368:, Bill Greswell was a bowler of medium-paced right-arm in-swingers, and a right-handed batsman who batted mostly in the lower order. He was mainly a bowler, and was regarded throughout his career as an unusual player for the late movement that he achieved off the pitch. "Cricket's cognoscenti talked and wrote about him in the context of innovative in-swing," says one account. "There were mutterings about his so-called quickish off-breaks. We even read of his apparent ability to bowl the
498:
that would now be regarded as first-class: "His record as a bowler was by local standards phenomenal. He was the first
European to take one thousand wickets... Several times he captured all ten wickets in an innings... In 1911 alone, Greswell took 232 wickets, unquestionably a record for Ceylon in those days. One might reasonably wonder how much time was devoted to tea-planting and office matters."
643:: helped by five catches from George Hunt in the leg-side trap, Greswell took nine Hampshire wickets for 62 runs, the best innings analysis of his long career. That was, however, the last big performance. Wisden recorded in its Somerset notes in 1929: "It is a matter for much regret that in future Greswell will not be able to render Somerset anything like as much assistance as he did last year."
577:
Greswell did return for the 1922 English season and again played in most of the
Somerset matches. He was, though, "hampered early in the season by a damaged finger and did not prove quite so helpful as had been hoped". Even so, he took 86 first-class wickets with a best return of seven for 42 in the
466:
of 22.10 runs per wicket. "Wiseacres, sprawled in their canvas chairs in front of the
Stragglers Bar at Taunton, stroked leathery faces and said he would walk into the England team," says one account of that first full season. What made Greswell's bowling different was the very late movement that he
497:
At the end of the 1909 cricket season, Greswell left
England for Sri Lanka, then called Ceylon, where he managed some of his family's business interests in tea plantations and assisted in the tea broking business in Colombo. Over the next 20 years, he played a lot of cricket in Sri Lanka for teams
375:
The allusion to "googly" was, according to
Greswell himself, quite wrong. "I never spun a ball in my life," he wrote in 1965. "I turned the hand very slightly from right to left for the purpose of imparting the absolute minimum rotation, so that the air drift from left was deflected with maximum
501:
Greswell returned to
England for the whole of the 1912 cricket season, the first since 1909 to have Test matches. But although he produced the best season's figures of his career, with 132 wickets at an average of 17.78 and 16 separate incidents of five wickets or more in an innings, he was not
628:, he "seemed just as good as when last in England, his swerve and accurate length invariably troubling batsmen, especially when a new ball was in use". In the season as a whole, he took 77 wickets at an average of 20.64. His best figures of the season came in a match against a very weak
467:
achieved off the pitch. Bowling at "deceptively languid medium pace", he also used a lot of swing: "He could exploit the element of surprise without appearing to try. He could knock over leg stumps and orchestrate dolly catches to short leg." The possibility of a call-up to the
376:
effect off the smooth cover of the ball onto the ridge of the seam which acted as a sail of a ship." The effect was to give his bowling a pronounced swerve into a right-handed batsman, as well as movement off the pitch. This was noticed early in
Greswell's career by the
478:, he took four Australian wickets for 11 runs in 13 overs, and the Australians, set just 68 to win the match, scraped home with only two wickets to spare. And the England selectors in 1909 were not averse to experimentation: later in the season, they picked
623:
From 1927, Greswell was back permanently in the UK to live, and the 1927 and 1928 cricket seasons are the only two consecutive seasons in his entire cricket career in which he played regular first-class cricket. In 1927, said
486:, he took six for 108 in the first innings and seven for 62 in the second: this was his first 10-wicket match (13/170), though this was a 12-a-side game (but still regarded as first-class). Then, in Somerset's match against
482:, another novelty bowler also in his first season of full-time cricket. Greswell did particularly well in two of the season's more visible matches. For Leveson Gower's team against Cambridge University at
530:, he took eight for 65 in Derbyshire's first innings, his best innings figures. But at the end of the season he returned to Sri Lanka and he did not play first-class cricket again for almost 10 years.
