Ford William Image 2 Middlesex 1890

Description

Paddington, London born right-hand batsman William Ford, the oldest of seven brothers and from a large cricketing family, was educated at Repton, where he was in the cricket XI from 1870 to 1872, and then Cambridge University, where in a match against Oxford, having been put into the team at the last moment, he scored 51 not out and 11.

Ford must be regarded as one of the greatest hitters the game had ever seen of his era, having been equalled by few and surpassed only by C.I. Thornton. He was a good field at point, a useful wicket-keeper, and a slow round-arm bowler. He occasionally appeared for Middlesex, and against Kent at Maidstone in 1885, he made 44 in 17 minutes and 75 out of 90 in three quarters of an hour. His longest measured hit was 143 yards 2 feet. He hit out of almost all the grounds on which he played, including Lord”s and the Aigburth ground at Liverpool. Playing once for M.C.C. and Ground against Eastbourne at The Saffrons, he hit J. Bray over the trees, the ball pitching 60 yards beyond them. On another occasion, when playing at Torquay, he hit a ball out of the ground (above the ordinary size), across a road, and so far into another field that it put up a brace of partridges.

He made many large scores for the M.C.C., Nondescripts, and Incogniti, his most productive innings being 250 for M.C.C. against Uxbridge in 1881. Once, in a match at Marlborough, he had made 92 when the last man came in, and, wishing to make sure of his hundred, hit the very next ball with such force that he and his partner ran ten for the stroke!

In 25 first class matches between 1873 and 1896, he scored 711 runs at an average of 17.77 with a highest score of 75, also taking 13 wickets at an average of 16.38 with a best performance of 6-56. He made 19 catches and 2 stumpings in those games.

He later became a prolific writer on the game, his best known books being the histories of the Middlesex County and Cambridge University Clubs. His article on Public School Cricket had for some years been a feature of Wisden”s Almanack.

Ford was part of a large cricketing family, with his father W.A., two younger brothers A.F.J., and Francis (who played Test cricket for England), a nephew Neville Ford, great-nephew John Barclay and uncle G.J.Ford all playing first class cricket.

NB in the photograph he is shown with his youngest brother, Francis Ford.