William Brazier
Personal information
Born1755
Cudham, Kent
Died7 October 1829 (aged 73–74)
Cudham, Kent
RoleAll-rounder
Domestic team information
YearsTeam
1774–1794Kent
FC debut8 August 1774 Kent v Hampshire
Last FC27 August 1794 Kent v Oldfield
Source: CricketArchive, 1 July 2022

William Brazier (1755 – 7 October 1829) was an English cricketer of the late 18th century who played mostly for Kent county cricket teams.

Brazier was born at Cudham in Kent in 1755, a village 6 miles (9.7 km) north-west of Sevenoaks.[1] He made his first-class cricket debut in 1774, playing for a Kent side against a Hampshire XI at Sevenoaks Vine. He went on to play in a total of 50 first-class matches in a career which lasted until 1794, scoring 1,216 runs and taking at least 42 wickets.[lower-alpha 1] He played for Kent sides 28 times, as well as for West Kent and for a combined Kent and Hampshire side. Another eight matches were for England sides[lower-alpha 2] and he played once as a given man for a Surrey side in 1776.[lower-alpha 3][5]

Although he played for a left-handed team in 1790, Scores and Biographies says that Brazier was a right-handed batsman who bowled fast and was a powerful hitter. The same source described him as a farmer at Cudham who continued to play village cricket until 1819.[6] He was a "useful all-rounder" who "hit the ball particularly hard" according to Ashley Mote[7] and James Pycroft, writing in 1851, described him as one of Kent's three best players.[8] Brazier died at Cudham in 1829.[1]

Notes

  1. ↑ During this period, wickets taken by bowlers were normally only recorded if they were bowled. Other means of dismissal were not credited to any bowler.[2] As a result it is impossible to know how many wickets Brazier actually took. It is also impossible to know how many balls he bowled, the number of runs he conceded or to calculate an accurate bowling average.
  2. ↑ During the time Brazier played, England sides were not representative of the country. Instead, they were sides composed of players from a range of locations brought together to play against another side.[3]
  3. ↑ A given man was a player who would not usually play for a side and was generally not qualified by either birth or residence to do so. They were either recruited to play for it or "given" by the opposition, to produce a more balanced contest and, in some cases, to attract a bigger crowd.[4]

References

  1. 1 2 William Cudham, CricInfo. Retrieved 2022-07-01.
  2. ↑ Carlaw D (2020) Kent County Cricketers A to Z. Part One: 1806–1914 (revised edition), p. 31. (Available online at the Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians. Retrieved 2020-12-21.)
  3. ↑ Birley D (1999) A Social History of English Cricket, p. 364. London: Aurum Press. ISBN 978 1 78131 1769
  4. ↑ Moore D (1988) The History of Kent County Cricket Club, p. 21. London: Christopher Helm. ISBN 0-7470-2209-7
  5. ↑ William Brazier, CricketArchive. Retrieved 2022-07-01. (subscription required)
  6. ↑ Haygarth A (1862) Scores & Biographies, vol. 1 (1744–1826). Lillywhite.
  7. ↑ Mote A (1997) The Glory Days of Cricket. Robson. ISBN 9781861051110
  8. ↑ Pycroft J (1862) The Cricket Field, fourth edition, p. 79. London: Spottiswoode and Co.
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