Reggie Spooner

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Reggie Spooner England (ENG)

Batting style	Right-hand bat
Bowling type	-
	Tests	First-class
Matches	10	237
Runs scored	481	13681
Batting average	32.06	36.28
100s/50s	1/4	31/59
Top score	119	247
Balls bowled	-	710
Wickets	-	6
Bowling average	-	97.00
5 wickets in innings	-	-
10 wickets in match	-	-
Best bowling	-	1/5
Catches/stumpings	4/-	142/-
Test debut: 24 July 1905 Last Test: 19 August 1912 Source: [1]

Reginald Herbert Spooner (born October 21, 1880, Litherland, Lancashire, died October 2, 1961, Lincoln) was a cricketer who played for Lancashire and England. He also played Rugby Union for England.

Spooner was one of the leading amateur batsmen of the so-called "Golden Age" of English cricket before the First World War. Coming to prominence as a schoolboy cricketer for Marlborough College, Spooner played first for Lancashire in 1899, then disappeared on military service, some of it in the Second Boer War in South Africa, for three years. Reappearing in 1903, he scored 247 against Nottinghamshire, at that time the highest score made against that county, and shared with Archie MacLaren a first-wicket partnership of 368 against Gloucestershire at Aigburth, Liverpool, which remains the Lancashire record. Thereafter, until 1923, he was a frequent member of the county side, although business demands meant he rarely played a full season, which was why he scored 1,000 runs in a season only six times. His potential was shown in 1911 when, giving himself a full season to play, he scored 2,312 runs at an average of more than 51 per innings. His off-drive was particularly strong.

Spooner played 10 times for England in home series between 1905 and 1912. He was credited as one of the first batsmen to work out the googly, the ball bowled with a leg break action that then breaks from the off, and his one Test match century was 119 against the South African masters of the googly at Lord's in 1912. Returning to county cricket after the First World War, Spooner was offered, and accepted, the captaincy of the MCC tour to Australia in 1920-21, but then had to turn it down because of injury. In the event, the MCC side led by Johnny Douglas lost the Test series 5-0 to the Australian cricket team led by Warwick Armstrong.