Perkins Cyril Image 1 Northamptonshire 1937

Description

Wollaston, Northamptonshire born Cyril Perkins was a slow-left arm orthodox bowler who also bowled left-arm medium pace, although he batted right-handed. Perkins made his first-class debut for Northamptonshire against Middlesex in the County Championship in 1934. He played for Northamptonshire from 1934 to 1937, a period notable in Northamptonshire’s history for their astonishing winless run: the County failed to register a win in 99 first class matches between 1935 and 1939.

Perkins’ made 56 first class appearances for Northamptonshire, without ever being on the winning side. Given how wretched Northants were when he played, Perkins’ career figures are quite impressive. “We did get a bit despondent at times,” he said. “We had a first innings lead in quite a few matches and we didn’t win any of them. But in the end you get so used to not winning you just accept it.”

Perkins performed well with the ball during his career with the County, taking 93 wickets at an average of 35.58, claiming a five wicket haul on 5 occasions, and taking best figures of 6-54 against Worcestershire in 1935, a season which was by far and away his best season with the ball, with Perkins taking 63 wickets at 26.46 a piece.

As a tailender, Perkins scored 560 runs with the bat, coming at a batting average of 7.88, with a high score of 29. A handy fielder, he took 30 catches in the field. Although he was an ever-present in 1936 his form fell away markedly – his wickets cost 59.11 each – and by the middle of the following summer he was out the side. Perkins left Northamptonshire at the end of the end of the 1937 season, having played his final match against Lancashire at Old Trafford.

Moving to Ipswich, he joined minor county Suffolk in 1939, making his debut for the County in the Minor Counties Championship against Lincolnshire. He played throughout 1939, before the Second World War ended County cricket until 1946. During the War, he served with the Royal Artillery, spending time at the end of the war in Cairo, Egypt. Perkins returned to playing minor counties cricket for Suffolk following the war, which he had to balance with his work commitments as cricket coach at Ipswich School.

In 1951 he made his final first-class appearance, which came for the Minor Counties cricket team against Kent. In his final first class match, he scored 8 runs in the Minor Counties first innings and an unbeaten 21 in their second innings. However, he went wicketless with the ball and Kent won by an innings. This meant he went winless in his 57 first class appearances, a record for the number of first class appearances without featuring in a win.

Perkins continued to play for Suffolk in the Minor Counties Championship until 1967, having by then made 105 appearances for the County. By the time of his retirement at the age of 56, he had claimed a record 779 wickets for the County, some way ahead of Colin Rutterford’s 431. Such was Perkins’ accuracy as a bowler, The Daily Telegraph reporter Simon Parry-Crooke described watching him bowl as: “he had this incredible control: he could just drop the ball on a handkerchief.” Indeed, he once took 10 wickets in an innings, when playing against Hertfordshire in 1960. He still had the match ball when he celebrated his 100th birthday. Perkins also made a solitary List A appearance for Suffolk at the age of 55 in the 1966 Gillette Cup against a powerful Kent side at Ipswich School. He bowled 12 wicketless overs for the cost of 31 runs, while he wasn’t required to bat in the Suffolk innings as Kent ran out winners by 113 runs.

On 4th June 2011 he became the 13th former first class player to reach 100 years of age, and the fourth County cricketer to do so. From January 2011, following the death of Syd Ward, until his death aged a remarkable 102 in November 2013, Perkins held the distinction of being the oldest living first class cricketer.

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