Morton Arthur Image 1 Derbyshire 1921

Description

Mellor, Derbyshire born all-rounder Arthur Morton batted right-handed and was a right-arm off-break and medium pace bowler who made his debut for Derbyshire in May 1903 against Marylebone Cricket Club (M.C.C.) when he was out for a duck in both innings and took the only wicket in the second innings before M.C.C. won. He played six matches in 1903 taking a total of 3 wickets with a top score of 22. However in 1904 he played 17 matches, but only took six wickets and made a top score of 56. In 1905 his bowling picked up and he started to improve his run total, but it was 1907 before he managed to bowl his first five wicket innings. He managed another five wicket innings in 1908 but in 1909 took 5 five wicket innings with a best performance of 6-38.

In 1910 he took 8-117 in the first innings and 2 wickets in the second to make it a 10 wicket match against Hampshire. In the whole season he achieved 10 five wicket innings and 3 ten wicket matches. In 1911 he managed his best bowling performance of 9-71 against Nottinghamshire and scored his first century against Hampshire. He took 7 five wicket innings in 1912 with a best performance of 7-16 and 5 more in 1913 with a best performance of 7-43. In 1913 he took 3 five wicket innings with a best return of 6-95. In 1912, 1913 and 1914 he also played occasional games for M.C.C..

First class cricket was suspended during the First World War and resumed in 1919 when Morton was charged with looking after the “bad boy” Billy Bestwick who had been allowed back into the Derbyshire team. Morton found form again in 1920 scoring a century against Leicestershire and taking 8-37 against Somerset and achieving 9 five wicket innings in all, but none of this helped Derbyshire win a single match. In 1921 he took 8-69 in one of his 4 five wicket innings, but was absent for several weeks as a result of an accident. During a match against Yorkshire in June, the Yorkshire player Abe Waddington took Morton for a spin on his motorbike but crashed leaving Morton with broken ribs. Gilbert Curgenven was injured separately and with eight men left, Derbyshire were out for 23. Bestwick, who had just received a collection for taking 10 wickets in an innings, passed some of it on to his colleague Morton.

In 1922 Morton achieved 8 five wicket innings including 7-38 against Northamptonshire and scored a century against Essex. In 1923 he took 7-48 against Essex in one match and scored a century in the other. He scored another century against Essex in 1924 and achieved 6-58 against Gloucestershire He made his highest score of 131 against Essex in 1925 and took 7-51 against Lancashire. He played his last season in 1926 when he had 3 five wicket overs.

In 357 first class matches Morton scored 10,957 runs at an average of 19.32 with 6 centuries and 45 half centuries. He took 981 first class wickets at an average of 22.77 apiece, with five or more wickets in 63 innings and more than ten wickets in 11 matches, and also took 128 catches in first class play.

From the following season of 1927, Morton started umpiring first class matches taking around 300 games until he retired in 1934, the year before he died. He stood in one Test match against The West Indies at Old Trafford in July 1928.

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