Percy Holmes

Infobox Historic Cricketer


nationality = English
country = England
country abbrev = ENG
name = Percy Holmes
picture = Cricket_no_pic.pngbatting style = Right-hand bat
bowling style = Right-arm medium
tests = 7
test runs = 357
test bat avg = 27.46
test 100s/50s = -/4
test top score = 88
test balls = -
test wickets = -
test bowl avg = -
test 5s = -
test 10s = -
test best bowling = -
test catches/stumpings = 3/-
FCs = 555
FC runs = 30573
FC bat avg = 42.11
FC 100s/50s = 67/141
FC top score = 315*
FC balls = 252
FC wickets = 2
FC bowl avg = 92.50
FC 5s = -
FC 10s = -
FC best bowling = 1/5
FC catches/stumpings = 342/-
debut date = 28 May
debut year = 1921
last date = 25 June
last year = 1932
source = http://content-aus.cricinfo.com/ci/content/player/14254.html

Percy Holmes, born at Oakes, Huddersfield, on November 25, 1886 and died at Huddersfield on September 3, 1971, was a cricketer who played for Yorkshire and England.

An opening batsman and a fine fielder, Holmes was a late developer who played only a handful of matches for Yorkshire before the First World War, but came to immediate prominence after it with 1886 runs and five centuries in 1919. He was named as a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1920.

With Herbert Sutcliffe, Holmes formed for 15 seasons the most prolific opening partnership in first-class cricket, and 69 times they put on 100 runs or more for the first wicket. Their partnership culminated, in 1932 against Essex at Leyton, in a then-world record stand of 555, beating the previous Yorkshire (and world) record by Brown and Tunnicliffe in 1898 by just one run. Holmes contributed an unbeaten 224 to the partnership, which remained the world record first-wicket partnership for 44 years. It is still the highest partnership for any wicket in English domestic cricket and the fifth highest ever for any wicket in the world.

Holmes' Test cricket career was limited to just seven matches, largely because Jack Hobbs was a fixture in the England team until Holmes was past 40 years of age. He was picked and discarded, like many others, as England chopped and changed their eleven in 1921 in a vain attempt to match the Australian cricket team under Warwick Armstrong; in fact, Holmes was top scorer, with 30 out of 112, in the first innings of the first Test at Trent Bridge, but he scored only 8 in the second innings and the match was over inside two days. He then had to wait six years before being picked for the 1927-28 tour to South Africa under Rony Stanyforth, where he opened with Sutcliffe in all five Tests, making 302 runs, including four scores of more than 50 and a highest of 88, but finishing with a "pair" in the last Test. His seventh and final Test came 10 days after his world record stand, when, at 45, he was picked for the Lord's match against India in 1932. He made just 6 and 11.

In county cricket, Holmes was reliably prolific. He scored more than 2000 runs in seven seasons between 1920 and 1930 and more than 1500 runs in six other seasons. He scored 1021 runs in the month of June 1925 at an average of 102 and that sequence included his highest score, 315 not out at Lord's against Middlesex, at that point the highest score ever made on the ground. In all first-class cricket, he scored 30,573 runs at an average of more than 42 runs per innings, with 67 centuries: he is 58th on the all-time list of run-getters.

According to Neville Cardusref|w72, Holmes was a jaunty, restless character who believed cricket should be fun. He tended to score quickly and to play shots, such as cuts and pulls, that "more correct" batsmen such as Sutcliffe rarely used.

References

* Obituary of Percy Holmes by Neville Cardus, Wisden 1972 edition, page 130.