Sam Hargreave
| Cricket information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Batting style | Left-handed batsman | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bowling style | Slow left arm orthodox | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| International information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| National side | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Career statistics | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Source: CricketArchive
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sam Hargreave (22 September 1875, Rusholme, Lancashire, England – 1 January 1929, Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England) was the most successful bowler for Warwickshire until the success of Foster and Field in winning the 1911 County Championship.
Although the presence of Rhodes and Blythe made higher representative honours always out of his reach, for a couple of years in the early 1900s Hargreave was regarded as the best left arm slow bowler in England apart from Rhodes. His accuracy was always exceptional and on helpful pitches he could spin the ball a great deal. Being faster than Rhodes or Blythe, Hargreave was very difficult to hit and his steadiness made him valuable on the generally very plumb wickets that characterised Edgbaston in fine weather during that era. Hargreave was no batsman, but he was a capable fieldsman at point.
Sam Hargreave played for Lancashire's second eleven in the middle 1890s, but having no opportunity with Briggs so dominant he left the country to qualify for Warwickshire. He first played for Warwickshire in two matches at the tail end of 1899, and did nothing apart from a surprise 44 against Lockwood at his most destructive, which was to remain his second-highest score in first-class cricket. However, he rose very quickly to a permanent place in 1900, and in the following year, in a summer all against bowlers especially on so good a ground as Edgbaston provided in fine weather, Hargreave bowled so well under all conditions that he was in the top ten of the first-class averages. On a helpful pitch Hargreave already showed how difficult he could be with such performances as seven for 50 at Worcester and fourteen for 115 against London County, but he bowled beautifully under all conditions.
In the following two seasons, almost continuously helped by the condition of the pitches, Hargreave went from strength to strength except when mastered completely on perfect pitches against Derbyshire and Surrey in August 1902. It was thought his relatively slight frame could not cope with the heavy workload he had to carry on hard wickets, but Hargreave had his revenge on a sticky Oval wicket the following year, when in the best-known (and biggest) feat of his career he took fifteen for 76 after being initially left out after returning from a tour to New Zealand. Because the first day was blank Hargreave could take his place in the Warwickshire team, and for that year every Warwickshire victory was related to Hargreave's deadly bowling on rain affected pitches:
...
Wikipedia