Alexander Watson (cricketer, born 1844)

Alexander Watson

Alexander Watson second left
Personal information
Born	(1844-11-04)4 November 1844 Coatbridge, Lanarkshire, Scotland
Died	26 October 1920(1920-10-26) (aged 75) Manchester, England
Batting style	Right-handed batsman
Bowling style	Right-arm slow (round arm) Right-arm fast
International information
National side	England
Career statistics
Competition First-class Matches 303 Runs scored 4492 Batting average 12.58 100s/50s 0/4 Top score 74 Balls bowled 65887 Wickets 1384 Bowling average 13.31 5 wickets in innings 106 10 wickets in match 27 Best bowling 9–118 Catches/stumpings 276/1
Source: CricketArchive

Right-arm slow (round arm)

Alexander Watson (4 November 1844 – 26 October 1920), also known as Alec Watson, was a Scottish first-class cricketer who played for Lancashire. Watson was one of the first long-serving professionals for Lancashire, and in his prime formed part of an exceedingly formidable bowling attack with Allan Steel, Dick Barlow and John Crossland that lifted Lancashire from an upstart county to the most powerful in domestic cricket, winning twenty-two and only losing one of twenty-nine county games in 1881 and 1882.

Watson learned his cricket in his native Scotland for the Drumpelier and Edinburgh Clubs as a fast bowler, but attracted no attention until he moved to Rusholme in 1869 where he was discovered by Lancashire as a slow bowler in the contemporary round-arm style; however, Watson had an unusually deceptive flight for his time and could vary his stock off-break with a ball that turned the other way to great effect. Moreover, Watson was an exceptionally accurate bowler and his short stature and consequent low trajectory meant he was impossible for contemporary batsmen to jump out to and hit. He played for the first time in 1871 but did not bowl; however in the following season he became a regular member of a county team that played only four matches but won them all using merely three bowlers: Watson, Arthur Appleby and William McIntyre!

In the following four years, Watson established himself very close to the top of the first-class bowling averages until he ceased being a regular member of the Lancashire eleven. He took nine for 118 against Derbyshire in 1874; amazingly despite taking seven wickets in an innings sixteen times he never took eight or more again. In 1877, owing to the absence of Alfred Shaw and the decline of fifty-year-old Southerton, Watson was for the first time called upon for representative cricket, playing for "England" against the Marylebone Cricket Club and taking on a sticky wicket his best-ever match return of fourteen wickets for forty-nine runs; however, "England" were dismissed by Fred Morley and William Mycroft for 26 and lost the match. Watson also played for the Players in a thrilling game against the Gentlemen – taking five wickets for 60 runs – but the following season the return of Shaw and the emergence of Lancashire teammate Steel meant he had no chance of distinguishing himself in representative matches except late in the season against the Australians, where he failed to take a wicket on a very helpful pitch even for the time.