ON THIS DAY
Follow UsOne of the pioneers of cricket who didn’t just love the game but was also an advocate of the sport and its players’ sustainability long after he was gone, Alfred Shaw was born on August 29, 1842.
Starting his career as an all-rounder, Shaw had quickly recognized his strength in slow bowling and had become a master of it. While he took only 12 wickets in the seven Test matches he played, Shaw has 2027 scalps to his name in First Class cricket, where he was a veteran - playing over 400 matches.
Shaw, a vocal champion of the game who deeply thought about improving various aspects of cricket, suggested that the creases on the pitch should be drawn with a white coating, which otherwise was previously scratched an inch deep and an inch wide.
The Colts of England had first handed Shaw a chance to play against the M. C. C. and Ground at Lord’s. Although the Colts lost the match by 10 runs, Shaw caught eyeballs by picking up 13 wickets in his first outing. He was thereafter given a place in Nottinghamshire cricket club, whom Shaw would later captain to three successive titles from 1883 to 1886.
Shaw used to ball quite fast in the early days of his career and even bat effectively, for that regard, but it was only after he slowed down his bowling and removed focus from batting that he became a prominent name. Many believed Shaw to be England’s best bowler in the 1870s, who generated enough movement with his medium-pace bowling.
Shaw’s natural movement and ease after the run-up led him to bowl for hours without breaking a sweat. One of his more famous outings was at Lord’s in 1875 when Shaw bowled 41.2 overs to take seven wickets and conceded just seven runs. Though the rain-spoilt pitch did favour the bowlers massively during those days, Shaw was a master of variation in pace and length.
The father of cricket and Alfred Shaw’s English teammate WG Grace had said, “The great power of his bowling lay in its good length and unvaried precision. He could break both ways, but got more work on the ball from the off; and he was one of the few bowlers who could very quickly cause a batsman to make a mistake if he was too eager to hit.
An impatient batsman might make two spanking hits in succession off him, but he would not make a third. Shaw was sure to take his measure and get him in a difficulty. On a good wicket, when batting against him, I did not find it difficult to play the ball; but I had to watch him carefully, and wait patiently before I could score,” Grace had stated.
Shaw is credited with having taken ten wickets for his club during his MCC groundstaff days and also bowling 36 maiden overs in the 41.2 overs spell. However, he will forever be known as the man to bowl the first ball in Test cricket when he toured Australia in 1876. Shaw was also the first-ever batsman to get stumped in Test cricket.
Apart from playing, Shaw also ensured that professional cricketers kept on getting the incentives to continue the beautiful sport. He had declined to tour Australia with WG Grace in 1873/74 because the players were given second-class facilities. Alfred Shaw also led a strike with the Notts professionals demanding formal contractual employment for players.
Shaw is also credited with helping to organise the first British Lions rugby union tour of Australia and New Zealand in 1888/89. Post-retirement, Shaw took to umpiring and coached young Sussex players at the Ardingly College.
Such was his love for cricket that he had returned to play for Sussex at the age of 52 and would bowl 422 overs in the year 1894 to take 41 wickets. He would play a bit more before retiring again. Shaw continued to umpire despite ailing health and eventually died at the age of 65 in Gedling, near Nottingham.
