deliveries death_date columns catches/stumpings year birth_date bowling tenfor country death_place club fivefor batting name fullname birth_place column source date runs wickets s/s matches article_title
balls 25,359 9 march 1974 1 191 / & ndash ; 1928 & ndash ; 1939 2010 27 december 1907 left-arm medium 1 england buckland , kent , england hampshire 15 left-handed william creese william charles leonard creese park town north , transvaal , south africa fc http://www.cricinfo.com/ci/content/player/10876.html cricinfo 1907 12 27 yes 9,938 410 6/50 281 len creese

len creese

william charles leonard creese -lrb- 27 december 1907 -- 9 march 1974 -rrb- was a south african born english cricketer .
creese was a left-handed batsman who bowled left-arm medium pace .
creese made his first-class debut for hampshire in the 1928 county championship against somerset .
creese represented hampshire in 278 first-class matches from 1928 to 1939 , with his first-class career with hampshire ending due to the start of the second world war .
creese 's final appearance for the county came in the 1939 county championship against yorkshire at dean park cricket ground in bournemouth .
creese was regarded as one of the best all-rounders on the county circuit .
in his 278 matches for the county , creese scored 9,894 runs at a batting average of 24.01 , with 50 half centuries , 6 centuries with a high score of 241 against northamptonshire in 1939 .
such was creese 's skill with the bat that he passed the 1,000 run mark for a season five times , with his best season being in 1933 when he scored 1,275 runs at an average of 35.41 , with 5 half centuries , 2 centuries and a high score of 165 * .
creese was also a consistent bowler , taking 401 wickets for the county at a bowling average of 27.78 , with 15 five wicket hauls and 1 ten wicket haul in a match , with best bowling figures of 8/37 against lancashire in 1936 .
the 1936 season was creese 's best with the ball , during which he took 95 wickets at an average of 22.93 , with 5 five wicket hauls and best figures of 8/37 .
it was during the 1936 season that creese narrowly missed out on the all-rounders double , scoring 1,331 runs and coupled with 95 wickets , bringing him just short of the 1,000 runs and 100 wickets mark .
in addition to his batting and bowling , creese was also an able fielder , taking 190 catches for hampshire .
a note of hampshire trivia came when creese accidentally shot his teammate gerry hill while hill was bowling in the nets .
the bullet stayed in hill 's leg for the remainder of his life .
commenting on the incident hill said : '' `` creese was as mad as a hatter .
he had this gun and whether it went off accidentally , i do n't know ... i was running into bowl and it knocked me off my feet . '' ''
in addition to playing first-class matches for hampshire , creese also represented the players in the 1935 gentlemen v players fixture and represented the combined services in two matches after the war , coming against oxford university and surrey in 1946 .
in 1949 creese joined dorset , playing for the county in the minor counties championship from 1949 to 1950 , with all four of his fixtures for dorset coming against berkshire .
prior to joining dorset creese stood as an umpire in three minor counties fixtures ; two in 1947 and one in 1948 .
after this creese served as a groundsman at the central recreation ground at hastings for some years , during which his small grandson , whom he idolised , was killed by the heavy roller in the interval between innings in a festival match .
he later became head groundsman at the sussex county ground at hove .
creese died at buckland , kent on 9 march 1974 .
