Jack Crawford (cricketer)

Jack Crawford

Jack Crawford in 1906
Personal information
Full name	John Neville Crawford
Born	(1886-12-01)1 December 1886 Cane Hill, Surrey, England
Died	2 May 1963(1963-05-02) (aged 76) Epsom, Surrey, England
Batting	Right-handed
Bowling	Right-arm medium Right-arm off spin
Role	All-rounder
International information
National side	England
Test debut (cap 146)	2 January 1906 v South Africa
Last Test	27 February 1908 v Australia
Domestic team information
Years	Team
1904–1909	Surrey
1909/10–1913/14	South Australia
1914/15	Otago
1919–1921	Surrey
Career statistics
Competition Test First-class Matches 12 210 Runs scored 469 9,488 Batting average 22.33 32.60 100s/50s 0/2 15/43 Top score 74 232 Balls bowled 2,203 35,423 Wickets 39 815 Bowling average 29.48 20.66 5 wickets in innings 3 57 10 wickets in match 0 12 Best bowling 5/48 8/24 Catches/stumpings 13/0 162/0
Source: CricketArchive, 4 December 2010

John Neville Crawford (1 December 1886 – 2 May 1963) was an English first-class cricketer who played mainly for Surrey County Cricket Club and South Australia. An amateur, he played as an all-rounder. As a right-handed batsman, Crawford had a reputation for scoring quickly and hitting powerful shots. He bowled medium-paced off spin and was noted for his accuracy and his ability to make the ball turn sharply from the pitch. Unusually for a first-class cricketer, Crawford wore spectacles while playing.

Crawford established a reputation as an outstanding cricketer while still a schoolboy. He played Test cricket for England before he was 20 years old, and successfully toured Australia with the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) in 1907–08. He played only 12 matches for England, although critics believed he had a great future in the sport and was a potential future England captain. In two successive English seasons, he completed the double of 1,000 runs and 100 wickets in first-class games.

A dispute over the composition of a Surrey side chosen to play a high-profile game in 1909, after several professional players were omitted for disciplinary reasons, led to an increasingly bitter disagreement between Crawford and the Surrey authorities. Crawford was told he had no future with the club, and moved to Australia. There, he worked as a teacher and continued his cricket career with South Australia. This arrangement had a controversial end, when he clashed with the South Australian Cricket Association over money and moved to New Zealand to play for Otago.

That relationship also ended badly, and he left Otago before being conscripted into the New Zealand armed forces near the end of the First World War. When he was demobilised, he returned to England and made his peace with Surrey. He played a handful of games between 1919 and 1921 but faded out of first-class cricket to pursue a career in industry. In all first-class cricket, Crawford scored 9,488 runs at an average of 32.60 and took 815 wickets at an average of 20.66. Although he continued to play cricket at a lower level, the remainder of Crawford's life passed in relative obscurity.