Plum Warner

Sir Pelham Warner

"Plum" as caricatured by Spy (Leslie Ward) in Vanity Fair, September 1903
Personal information
Full name	Pelham Francis Warner
Born	(1873-10-02)2 October 1873 Port of Spain, Trinidad
Died	30 January 1963(1963-01-30) (aged 89) West Lavington, Sussex, England
Nickname	Plum
Batting style	Right-handed
Bowling style	Right arm slow
International information
National side	England
Test debut (cap 118)	14 February 1899 v South Africa
Last Test	26 June 1912 v Australia
Domestic team information
Years	Team
1894–1920	Middlesex
1894–96	Oxford University
Career statistics
Competition Tests First-class Matches 15 521 Runs scored 622 29,028 Batting average 23.92 36.28 100s/50s 1/3 60/149 Top score 132* 244 Balls bowled 0 1,132 Wickets – 15 Bowling average – 42.40 5 wickets in innings – 0 10 wickets in match – 0 Best bowling – 2/26 Catches/stumpings 3/– 183/–
Source: Cricinfo, 11 November 2008

Sir Pelham Francis Warner MBE (2 October 1873 – 30 January 1963), affectionately and better known as Plum Warner or "the Grand Old Man" of English cricket, was a Test cricketer.

Warner was born in Port of Spain, Trinidad. His mother, Rosa Cadiz, was of Spanish origin, his father of an English colonial family. He was educated at Harrison College, and then sent to England to Rugby School and Oriel College, Oxford.

As a right-hand batsman, Warner played first-class cricket for Oxford University, Middlesex and England. He played 15 Test matches, captaining in 10 of them, with a record of won 4, lost 6. He succeeded in regaining The Ashes in 1903–04, winning the series against Australia 3–2. However he was less successful when he captained England on the tour of South Africa in 1905–06, suffering a resounding 1–4 defeat, the first time England had lost to South Africa in a Test match. He was also to have captained England on the 1911–12 tour of Australia, but fell ill. He was unable to play in any of the Tests, with Johnny Douglas taking over the captaincy.

He was named Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1904 and also in 1921, making him one of two to have received the honour twice (the usual practice is that it is only won once: the other is Jack Hobbs). The second award marked his retirement as a county player after the 1920 season, in which he captained Middlesex to the County Championship title.