Goodwin Harry Image 1 Gloucestershire 1907

Description

Merthyr Tydfil, Glamorgan, Wales born Harry Goodwin was educated at Rossall School in Lancashire, for whom he played two matches in 1889, including when on 21st June he played against Malvern College and scored 72 and 15 opening the batting. Goodwin made his first class debut for Gloucestershire in the first match of the 1896 County Championship against Sussex on 25th May 1896. Batting at number six in an innings overshadowed by a score of 243 by W.G. Grace, Goodwin made 10 before being dismissed by Arthur Collins. Sussex were forced to follow on, and Goodwin dropped to ninth in the batting order and was not required to bat a second time as Gloucestershire successfully chased a small target. On 18th June Goodwin played against Middlesex at Lord’s. Again batting at nine, he made 12 and a duck.

Although Goodwin played only these two games in 1896, but he returned for Gloucestershire for the 1897 County Championship and enjoyed his most prolific season. He played ten matches, scoring 239 runs at 21.72 including a high score of 44 not out which came against Sussex on 2nd August, overshadowed once more by a Grace century. He also made 36 against Somerset on 19th August, however he was unable to make any lasting impact and played only one match in the 1898 season scoring 5 against Sussex on 30th May.

He did return more convincingly in 1899, playing five games including his career high score of 46 made against Somerset on 28th August at Taunton, which was the highest score of the innings, and also a game against a touring Australian side though in this match he only made 6. However, a batting average of 12.50 and only 100 runs scored in the season was not enough to secure a regular place in the Gloucestershire line-up. Goodwin managed only 9 runs from his three games in 1900, and played only one match in 1901 and then did not appear for Gloucestershire for five years. Meanwhile he joined the staff of Christ’s Hospital, an independent school in Horsham, in 1902.

On his return to cricket in 1906, he made two and 13 against Middlesex. He played two more game that season though he could not best that score of 13 and totalled only 26 runs across the year. In 1907, however, he played six matches and reached 117 runs for the season with a best of 34 made against Essex on 5th August. His final first class match of 31 came against a South African side that was on an England tour in August 1907, where he made a pair, dismissed each time by South African googly bowler Ernie Vogler. With an aggregate of 546 runs, he averaged 12.40 in first class cricket.