Bates William Image 3 Glamorgan 1928

Description

Kirkheaton, Yorkshire born William Bates played 113 games for his native county between 1907 and 1913, scoring 2,634 runs at 17.32 with a highest score of 81. Although he developed into a fine left arm orthodox spinner, he hardly bowled before the First World War, taking two wickets for Yorkshire.

Bates joined Briton Ferry Steel C.C. in 1914, as the War shut down first class cricket for four years. He served as a sergeant in the Royal Engineers during the War. and qualified for Glamorgan over this time, finding a regular spot as a determined opening batsman and useful spinner as cricket resumed after the War.

Though he scored a thousand runs in 1923 without reaching a century, in 1927 he became the first Glamorgan batsman to record a ton in each innings, with 105 and 111 against Essex. He reached his peak as a batsman that year, scoring his career best 200 against Worcestershire at Kidderminster, and another century against Nottinghamshire to finish the summer with 1,645 runs to his account. He also passed the 1,500 runs mark in 1928, already aged 43, and began a most prolific partnership with a fellow Tyke, Arnold Dyson. The pair took delight in sharing a stand of 233 for the first wicket against Yorkshire, at Sheffield, in 1930. He played 283 first class matches for Glamorgan, scoring 12,600 runs at 25.97 with ten centuries in all.

Bates became a useful left-arm spinner, taking 8-93 against Essex in 1928, his career best bowling, and was a highly reliable fielder close to the wicket. He took 224 wickets for Glamorgan at 37.53. He took 5 wickets in an innings four times. In all first class cricket, including a game for the Marylebone Cricket Club (M.C.C.) and H.D.G. Leveson Gower’s XI, he scored 15,964 runs at 24.40 in 406 matches, and took 230 wickets at 37.70 each. He also took 250 catches.

Financial straits, rather than any loss in form, caused Glamorgan to release him in 1931, but he continued to play for Cheshire in the Minor Counties, before turning his hand to coaching and groundsmanship in Ulster.

In his youth, Bates had been a useful footballer. He made his Football League debut for First Division Bolton Wanderers at Middlesbrough in December 1906 as a centre forward, having signed for them earlier the same year, playing once more for their first team in a defeat at Newcastle United two weeks later. In July 1907 he joined Leeds City, where he converted to full back, capable of playing both sides, and he spent two seasons at Elland Road making 15 first team appearances before giving up the game in favour of his cricket career.

Bates’s sporting connections are substantial. His father Billy Bates was a Yorkshire and England international cricketer. His son Ted Bates both played for and managed Southampton both sides of the Second World War, attaining legendary status at the club and subsequently serving a further 20 years as a director, eventually becoming the club’s president. He is commemorated with a statue outside St Mary’s Stadium.