Bradley Bill Image 2 Kent 1901

Description

Lower Sydenham, Kent born Walter Morris “Bill” Bradley was an English amateur cricketer who played for Kent between 1895 and 1903 as a right-arm fast bowler. He worked for Lloyd’s Register and played cricket for the firm, in one match taking 6 wickets with consecutive balls, where he was spotted and asked to play for Kent. He impressed for the County side and, according to his Wisden obituary, “became a protégé of Lord Harris”.

He made his first class cricket debut for Kent against Somerset at Rectory Field in July 1895 and was capped by the County during the same season. He appeared most regularly between 1899 and 1902, making at least 23 first class appearances in each season. He took 536 wickets for Kent during his career, taking 10 wickets in a match 10 times and took three hat-tricks for the County. His final appearances for Kent were on the County’s North American tour in September and October 1903 against the Gentlemen of Philadelphia.

A well built, attacking right arm fast bowler, Bradley bowled 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 on his Test debut, taking 5-67 against Joe Darling’s Australians at Old Trafford in July 1899, also taking a wicket in their second innings, but met with less success in his second Test, at The Oval the next month, when he was wicketless. The most successful amateur bowler of that season, taking 156 wickets at 19.1 including two hat tricks against Essex at Leyton and Yorkshire at Tonbridge, he took 633 wickets in 144 first class matches over nine seasons at an average of 22.65. An old fashioned tail ender, he scored only 956 first class runs at just 6.01, with 67 coming in one innings against Yorkshire at Canterbury in 1897, an unbeaten innings amassed in just 45 minutes, his only half century. He also took 80 catches in the first class game.

Bradley is one of only twenty cricketers to have taken a wicket with his first ball in a Test match, dismissing Australian Frank Laver.

As well as his 123 appearances for Kent, Bradley played in first class matches for a variety of other teams. He appeared in six Gentlemen v Players matches and made his final first class appearance in 1904 for G.J.V. Weigall’s XI against Cambridge University at Fenner’s.