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.

Revival

However, in 1898 Lockwood, having slimmed considerably, began an amazing revival, with his pace and break being as good as ever. When Richardson returned to form, the two could form an amazing pair, and against Yorkshire at the Oval their wonderful bowling allowed Surrey to inflict an all-time record defeat, something they gave to Kent a week later. With the bat, Lockwood was also back in form and hit three centuries. The following year, Lockwood was plagued by injury, but in at least three matches he bowled better than ever (notably when recalled for the last Test at the Oval). He also reached a thousand runs for the first time, which he repeated in 1900, when despite some inconsistencies, he was still clearly the best bowler on a good pitch when at his best. In 1901 Lockwood had a benefit match washed out by rain and played after the normal cricket season had ended. His cricket, too was disppointing, though this was largely due to injury wiping out more than a quarter of his season.

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The dreadfully wet summer of 1902 restricted Lockwood's opportunities. However, his bowling in the thrilling last two Tests was remarkable: 11 for 76 at Old Trafford and 5 for 45 in the second innings at the Oval, whilst his wonderful 8 for 25 on a wearing wicket at Lord's showed "his fast ball coming back to telling effect" (The Times).

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