Arthur Shrewsbury

Arthur Shrewsbury

Personal information
Born	(1856-04-11)11 April 1856 New Lenton, Nottinghamshire, England
Died	19 May 1903(1903-05-19) (aged 47) Gedling, Nottinghamshire, England
Batting	Right-handed
Bowling	Right-arm
Role	Opening batsman
International information
National side	England
Test debut (cap 35)	31 December 1881 v Australia
Last Test	24 August 1893 v Australia
Domestic team information
Years	Team
1875–1902	Nottinghamshire
Career statistics
Competition Test First-class Matches 23 498 Runs scored 1277 26505 Batting average 35.47 36.65 100s/50s 3/4 59/115 Top score 164 267 Catches/stumpings 29/– 377/–
Source: CricketArchive, 31 May 2012

Arthur Shrewsbury (11 April 1856 – 19 May 1903) was an English cricketer and rugby football administrator. He was widely rated as competing with W. G. Grace for the accolade of best batsman of the 1880s; Grace himself, when asked whom he would most like in his side, replied simply, "Give me Arthur". An opening batsman, Shrewsbury played his cricket for Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club and played 23 Test matches for England, captaining them in 7 games, with a record of won 5, lost 2. He was the last professional to be England captain until Len Hutton was chosen in 1952. He was a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1890. He also organised the first British Isles rugby tour to Australasia in 1888.

An expert on sticky wickets,^[1] Shrewsbury topped the first-class batting averages seven times including in 1902, his final season. The following spring, incorrectly believing he had an incurable disease, he shot himself at his sister's home in Gedling, Nottinghamshire.