In 1841 he opened a cricket ground, Rucks Lane, at Gravesend[c][6] and played his final first-class matches the same year.
Clifford worked as a wheelwright before becoming a publican at Gravesend in 1837. He died in September 1841 of a "bilious fever".[2] He was probably aged less than 30.[3]
Notes[edit]
- ^ Carlaw gives Clifford's year of birth as 1812. CricketArchive gives the date of his christening as 11 December 1811.[1][2]
- ^ During the time Clifford played, England sides were not representative of the country. Instead, they were sides composed of players from a range of locations brought together to play against another side.[5]
- ^ The Bat and Ball Ground at Gravesend was established in around 1848 by Tom Adams, probably on the site of a private ground which had been created for the use of Lawrence Ruck, a Gravesend grocer who had built the nearby Ruckland House. This is likely to be the same ground.[6][7]
References[edit]
Bibliography[edit]
- Birley D (1999) A Social History of English Cricket. London: Aurum Press. ISBN 978 1 78131 1769
- Carlaw D (2020) Kent County Cricketers A to Z. Part One: 1806–1914 (revised edition). (Available online at the Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians. Retrieved 2020-12-21.)
- Milton H (1999) The Bat & Ball Gravesend: a first-class history. Gravesend: Gravesend Cricket Club. ISBN 0 9536041 0 1
- Milton H (2020) Kent County Cricket Grounds. Worthing: Pitch Publishing. ISBN 978-1-78531-661-6
External links[edit]
William Clifford at ESPNcricinfo
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