608:(MCC). In these 10 matches, he took 32 wickets. Back in Sri Lanka the following winter, he finally made a first-class cricket appearance there in the match between a touring side from India and a
601:'s stopover in Colombo was no more comfortable than their predecessors in 1920 had been: a virtually full Test side was dismissed for a total of 73, and Greswell took eight wickets for 38 runs.
604:
Greswell was in
England again during the 1925 season, but this time he played little cricket, turning out for Somerset in only seven matches and also making three appearances for
646:
In fact, he played just twice more for
Somerset, both times in the 1930 season, though he appeared in a few other first-class matches for amateur teams in 1929, 1930 and 1933.
1243:
639:
Greswell's figures for the 1928 season were similar to 1927 – 71 wickets, but with the rather higher average of 27.43. There was one spectacular day of success for him at
612:
from Sri Lanka. And the following winter, he made a second single first-class appearance, this time as a member of a "Europeans in the East" side which played a game at
1228:
620:
that toured India in 1926–27. Despite his long years as an expatriate, these were the only two first-class matches that
Greswell played in outside the United Kingdom.
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352:
meant that he appeared in only 115 first-class matches for the county in that period, and was a regular player in only five seasons, dotted over almost 20 years.
598:
563:
1223:
439:
1248:
558:
Greswell returned to Sri Lanka after war service and resumed his non-first-class cricket career there. In October 1920, he was picked for the
617:
597:
Greswell's next appearance in important cricket was for Ceylon, again in a one-day match with an England side on its way to Australia. The
1233:
629:
514:. Aside from Somerset matches, he again played for H. D. G. Leveson Gower's XI, and was picked for two Gentlemen v Players games, at
779:
739:
710:
654:
Greswell retired from cricket to take charge of his business interests, but they did not run altogether smoothly. In 1931, he had a
570:
drubbing in Australia. He took the first four wickets to fall as the England side held on for a draw. In a letter, Greswell wrote: "
451:
590:
of 18.34, two scores of more than 50, and 29 catches in 21 games. But there were no Tests in 1922 and nor was he selected for the
574:(the England captain) repeatedly asked me when I was coming back to England and said I would get into the England side if I did."
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579:
666:(ECT). He had by this time retired to Bicknoller in west Somerset, whose most famous resident was another Somerset cricketer,
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447:
178:
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1178:
1118:
1113:
987:
982:
625:
384:, who advised a "leg-trap" field in which he himself fielded at short leg or leg slip. Later in Greswell's Somerset career,
636:: he bowled 43.3 overs in the match and took 10 wickets for 43 runs as Somerset won by an innings despite making only 178.
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487:
424:
416:
160:
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345:
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and he also served on Somerset County Cricket Club committees, becoming chairman. He was married twice. He died at
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420:
658:
that was linked to difficulties in a rubber industry concern. After a second breakdown following service with the
587:
220:
494:, he took three for 59 and six for 96, and also hit exactly 100 in 75 minutes – the only century of his career.
583:
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405:
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and Lord's. He took 10 wickets or more in a match five times across the season, one of those being for the
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586:. He also had the best batting and fielding returns of his career, with 587 runs in the season at an
527:
468:
459:
404:, he first played for Somerset as an eighteen-year-old in 1908, recruited by the team's new captain,
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116:
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for "gallant and distinguished service in the field" just before the war ended in 1918.
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62:
613:
609:
479:
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401:
415:
In his second match, opening the bowling for Somerset, Bill Greswell took seven
678:
381:
348:
from 1908 to 1930. But his career as a tea-planter with the family company in
80:
408:, himself a member of a tea-planter family, and following his older brother,
633:
567:
361:
54:
542:
in the First World War, reaching the rank of major. He was seconded to the
491:
515:
662:
in the Second World War, he became one of the early pioneers to undergo
474:
side was not fanciful: in the Somerset match against the Australians at
304:
423:. And he followed that up two matches later with seven for 67 against
369:
349:
257:
670:, who similarly suffered from depressive illness and underwent ECT.
