Walter Read

Walter Read

Personal information
Full name	Walter William Read
Born	(1855-11-23)23 November 1855 Reigate, Surrey, England
Died	6 January 1907(1907-01-06) (aged 51) Addiscombe Park, Surrey, England
Batting	Right-handed
Bowling	Right arm slow (underarm)
International information
National side	England
Test debut (cap 40)	30 December 1882 v Australia
Last Test	26 August 1893 v Australia
Domestic team information
Years	Team
1873–1897	Surrey
1890	MCC
Career statistics
Competition Test First-class Matches 18 467 Runs scored 720 22,349 Batting average 27.69 32.06 100s/50s 1/5 38/113 Top score 117 338 Balls bowled 60 5,597 Wickets 0 108 Bowling average – 32.25 5 wickets in innings – 1 10 wickets in match – 0 Best bowling – 6/24 Catches/stumpings 16/– 381/20
Source: CricketArchive, 23 September 2008

Walter William Read (23 November 1855 - 6 January 1907) was an English cricketer. A fluent right hand bat, he was also an occasional bowler of lobs who sometimes switched to quick overarm deliveries. He captained England in two Test matches, winning them both. Read was named a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1893.^[1]

Read took part in the original Ashes series of 1882–3 and is commemorated by the poem inscribed on the side of the urn:

When Ivo goes back with the urn, the urn;

Studds, Steel, Read and Tylecote return, return;

The welkin will ring loud,

The great crowd will feel proud,

Seeing Barlow and Bates with the urn, the urn;

And the rest coming home with the urn.

He played for Surrey from 1873 to 1897, scoring 338 for them against Oxford University in 1888. At the time, it was the second highest first-class score ever made. He was a member of the side that won the County Championship in 1890-2, 1894 and 1895. After W. G. Grace he was the most prolific amateur of his day.

He became the first number 10 to score a hundred in Test cricket when he made 117 against Australia at The Oval in 1884. His match-saving innings remains the highest score by a No. 10 in Tests. He reached his century in 113 minutes with 36 scoring strokes. His partnership of 151 with William Scotton remains England's highest for the ninth wicket against Australia. According to Sir Home Gordon, Read was furious at being held down so low in the order.

• Keith Booth, Walter Read: A Class Act, ACS Publications, 2011, ISBN 978-1-908165-11-4.

• Annals of Cricket by W. W. Read (1896) at Internet Archive