Tom Richardson (cricketer)

Tom Richardson

Richardson in 1897
Personal information
Born	(1870-08-11)11 August 1870 Byfleet, Surrey, England
Died	2 July 1912(1912-07-02) (aged 41) Chambéry, France
Batting	Right-handed
Bowling	Right-arm fast
International information
National side	England
Test debut	24 August 1893 v Australia
Last Test	2 March 1898 v Australia
Career statistics
Competition Tests First-class Matches 14 358 Runs scored 177 3,424 Batting average 11.06 9.64 100s/50s 0/0 0/2 Top score 25* 69 Balls bowled 4,498 78,992 Wickets 88 2,104 Bowling average 25.22 18.43 5 wickets in innings 11 200 10 wickets in match 4 72 Best bowling 8/94 10/45 Catches/stumpings 5/– 126/–
Source: CricInfo, 23 December 2018

Tom Richardson (11 August 1870 – 2 July 1912) was an English cricketer. A fast bowler, Richardson relied to a great extent on the break-back (a fast ball moving from off to leg), a relatively long run-up and high arm which allowed him to gain sharp lift on fast pitches even from the full, straight length he always bowled. He played 358 first-class cricket matches including 14 Tests, taking a total of 2,104 wickets. In the four consecutive seasons from 1894 to 1897 he took 1,005 wickets, a figure surpassed over such a period only by the slow bowler Tich Freeman. He took 290 wickets in 1895, again a figure only exceeded by Freeman (twice).^[1] In 1963 Neville Cardus selected him as one of his "Six Giants of the Wisden Century".