Harry Foster (cricketer)

Harry Foster

Personal information
Full name	Henry Knollys Foster
Born	(1873-10-30)30 October 1873 Malvern, Worcestershire, England
Died	23 June 1950(1950-06-23) (aged 76) Kingsthorne, Herefordshire, England
Height	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
Batting	Right-handed
Bowling	Right-arm fast-medium
Domestic team information
Years	Team
1894–1896	Oxford University
1897–1909	Marylebone Cricket Club
1899–1925	Worcestershire
First-class debut	21 May 1894 Oxford University v AJ Webbe's XI
Last First-class	19 August 1925 Worcestershire v Middlesex
Career statistics
Competition First-class Matches 289 Runs scored 17,154 Batting average 34.10 100s/50s 29/93 Top score 216 Balls bowled 724 Wickets 15 Bowling average 29.60 5 wickets in innings 0 10 wickets in match 0 Best bowling 3/63 Catches/stumpings 208/–
Source: espncricinfo.com, 14 October 2012

Henry Knollys Foster MBE (30 October 1873 – 23 June 1950) was an English first-class cricketer who played for Oxford University and Worcestershire. He first played for Worcestershire in 1888 at the age of only 14.

The oldest of seven brothers who played cricket for Worcestershire, Foster was a forceful right-handed middle-order batsman who acted as captain at Worcestershire for 11 of the first 12 season in which the county competed in the County Championship. He was also for many of those seasons second only to his brother R.E. "Tip" Foster as the county's leading batsman.

Educated at Malvern College, Foster matriculated at Trinity College, Oxford in 1892, and first played first-class cricket at Oxford. Not picked for any matches at all in 1893, he won a Blue against Cambridge in each of the next three seasons. In the Varsity match of 1895, he scored 121 in two hours as Oxford, set a target of 331 to win, reached just 196 all out.

Foster captained Worcestershire in the county's first Championship match in 1899 and led the side every season until 1910, except for 1901. He scored 1,000 runs in a season eight times, and five times averaged more than 40 runs per innings. Among his 29 first-class centuries, he hit 216 against Somerset in 1903 — the first double hundred for Worcestershire in first-class cricket^[1] —and 215 against Warwickshire in 1908, both at Worcester.

Unlike his brother R.E. "Tip" Foster, Foster did not play Test cricket, but he led the amateur side in both Gentlemen v Players matches in 1910, and was named as a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1911.^[2] He stood down as Worcestershire captain after 1910, but returned for the 1913 season. He then played intermittently until 1925, when he finally retired. In 1907, 1912 and again after the First World War, he acted as an England selector.

Foster was also a champion rackets player, being English singles champion eight times and winning several doubles titles. He and his brother, W. L. Foster, won the Public Schools Championship for Malvern in 1892.^[3] In the next four years he represented Oxford and proved victorious in both Singles and Doubles. Several times, efficiently partnered, he carried off the Doubles Championship, and from 1894 to 1900 and again in 1904 he won the Singles Championship. He also represented Oxford University at rackets for four years.