In My Mind's Eye Number 2: William Mycroft 1841-1894

Despite not making his first-class debut until the age of 32, William Mycroft was the first of the outstanding line of Derbyshire seam bowlers. Indeed, he was probably, according to contemporary accounts, one of the fastest, as many a batsman was defeated in the defensive stroke by his fast left-arm deliveries.

Perhaps he was a nineteenth century Mark Footitt, and the extraordinary thing is how many wickets he took when perhaps the years of his real pace were behind him. He was a classic late developer, however and reports suggest that he 'didn't really amount to much' until his late-20s. The great Kumar Shri Ranjitsinjhi described him as having 'a high action and getting a lot of spin on the ball, as well as swerve, all at pace'. All this, while looking like an earlier incarnation of Australian fast bowler, Merv Hughes.

He was born at Brimington, near Chesterfield, the son of a miner who became a publican, jobs which William did in turn himself. His county debut came in 1873, when he took six wickets in his first match that summer, then took twenty in the only four matches of 1874. His ability was noted and his reputation quickly grew, so much so that in 1875 he topped the national bowling averages with 75 wickets at just over seven runs each. With eleven five-wicket hauls he became a feared bowler, enhanced by the remarkable match figures of 14-38 for the North against the South.

He wasn't a big man, standing only 5'9'' but he was sturdily built and strong. There was a suggestion that his yorker was thrown, but he was never called and it continued to be a potent weapon in his armoury. He was as dangerous a bowler as any in England in the 1870s, when he took a hundred wickets in a season twice. In 1877 he took 157 wickets in just 22 matches for Derbyshire and the MCC, while the following year he became the first man to take a hundred wickets in a season for Derbyshire alone.

A measure of his importance to the side, which was far from a strong one, came at Southampton in 1876, when he took seventeen wickets in the match for 103 runs, also holding a catch, of the nineteen wickets that fell - yet his side still lost by one wicket. He took 9-25 in the first innings, seven of them bowled, then 8-78 in the second, leaking runs as he tired but almost winning the game single-handedly, after his side had been bowled out by a lob bowler. He even held the catch at slip that deprived him of all ten, confirming him as a team player, regardless of his individual talent.

Injuries started to affect him in the 1880s, and he played his last game for the club in 1885, at the age of 44. He later became an umpire for a short time.

It was a relatively short but meteoric career, in the course of which he took 534 wickets for Derbyshire at less than twelve runs each, with 863 in all matches, for a similar average. Notwithstanding the variable pitches of the day, he must have been a remarkable bowler. If one considers WG Grace as the star batsman of the generation, their battles ended with honours even, indicative of his ability.

That talent was diametrically opposed to his limitations as a right-handed batsman. He was one of a select band of players to end a lengthy career with more wickets than runs, just 791 runs at an average of five in 138 matches - a reputation as an 'erratic' runner between the wickets, didn't help. Yet consider this - 87 five-wicket hauls in those 138 matches, 28 times taking ten or more. They are figures that compare favourably with any in the game's long history.

William Mycroft died of influenza at his home in Freehold Street, Derby, on 19 June, 1894. Rheumatic illnesses had plagued his final years and money was in short supply, though a Derbyshire supporter named John Cartwright, who scored for the county when he was able, organised a subscription which saw one hundred pounds handed over to the old hero. His obituary notice, in the Nottingham Evening Post of all places, made it quite clear - 'if he was not the best fast bowler in England, he could certainly lay claim to no superior'.

Two curiosities about him to finish. The writer, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, himself a decent cricketer who played at first-class level, was rumoured to have chosen the name of Sherlock Holmes' brother, Mycroft, after watching the Derbyshire bowler  against the MCC in 1885. The story gains some credence with the first Sherlock Holmes story being published two years later, especially when the opposition that day included the Nottinghamshire players, Mordecai Sherwin and Frank Shacklock.

Finally, William's son, Thomas was later the father-in-law of the Derbyshire opening batsman and subsequent coach, Denis Smith. The great bowler was long gone by that time, but I think he would have approved.

Not a bad family lineage, is it?

(Image sourced by David Griffin from the Derbyshire CCC Archive)