Will Mortlock
William Mortlock (18 July 1832 at Kennington, London – 23 January 1884 at Lambeth, London) was an English professional cricketer who played first-class cricket from 1851 to 1870. His brother Thomas was a first-class umpire.
A right-handed batsman and slow underarm bowler who played for Surrey County Cricket Club, Mortlock made 191 known appearances in first-class matches.[1] He represented the Players in the Gentlemen v Players series.
Mortlock sometimes opened the innings and he scored a total of 5528 runs at an average of 18.73 with a highest score of 106. He made three career centuries. A versatile fielder, renowned as a longstop who seldom allowed a bye, he took 85 catches.[2][3] He took 147 wickets with underarm bowling at 18.02 with a best analysis of 7/42 and he twice claimed ten wickets in a match. Haygarth considered his lob bowling 'rubbish'. Mortlock participated in the first cricket tour of Australia in 1861-2. The team travelled to Australia on the SS Great Britain.[4] It was on this tour that Mortlock gained the nickname 'Old Stonewall' for his stubborn defensive batting and longstopping.[3]
Mortlock died at his home in Acre Lane, Brixton, on 23 January 1884, after an illness that had incapacitated him for two years. He was buried at West Norwood Cemetery.[3]
References
[edit]- ^ CricketArchive. Retrieved on 2 December 2008.
- ^ Daft, Richard (7 October 1893). "Kings of Cricket (part thirteen)". The Australian Star: 7.
- ^ a b c "Pavilion Gossip". Cricket: 10. 31 January 1884.
- ^ "SS Great Britain : Brunel's ss Great Britain".
External links
[edit]- Will Mortlock at CricketArchive (subscription required)
Further reading
[edit]- H S Altham, A History of Cricket, Volume 1 (to 1914), George Allen & Unwin, 1962
- Arthur Haygarth, Scores & Biographies, Volumes 1-11 (1744–1870), Lillywhite, 1862–72
- 1832 births
- 1884 deaths
- English cricketers
- English cricketers of 1826 to 1863
- 19th-century English sportsmen
- English cricketers of 1864 to 1889
- Players cricketers
- Surrey cricketers
- Burials at West Norwood Cemetery
- North v South cricketers
- Surrey Club cricketers
- Married v Single cricketers
- North of the Thames v South of the Thames cricketers
- Players of the South cricketers
- Players of Surrey cricketers
- English cricket biography, 1830s birth stubs