Billy Bates

For other people named Billy Bates, seeBilly Bates (disambiguation).

Billy Bates

Personal information
Full name	Willie Bates
Born	(1855-11-19)19 November 1855 Huddersfield,England
Died	8 January 1900(1900-01-08)(aged 44) Lepton, Yorkshire,England
Batting	Right-handed
Bowling	Right armoff break
Role	All rounder
International information
National side	England
Test debut (cap30)	31 December 1881 vAustralia
Last Test	1 March 1887 vAustralia
Domestic team information
Years	Team
1877–1887	Yorkshire
Career statistics
Competition Test First-class Matches 15 299 Runs scored 656 10,249 Batting average 27.33 21.57 100s/50s 0/5 10/47 Top score 64 144not out Ballsbowled 2,364 61,033 Wickets 50 874 Bowling average 16.42 17.13 5 wickets in innings 4 52 10 wickets in match 1 10 Best bowling 7/28 8/21 Catches/stumpings 9/– 238/–
Source:Cricinfo,2 October 2009

Willie Bates(19 November 1855 – 8 January 1900),known asBilly Bates,was an Englishcricketer.Skilled with both bat and ball, Bates scored over 10,000first-classruns, took more than 870 wickets and was always reliable in the field. A snappy dresser, Bates was also known as "The Duke".

Life and career

Born to a humble family in Lascelles Hall,Huddersfield,Yorkshire, Bates became aprofessional cricketerfor Rochdale in 1873 and made his first-class debut forYorkshirefour years later, taking four for 69 inMiddlesex's firstinningsto begin a ten-year career in the first-class game. He played fifteenTest matchesforEnglandbetween 1881–82 and 1886–87, all of them in Australia.

At theMelbourne Cricket Groundin 1882/83, Bates excelled by scoring 55 in England's only innings before taking 7 for 28 (including ahat-trick) to forceAustraliatofollow on.He then claimed 7 for 74 in the second innings to help his team to the first-everinnings victoryin Test cricket.Bates set several individual records in this game as his hat-trick was the first for England in Test cricket, and his return of 7 for 28, and his match tally of 14 wickets, were then the best-ever by a Test match bowler. In addition, no Test bowler had previously taken 10 or more wickets and scored a half-century in the same match.

In domestic cricket, Bates topped 100 first-class wickets only once, when he took 121 in 1881, but he passed 80 on another 4 occasions. His best bowling of 8 for 21 was achieved in 1879 for Yorkshire againstSurreyatThe Oval.As a batsman he passed 1,000 runs in 5 seasons and scored 10 centuries, including 3 in 1884. He made his highest first-class score of 144 not out in 1882 for Under 30 against Over 30 atLord's,where he also returned an economical second-inningsanalysisof 22–15–17–3.

The end of Bates' career came suddenly. On a tour of Australia withG.F. Vernon's XIin 1887–88, he was bowling in the nets in Melbourne when he was hit in the eye by a ball struck by a teammate.His eyesight was sufficiently impaired that he was never able to play first-class cricket again, although he did appear inclub cricketin the early 1890s and was still able to coach.

His enforced retirement caused him great depression, and on the voyage home from Australia he attempted suicide. At the end of December 1899 he caught a chill whilst attending the funeral of fellow Yorkshire playerJohn Thewlis.His condition quickly deteriorated and he died a few days later in Huddersfield, aged just 44.

An interesting feature of Bates' Test career was that all 15 of his matches were played outside England, which is still the Test record for most matches in a complete career without ever playing at home.

His sonWilliam Bateshad a long first-class career with Yorkshire andGlamorgan.

External links

Media related toBilly Batesat Wikimedia Commons

• Billy BatesatESPNcricinfo