Christopher Hurst (cricketer)

Christopher Salkeld Hurst (20 July 1886 – 18 December 1963) was an English cricketer who played first-class cricket for Oxford University, Kent and various amateur teams between 1906 and 1927. In his working life, he was a civil servant whose main work was concerned with the rationalisation and reorganisation of the UK coal industry to the point where the industry could be nationalised after the Second World War. He was born at Beckenham, Kent and died at Dorking, Surrey.

Hurst was educated at Uppingham School where he was captain of the cricket team, and at Exeter College, Oxford. As a cricketer, he was a right-handed middle-order batsman and an occasional bowler, and though he took some time to establish himself as a cricketer at Oxford University, he played in the University Match against Cambridge University from 1907 to 1909, captaining the Oxford team in his final year. From 1908, he also played occasional matches for Kent, and that continued for the next 20 years, though he played in only 19 games for the county team in all. He also appeared in matches for Gentlemen of England, Marylebone Cricket Club, Free Foresters and other scratch amateur teams. His only period of significant cricketing success came in 1922, when in five games for Kent, the most he played in any single season, he scored the only three centuries of his career, the highest being an innings of 124, made in two hours with 14 fours, in the game against Lancashire.