1068:"Scorecard: Dr J. Rockwood's Ceylon XI v Mr W. E. Lucas' Bombay XI"
1024:"First-class Batting and Fielding in each Season by Bill Greswell"
388:
took this position and made many catches off Greswell's bowling.
893:"Scorecard: H. D. G. Leveson Gower's XI v Cambridge University"
419:
wickets for just 42 runs in the second innings of the match at
522:
amateur team against Oxford University. For Somerset against
412:, who had played occasional matches for Somerset since 1903.
1090:"Scorecard: Europeans in the East v Marylebone Cricket Club"
703:
Sunshine, Sixes and Cider: The History of Somerset Cricket
594:. He went back to Sri Lanka at the end of the season.
849:"First-class Bowling in each Season by Bill Greswell"
724:
722:
462:. In the season as a whole he took 94 wickets at an
442:. He also appeared in amateur sides put together by
340:(15 October 1889 – 12 February 1971) was an English
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123:
112:
104:
96:
88:
69:
40:
30:
25:
705:(1986 ed.). David & Charles. p. 86.
434:In 1909, Greswell played in all 16 of Somerset's
774:(1995 ed.). Aurum Press. pp. 105–122.
734:(1995 ed.). Aurum Press. pp. 105–122.
400:where he played in the school team captained by
937:"Scorecard: Oxford University v Free Foresters"
1046:"Scorecard: Ceylon v Marylebone Cricket Club"
8:
562:team to play in a one-day match against the
18:
17:
681:, Somerset, England on 12 February 1971.
765:
763:
761:
759:
757:
755:
753:
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1229:Somerset County Cricket Club presidents
696:
694:
690:
1244:H. D. G. Leveson Gower's XI cricketers
1133:"Scorecard: Worcestershire v Somerset"
843:
841:
839:
837:
835:
454:Universities, and in an end-of-season
1254:British expatriates in British Ceylon
538:Greswell served as an officer in the
7:
1002:"Scorecard: Warwickshire v Somerset"
770:David Foot (1995). "Bill Greswell".
730:David Foot (1995). "Bill Greswell".
871:"Scorecard: Somerset v Australians"
502:picked for any of the Tests in the
438:matches, plus the game against the
159:3 August 1908 Somerset v
1224:Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers
1092:. CricketArchive. 26 December 1926
1070:. CricketArchive. 12 February 1926
959:"Scorecard: Derbyshire v Somerset"
673:In later life, he was a member of
14:
1155:"Scorecard: Somerset v Hampshire"
915:"Scorecard: Middlesex v Somerset"
818:"Scorecard: Somerset v Yorkshire"
796:"Scorecard: Hampshire v Somerset"
1249:British people in colonial India
1157:. CricketArchive. 11 August 1928
1048:. CricketArchive. 4 October 1924
820:. CricketArchive. 24 August 1908
798:. CricketArchive. 12 August 1908
675:Williton Rural District Council
1135:. CricketArchive. 11 June 1927
1004:. CricketArchive. 28 June 1922
961:. CricketArchive. 15 July 1912
939:. CricketArchive. 13 June 1912
917:. CricketArchive. 22 July 1909
895:. CricketArchive. 28 June 1909
873:. CricketArchive. 10 June 1909
1:
592:1922–23 tour of South Africa
1179:Wisden Cricketers' Almanack
1114:Wisden Cricketers' Almanack
983:Wisden Cricketers' Almanack
1270:
664:electro-convulsive therapy
124:Domestic team information
1234:Free Foresters cricketers
321:
317:
189:
148:
131:
128:
566:that was heading for an
338:William Territt Greswell
35:William Territt Greswell
606:Marylebone Cricket Club
548:mentioned in despatches
540:Somerset Light Infantry
546:(Gas Brigade) and was
444:H. D. G. Leveson Gower
504:Triangular Tournament
342:first-class cricketer
1239:Gentlemen cricketers
1176:"Somerset Matches".
