Dick Howorth

England
INTL CAREER: 1947 - 1948
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Full Name

Richard Howorth

Born

April 26, 1909, Bacup, Lancashire

Died

April 02, 1980, Worcester, (aged 70y 342d)

Batting Style

Left hand Bat

Bowling Style

Slow Left arm Orthodox

Wisden obituary
Dick Howorth was a slow left-arm bowler, who kept an immaculate length and could spin and flight the ball, an attacking left-handed batsman, who usually appeared in the middle of the order but was prepared to open if wanted, and a good field close to the wicket, he did great service for Worcestershire from 1933 to 1951, scoring for them 10,538 runs at an average of 20.20 taking 1,274 wickets at 21.36 and holding 188 catches. Three times, in 1939, 1946 and 1947 he achieved the double in all matches, and he played five times for England. Born at Bacup, he appeared for Worcestershire in 1933, against the West Indians while qualifying and in the first innings was top scorer with 68. Qualified in 1934, he was disappointing, but in 1935 he jumped right to the front, heading the bowling averages with 121 wickets at 18.94, and from that time he never looked back. In 1936 he played an important part in Worcestershire's sensational victory over Yorkshire, their first since 1909: in the second innings he took five for 21. Later that summer he made the first and highest of his three centuries in county cricket - 114 in two hours and ten minutes v Kent at Dover, scored out of 180 for the first wicket - and followed it by taking, in the two innings, eight for 91. Before the War, with Verity available, there was little chance in the England side for any other slow left-armer, but in 1947 Howorth was picked for the final Test v South Africa at The Oval and proved a great success. He took six wickets in the match, including one with his first ball, and was described in Wisden as far the best England bowler; he also scored 23 and 45 not out and made two fine catches in the gully. That winter he went with MCC to West Indies under G. O. Allen and played in all four Tests: so important was his steadiness to a weak attack that he was not left out of a single match. But the West Indies is not the ideal place for left-arm spin and his wickets were costly.

In his early days Howorth owed much to his captain, the Hon. C. J. Lyttelton, later Lord Cobham, who, whenever he showed signs of shortening his length and bowling too fast, insisted that he should pitch the ball up and flight it more. When in 1951, at the age of 42, he announced his retirement after a season in which he had headed the Worcestershire bowling averages with 118 wickets at 17.97 and appeared to be bowling as well as ever, Lord Cobham, upon asking him why he was retiring, received the reply, "Because it's not as much fun as it was". Howorth played later for Stourbridge in the Birmingham League, served for many years on the Worcestershire Committee and ran a newsagent's shop across the river from the Worcester ground. He was much liked and respected, though the partial disenchantment which prompted his retirement from the first-class game was never quite thrown off.
Wisden Cricketers' Almanack

One momentous delivery put Dick Howorth, who died in hospital on April 2, aged 70, into the record books, and that was his first in Test cricket, when he had South Africa's Dennis Dyer caught by Gladwin low down at extra cover in the 1947 Oval Test match. It was a conspicuous debut in that Howorth took three wickets in each innings and scored 23 and 45 not out. That first ball is remembered, however, and with good reason, for in the whole history of the game only eight other bowlers, to this day, have claimed a Test victim with their initial ball. On a broader plane, and in simple terms, Dick Howorth was one of the most valuable players Worcestershire have ever had. Born in Bacup, Lancashire on April 26, 1909, he made his debut in 1933, scoring 68 in his first innings, against the West Indians, before falling lbw to Herman Griffith. By the end of 1951, Howorth had made 11,479 runs at 20.68, including four centuries, in 372 matches, and taken 1345 wickets at 21.87 with his tidy, flighted, slow left-arm bowling. Three times he did the double - in 1939, 1946 and 1947 - having missed it by three runs in 1938, and in 1947, his best season, his 1510 runs were accompanied by 164 wickets (at 17.85). His form won him his first Test cap, to which were added four more during the winter tour of West Indies. That tour, when many top names were unavailable and those that were had to withstand much injury, was a chapter of misfortune. Howorth did more bowling than anyone else on the tour and finished with 30 wickets at 39.03, 13 of them in the four Tests at slightly less an average, with 6 for 124 in the second innings of the opening Test, at Bridgetown. In the Test series to follow, the selectors preferred Young, Berry, Hilton or Wardle for the slow left-arm bowling: the workload in the Caribbean probably had taken its toll. Howorth's best analysis came when he was 40: 7 for 18 against Northants at Kettering in 1949. When he retired, he went to Stourbridge in the Birmingham League, and for many years he was to serve on the committee at Worcestershire. He ran a newsagent's shop in Worcester.
David Frith, Wisden Cricket Monthly

Dick Howorth Career Stats

Batting & Fielding

FormatMatInnsNORunsHSAve100s50s6sCtSt
Tests510214545*18.1200020
FC372611561147911420.68452-1970

Bowling

FormatMatInnsBallsRunsWktsBBIBBMAveEconSR4w5w10w
Tests5101536635196/1247/19233.422.4880.8010
FC372-718122942513457/18-21.872.4553.3-747
Richard Howorth

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Test

Debut/Last Matches of Dick Howorth

Recent Matches of Dick Howorth

MatchBatBowlDateGroundFormat
WORCS vs Sth Africans25 & 40/2802-May-1951WorcesterFC
WORCS vs West Indians110/5806-May-1950WorcesterFC
WORCS vs Australians37* & 02/10928-Apr-1948WorcesterFC
England vs West Indies12* & 13/106 & 0/2727-Mar-1948KingstonTest # 298
England vs West Indies4 & 20/58 & 1/2503-Mar-1948GeorgetownTest # 297