page_title: Jack Crawford (cricketer)
section_title: Background
hierarchical_section_title: Jack Crawford (cricketer) / Dispute with Surrey / Background
caption_attribution_description: English: Portrait of Richard Webster, 1st Viscount Alverstone (1842-1915)
context_page_description: John Neville "Jack" Crawford was an English first-class cricketer who played mainly for Surrey County Cricket Club and South Australia. An amateur, he played as an all-rounder. As a right-handed batsman, Crawford had a reputation for scoring quickly and hitting powerful shots. He bowled medium-paced off spin and was noted for his accuracy and his ability to make the ball turn sharply from the pitch. Unusually for a first-class cricketer, Crawford wore spectacles while playing.
  Crawford established a reputation as an outstanding cricketer while still a schoolboy. He played Test cricket for England before he was 21 years old, and successfully toured Australia with the Marylebone Cricket Club in 1907–08. He played only 12 matches for England, although critics believed he had a great future in the sport and was a potential future England captain. In two successive English seasons, he completed the double of 1,000 runs and 100 wickets in first-class games.
context_section_description: During the 1908 season, Crawford narrowly failed to complete his third double. He scored 1,371 runs at an average of 37.05 and took 98 wickets at 21.48. His season began with a probable dispute over the Surrey captaincy. H. D. G. Leveson Gower had been appointed captain for 1908 but the combination of an injury and his marriage left him unavailable for four matches near the beginning of the season. Crawford also missed the beginning of the season; a newspaper article by Albert Trott, a former Australian Test all-rounder now playing for Middlesex, suggested that Crawford withdrew from the team because he was not appointed captain in Leveson Gower's absence. Instead Harry Bush, who had not played first-class cricket for five years, led the team. Trott was sympathetic to Crawford, stating that the Surrey committee went out of their way "to inflict a most undeserved slight" on Crawford.
  In the remainder of the season, Crawford scored 232 against Somerset, his highest first-class score, as well as centuries against Derbyshire and Hampshire. The increased strength and variety of Surrey's bowling attack restricted his opportunities; he was used less as a strike bowler and bowled fewer overs than in the previous season. Contemporary reports suggested that his performances tailed off as the season progressed, possibly through tiredness from having played too much cricket, and that he became a less accurate bowler through trying too hard to spin the ball. The Surrey captaincy remained unsettled; Crawford led the team on several occasions, including Surrey's final game of the season, when his brother Vivian captained Leicestershire, their opponents.
  Crawford, who played as an amateur but was not independently wealthy, received an increased expenses allowance during 1908, but other financial dealings with the committee were less successful: they paid his laundry bills in 1905, but refused to do so afterwards; additionally, they refused his request in 1907 to have part of his expenses paid for matches that he missed, as happened with the wages of professionals. His financial problems were compounded by his inability to find a suitable job, and the Surrey committee threatened that he "ought not to be played on the same terms" unless he "[commenced] to earn his livelihood".
  Crawford's performances in the 1909 season were less effective than in previous years. He began well, but was later hampered by an injury which prevented him from bowling. His batting average also fell. Surrey experienced disciplinary problems with several of their professional players during the season. The club president, Lord Alverstone, favoured amateurs, arguing that a losing amateur team was preferable to a professional side that won; several professionals were left out in favour of amateurs. Apart from adversely affecting some players' careers, this preference had destabilised the team over several seasons. Crawford disagreed with Alverstone, but nevertheless frequently assumed the leadership in the absence of the regular captain Leveson Gower for much of the season. He captained Surrey to a win over the touring Australian team early in 1909 after a strong performance by the professional bowler Tom Rushby. However, his captaincy was strongly criticised in the press, particularly over his management of the bowling. Around this time, Crawford's form declined. With the bat, he was often dismissed attempting aggressive shots, and he lost his effectiveness as a bowler. As a result, he was not chosen for the Gentlemen and missed selection in the Ashes series. The press continued to criticise his captaincy, despite Surrey's good results under his leadership. Burns notes: "For a young man with no experience of prolonged failure on the cricket field, this was almost certainly a traumatic time."
  Surrey had other problems at this time. When the team arrived in Chesterfield to play Derbyshire, eight of the professionals were arrested following an incident in the street; the matter was cleared up and the press suggested that the police had been over-eager. The county subs
caption: Lord Alverstone, the president of Surrey County Cricket Club from 1895 to 1915, was a key figure in its dispute with Crawford.
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