1111:"Somerset Matches".
980:"Somerset Matches".
372:in the early days."
278:5 wickets in innings
26:Personal information
1219:Somerset cricketers
772:Beyond Bat and Ball
732:Beyond Bat and Ball
456:Gentlemen v Players
436:County Championship
287:10 wickets in match
83:, Somerset, England
22:
1214:English cricketers
1182:(1929 ed.).
1117:(1928 ed.).
986:(1923 ed.).
656:nervous breakdown
641:Weston-super-Mare
335:
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185:Career statistics
179:Oxford University
59:Madras Presidency
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668:Harold Gimblett
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544:Royal Engineers
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534:First World War
410:Ernest Greswell
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344:who played for
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329:31 October 2009
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268:Bowling average
221:Batting average
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117:Ernest Greswell
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51:15 October 1889
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1186:. p. 382.
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578:match against
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20:Bill Greswell
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1159:. Retrieved
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1137:. Retrieved
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875:. Retrieved
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822:. Retrieved
812:
800:. Retrieved
790:
771:
731:
702:
701:David Foot.
672:
653:
645:
638:
622:
616:against the
610:scratch team
603:
599:1924–25 team
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580:Warwickshire
576:
564:England team
557:
537:
512:South Africa
500:
496:
480:Douglas Carr
433:
414:
406:John Daniell
402:Harry Altham
396:Educated at
395:
392:Early career
374:
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337:
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295:Best bowling
173:6 June 1933
92:Right-handed
75:(1971-02-12)
15:
1209:1971 deaths
1204:1889 births
634:Stourbridge
460:Scarborough
440:Australians
421:Southampton
386:George Hunt
212:Runs scored
198:First-class
194:Competition
1198:Categories
1161:31 October
1139:31 October
1096:31 October
1074:31 October
1052:31 October
1030:31 October
1008:31 October
965:31 October
943:31 October
921:31 October
899:31 October
877:31 October
855:30 October
824:30 October
802:30 October
728:Quoted in
685:References
679:Bicknoller
660:Home Guard
584:Birmingham
524:Derbyshire
484:Eastbourne
382:Len Braund
81:Bicknoller
47:1889-10-15
508:Australia
488:Middlesex
458:match at
452:Cambridge
425:Yorkshire
417:Hampshire
362:Cuddalore
305:stumpings
238:Top score
161:Middlesex
138:1908–1930
119:(brother)
113:Relations
55:Cuddalore
632:side at
618:MCC side
516:The Oval
380:player,
360:Born at
346:Somerset
323:Source:
303:Catches/
230:100s/50s
143:Somerset
614:Kolkata
588:average
572:Douglas
469:England
464:average
429:Taunton
258:Wickets
204:Matches
97:Bowling
89:Batting
1184:Wisden
1119:Wisden
988:Wisden
778:
738:
709:
626:Wisden
560:Ceylon
492:Lord's
448:Oxford
370:googly
350:Ceylon
252:28,553
249:bowled
108:Bowler
568:Ashes
528:Derby
506:with
309:103/–
272:21.32
247:Balls
225:14.91
215:2,580
167:Last
156:debut
129:Years
1163:2009
1141:2009
1098:2009
1076:2009
1054:2009
1032:2009
1010:2009
967:2009
945:2009
923:2009
901:2009
879:2009
857:2009
826:2009
804:2009
776:ISBN
736:ISBN
707:ISBN
510:and
476:Bath
472:Test
450:and
378:Test
298:9/62
132:Team
105:Role
70:Died
41:Born
582:at
526:at
490:at
427:at
364:in
262:540
241:100
233:1/4
207:134
1200::
834:^
750:^
721:^
693:^
431:.
327:,
282:37
169:FC
154:FC
61:,
57:,
1165:.
1143:.
1100:.
1078:.
1056:.
1034:.
1012:.
969:.
947:.
925:.
903:.
881:.
859:.
828:.
806:.
784:.
744:.
715:.
290:7
49:)
45:(
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