William Lockwood

William Lockwood (William Henry Lockwood; born March 25, 1868, Old Radford, Nottinghamshire; died April 26, 1932, Old Radford, Nottinghamshire) was a fast bowler and the unpredictable, occasionally devastating counterpart to the amazingly hard-working Tom Richardson for Surrey in the early County Championship. A capable enough batsman against weaker bowling sides who scored over 10,000 runs in first-class cricket, stronger bowling tended to show flaws in his technique.

Rapid development into a top-flight bowler

In his first two years for Surrey, with George Lohmann and John Sharpe doing all that was required, Lockwood was regarded as little more than a capable batsman. However, with some support bowling wanted, Surrey turned to Lockwood and on the treacherous wickets of August 1891 he proved quite irresistible. His 7 for 19 against Kent was seen as the most difficult bowling of the year by Wisden.

Related Topics:
George Lohmann - John Sharpe - Wisden

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In the following two years the pitches at The Oval were exceedingly fiery and gave Lockwood a lot of help. In 1892, he was regarded as the most difficult bowler of the year and took a career-high 151 wickets. The following year, he proved his class as a bowler with 9 for 126 for Lord Sheffield's XI against the Australians in May, Lockwood played his first Test at Lord's and took an impressive six for 101. He followed this up with eight for 133 in two innings of the second Test, but injury ruled him out of the last.

Related Topics:
The Oval - Test - Lord's

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In 1894 Lockwood and Richardson, with their pace and sharp break-back, were an irresistible combination on the many treacherous wickets. Lockwood's bowling reached its highest point, though, against Yorkshire at the Oval when Richardson was injured: he took 7 for 94 on a very true pitch to win the match that decided the Championship. Lockwood's batting did not suffer from the advance of his bowling: indeed he frequently opened with Bobby Abel in 1894 and scored over 900 runs under the most difficult conditions. After demolishing Kent on a perfect batting wicket, he and Richardson were chosen to tour Australia.

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