Bromley-Davenport Hugh Image 1 Cambridge University 1895

Description

Capesthorne Hall, Siddington, Cheshire born Hugh Bromley-Davenport was a right handed batsman and left-arm fast bowler who was educated at Eton, where he was described as the best public school bowler of 1887, he achieved considerable success in his first two matches against Harrow,  in 1886 he dismissed nine batsmen for 152 and the following season eight for 111. He then went up to Trinity Hall, Cambridge University, being one of the few players of his era who played cricket wearing glasses. He made his first class debut for Cambridge in 1892, and won his Blue in both 1892, taking 5-11 in his second University match, and 1893 under the captaincy of F. S. Jackson.

An incident in that 1892 game led to a change in the Laws. Convinced that Oxford intended to throw away their last wicket, which, as they were 84 behind, would have meant that they would be compelled to follow-on and thus leave Cambridge to take last innings on a deteriorating pitch, C. M. Wells frustrated any such attempt by bowling two wides to the boundary. In the end Cambridge won by 266 runs, and the following year the follow-on became compulsory only if a side finished the first innings 120 or more behind their opponents’ total.

Bromley-Davenport played minor counties cricket for Cheshire before appearing for Middlesex in 1896, but never played with any regularity for the County, his final season being in 1898. In 1893 he appeared with such celebrities as K.S. Ranjitsinhji and C.B. Fry under the captaincy of W.G. Grace for Gentlemen at The Oval, where the Players won in an exciting finish by eight runs. Twice he toured the West Indies, with R.S. Lucas’s team in 1894-95 and with Lord Hawke’s side in 1897, visited South Africa with Lord Hawke in 1895-96 and 1898-99. He also went on tour to Portugal with T. Westray’s team in 1898.

He made his Test debut for England against South Africa at Port Elizabeth in February 1896, claiming 3 wickets in the match as England won by 288 runs as George Lohmann took 8-7 in the second innings, and made 84 in England’s first innings of the next Test match at Johannesburg at the start of the next month, also playing in the Third Test at Cape Town. On his second tour to South Africa, he played in his final Test for England at Johannesburg in February 1899, but failed to make an impact scoring only 4 runs, a match that proved his final one in first class play.

With a Test match batting average of 21.33, he scored 1,801 runs in 76 first class matches at an average of 18.37, with 11 half centuries and a highest score of 91. As a bowler he took 187 wickets at an average of 17.92, with a best performance of 7-17 and 12 five wicket innings, with one ten wicket match. He also took 48 catches in the first class game.

He served with the Royal Engineers in the First World War, being mentioned in despatches, and was awarded the OBE for his services.

Bromley-Davenport along with Laxman Sivaramakrishnan, shares the record for the longest surname among Test cricketers.

His brother in law, John Head, also played for Middlesex around the same time.