James Langridge

Infobox Historic Cricketer


nationality = English
country = England
country abbrev = ENG
name = James Langridge
picture = Cricket_no_pic.pngbatting style = Left-hand bat
bowling style = Slow left-arm orthodox
tests = 8
test runs = 242
test bat avg = 26.88
test 100s/50s = -/1
test top score = 70
test balls = 1074
test wickets = 19
test bowl avg = 21.73
test 5s = 2
test 10s = -
test best bowling = 7/56
test catches/stumpings = 6/-
FCs = 695
FC runs = 31716
FC bat avg = 35.20
FC 100s/50s = 42/181
FC top score = 167
FC balls = 89840
FC wickets = 1530
FC bowl avg = 22.56
FC 5s = 91
FC 10s = 14
FC best bowling = 9/34
FC catches/stumpings = 380/-
debut date = 22 July
debut year = 1933
last date = 17 August
last year = 1946
source = http://content-aus.cricinfo.com/ci/content/player/16195.html

James Langridge, born at Newick, Sussex, on July 10, 1906 and died at Brighton on September 10, 1966, was a cricketer who played for Sussex and England.

An all-rounder who played first-class cricket for almost 30 years, James Langridge – always called by his forename to distinguish him from his younger brother, Sussex opening batsman John Langridge – was a middle-order left-handed batsman and a slow left-arm spin bowler. Initially played by Sussex from 1924 as a batsman, he scored 1,000 runs in an English cricket season 20 times and finished with 31,716 runs and 42 centuries. He ranks as 52nd on the all-time list of run-getters, 11 places behind his brother.

Langridge developed in the late 1920s as a spin bowler of exceptional accuracy but lacking in flight. When pitches became treacherous due to rain followed by sunshine, he could be very difficult to play and in six seasons between 1930 and 1937 he took 100 wickets, completing the all-rounder's double of 1,000 runs and 100 wickets each time. He headed Sussex' bowling averages in 1933, 1935, 1937 and 1939, but unaccountably failed as a bowler in the wet summers of 1936 and 1938. In 1937, Langridge scored 2082 runs and took 102 wickets, a feat achieved only once since (by Trevor Bailey in 1959). In the process he set a record by scoring 2000 runs in a season "with only one century". In all, he took 1,530 wickets, which puts him 77th on the all-time list.

Langridge's Test match career amounted to just eight games, spread over 13 years. On his debut against the West Indies at Old Trafford in 1933 he took seven wickets for 56 runs in the second innings. He was then picked for the 1933-34 MCC tour to India under Douglas Jardine, where he scored 70 in the Test at Calcutta and took five wickets for 63 runs at Madras. He later made single appearances in the 1935 series against South Africa and against India in both 1936 and 1946. The presence in the England team of left-arm spinner Hedley Verity undoubtedly restricted Langridge's Test opportunities. After Verity's death in the Second World War, Langridge was picked at the age of 40 for the 1946-47 MCC tour to Australia and New Zealand under Walter Hammond and was chosen for the third Test at Melbourne, but had to withdraw after injuring himself in practice. He never played Test cricket again.

James Langridge was captain of Sussex from 1950 to 1952, only the third professional player, after Les Berry of Leicestershire and Tom Dollery of Warwickshire, to be appointed the regular captain of a county club in the 20th century (Ewart Astill captained Leicestershire for a season in 1935, but only because no amateur could be found to do the job). He was a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1932.

After retirement, he was county coach at Sussex until 1959. His son, Richard, opened the batting for Sussex regularly in the 1960s.

External links

* [http://www.cricketarchive.co.uk/Archive/Players/0/617/f_Batting_by_Season.html First-class batting record]
* [http://www.cricketarchive.co.uk/Archive/Players/0/617/f_Bowling_by_Season.html First-class bowling record]