The Twelfth Man 2019

Rev E S Carter: A Yorkshire Cricketing Cleric by Anthony Bradbury ACS Publications, 120pp (pb) - £15 Review A book titled A Yorkshire Cricketing Cleric does not immediately suggest a compelling read, rather a some- what esoteric one. But that is to underestimate the fascinating sto- ry that has been researched here by Tony Bradbury, a WCLS mem- ber now living in Essex. It tells the life-story of the Reverend Edmund Carter (1845 -1923) who, though he only played a handful of matches for Yorkshire, had a major influence on the development of the county club in its formative years whilst ful- filling his vocation as a clergyman in York. It was Carter who is credited with having introduced one Martin Bladen Hawke (later Lord Hawke) into the county side - and the rest, as they say, is history. Carter had also been a major influ- ence in the team called The Gentle- men of Yorkshire, a band of players who provided a counter-point to the ‘county’ side emerging in and around Sheffield. Indeed, it was Carter who would go on to skilfully challenge the southern bias in the newly constituted Yorkshire county club and open up the committee to representation from York and the Yorkshire Gentlemen and eventual- ly from the rest of the county. Bradbury’s meticulous research into Carter’s life charts his child- hood in Slingsby, where his father was curate, his time at Oxford Uni- versity fromwhere he was ordained into the Church and became curate at Ealing where he played for the Ealing Cricket Club. From Ealing he took up an appointment as Minor Canon at York Minster and then curate at St Martin-cum-Gregory in Micklegate, York and later at St Michael-le-Belfry in the shadow of the Minster. In later life he took up a rural posting at Thwing in the East Riding where he retired. A whole chapter is devoted to Cart- er’s brief first-class career with Yorkshire, most notably playing in front of 15,000 spectators at Bramall Lane against the Austral- ians in 1878 - the year following the inaugural Test between the two nations. A number of other match- es were played at Scarborough against the I Zingari team. Throughout, the book records fas- cinating detail of the various facets of Carter’s life and will be an inval- uable addition to the rich history of cricket in Yorkshire. BETWEEN TWELFTH MEN A round-up of events in the crick- et world since the 2018 Magazine In July, England (led by captain, Eoin Morgan) won the World Cup for the first time, defeating New Zealand in a ‘super-over’ after the main match finished as a tie at Lord’s. The ‘super-over’ was also tied; Eng- land winning by virtue of scoring more boundaries in the match. During the group stages, England and New Zealand had finished third and fourth respectively, but they had beaten Australia and In- dia in their respective semi-finals. Kane Williamson was named as man of the tournament; Ben Stokes was man of the match in the final. Chris Barron