Sinfield Reg Image 1 Gloucestershire 1929

Description

Benington, Stevenage, Hertfordshire born all-rounder Reg Sinfield was a right-hand batsman and right-arm slow bowler who made his debut for Gloucestershire in 1921 and played for them through to 1939 before the Second World War effectively ended his career.

Sinfield was the epitome of the old type of English professional cricketer. In him were combined all those qualities which contributed so much to the development of the game at a time when its leadership was very much under the control of the amateur. An opening batsman, he regularly exceeded 1,000 runs a season, and in 1934 he became the first Gloucestershire professional to take 100 wickets and score 1,000 runs. When the South Africans were beaten at Cheltenham in 1935, Sinfield scored 131 and took 8-72. His record score was 209 not out which came against Glamorgan at Cardiff, one of 16 career centuries and 63 half centuries in 430 first class matches.

His single appearance for England against Australia at Trent Bridge in the First Test of 1938 was the climax to his career and was a fitting reward for years of loyal service to Gloucestershire, although he had only a modest match. In his career he scored 15,674 runs at an average of 25.69, and took 1,173 wickets at 24.49 apiece with a best performance of 9-111, taking ten wickets in a match on 9 occasions and five wickets in an innings 66 times. He also took 178 catches in the first class game.

He later became a cricket coach. At the time of his death aged 87 in 1988, he was England’s oldest surviving Test cricketer,

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