William Victor Fox
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Full name | William Victor Fox | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 8 January 1898 Middlesbrough, England | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Died | 17 February 1949 (aged 51) Withington, Manchester, England | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Domestic team information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1923–1932 | Worcestershire | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Career statistics | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Source: CricketArchive, 1 August 2008 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
William Victor Fox (8 January 1898 – 17 February 1949) was an English sportsman who played both cricket and football to a high level.
Cricket
[edit]Fox made his first-class debut for Worcestershire in May 1923, making 5 and 7 in an innings defeat against Hampshire at Southampton.[1] However, thereafter he contributed some useful innings throughout the season and ended not far short of a thousand runs, including his maiden century, an unbeaten 178 against Northamptonshire.[2] His average that summer was a useful 32.70, but his career came to an enforced (though temporary) end at the end of the season when Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) ruled that his qualification was invalid.[3]
Fox's cricketing career resumed in 1926, and from then until 1930 he was a regular in the Worcestershire team. In a usually weak batting side, Fox performed well, making his thousand runs in 1926, 1928 and 1929, and missing out by a single run in 1927.[4] His best season was 1929; in this year he made 1,457 first-class runs at an average of 31, with two hundreds and seven fifties. It was in 1929 also that Fox hit his career-best innings: 198 against Warwickshire at Edgbaston.[5]
His form fell away in 1930, and after hitting 134 against Lancashire at the start of July[6] Fox made only one further half-century in 15 innings that year.[7] He played not at all in 1931, and although he appeared four times in 1932 he did nothing of any note in those games.
He was a strictly occasional bowler, sending down fewer than 35 overs in his career and claiming just two first-class wickets. His victims were both substantial cricketers: Yorkshire's George Macaulay in 1926[8] and Leicestershire's Alan Shipman in 1929.[9]
Fox died at the early age of 51 following an operation, leaving Mrs Frances Vera Fox and son Kenneth Fox.[3]
Football
[edit]![[icon]](/wiki/File:Wiki_letter_w_cropped.svg){kind=small} | This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (August 2008) |
Fox played football for Middlesbrough, Wolves and Newport County.[3]
Notes
[edit]- ^ "Hampshire v Worcestershire in 1923". CricketArchive. Retrieved 1 August 2008.
- ^ "Northamptonshire v Worcestershire in 1923". CricketArchive. Retrieved 1 August 2008.
- ^ a b c Obituary. Wisden Cricketers' Almanack 1950.
- ^ "First-class Batting and Fielding in Each Season by William Fox". CricketArchive. Retrieved 1 August 2008.
- ^ "Warwickshire v Worcestershire in 1929". CricketArchive. Retrieved 1 August 2008.
- ^ "Lancashire v Worcestershire in 1930". CricketArchive. Retrieved 1 August 2008.
- ^ "Player Oracle". CricketArchive. Retrieved 1 August 2008.
- ^ "Yorkshire v Worcestershire in 1926". CricketArchive. Retrieved 1 August 2008.
- ^ "Worcestershire v Leicestershire in 1929". CricketArchive. Retrieved 1 August 2008.
References
[edit]- William Fox from CricketArchive
- William Victor Fox at ESPNcricinfo