Patsy Hendren

Infobox Historic Cricketer


nationality = English
country = England
country abbrev = Eng
name = Patsy Hendren
picture = Cricket_no_pic.pngbatting style = Right-handed batsman (RHB)
bowling style = Right arm off-break (OB)
tests = 51
test runs = 3,525
test bat avg = 47.63
test 100s/50s = 7/21
test top score = 205*
balls/overs = balls
test balls = 47
test wickets = 1
test bowl avg = 31.00
test 5s = 0
test 10s = 0
test best bowling = 1-27
test catches/stumpings = 33/0
FCs = 833
FC runs = 57,611
FC bat avg = 50.80
FC 100s/50s = 170/272
FC top score = 301*
FC balls = 4,830
FC wickets = 47
FC bowl avg = 54.76
FC 5s = 1
FC 10s = 0
FC best bowling = 5-43
FC catches/stumpings = 759/0
debut date = 17 December
debut year = 1920
last date = 18 March
last year = 1935
source = http://content.cricinfo.com/england/content/player/14158.html

Elias Henry Hendren (born 5 February 1889 in Turnham Green, Middlesex, - 4 October 1962 in Tooting Bec, London) was an English cricketer.

Patsy was one of the most prolific English batsmen of the period between the wars, averaging 47.63 in his 51 Test matches. He has the third highest first class run aggregate of 57,611 runs (after Sir Jack Hobbs and Frank Woolley), and his total of 170 centuries ranks second only to Hobbs, who played with him many times and called him "a great cricketer and great companion"; Hendren was a noted wit and had a talent for mimicry.

Hendren joined the Lord's groundstaff at the age of 16, and made his first-class debut for Middlesex County Cricket Club in 1907, though the game was abandoned after the first day when spectators caused damage to the pitch and he did not get to bat. He played nine games the following year and gradually established himself in the team, but it was 1911 before he made his first hundred, and until World War I forced the suspension of the County Championship he never managed to average 40 in a season.

Returning to cricket in 1919 it was a very different story: that year Hendren scored 1,655 runs and averaged over 60, as he was to do the following year as well. He was made a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1920 and was picked for the 1920/21 Ashes tour, making his Test debut at Sydney and making 58 in the second innings despite Australia's huge 377-run victory. He scored two further Test fifties in the series and retained his place for the 1921 series against the same opponents, but failed completely in his four innings, totalling only 17 runs.

1923 was an extraordinarily productive year for Hendren, as he scored 3,010 runs in the season including no less than 13 centuries; he was recalled to the England side the following year and averaged an outstanding 132.66 against South Africa. Further success was to follow as he averaged over 56 in every year from 1922 to 1928. In both 1927 and 1928 he again made 13 hundreds, in the latter year recording his highest season's aggregate of 3,311 runs.

In 1929/30, Hendren went on tour with England to the West Indies, and produced some exceptional form: his 693 series runs came at an average of 115.50 and included his highest Test score, 205 not out at Port of Spain; his first-class average for the tour as a whole was a quite startling 135.76. Returning to England he had what by his standards was a lean year, managing a top score of only 72 against the Australians, but in 1933 he topped 3,000 runs for the third and final time at the age of 44 and made his highest score of 301 not out.

He played his final Test match in 1934/1935 at Kingston, Jamaica, the game in which George Headley made 270 not out to win the series for the West Indians, but continued to play well in domestic cricket for a few years more. Hendren's final season in the game was 1937, and fittingly he made a century in his last County Championship match, the local derby with Surrey. He did, however, appear for "England Past and Present" against Sir PF Warner's XI at Folkestone in September 1938, aged 49, but was caught by the 20-year-old Denis Compton for a duck in what was to be his very last first-class innings.

Hendren was also a good footballer in the early part of his career, playing at wing forward for Brentford, QPR, Manchester City and Coventry City. In retirement, he coached cricket at Harrow School and Sussex, and later acted as scorer for Middlesex (1952-1960). He died in hospital from Alzheimer's disease in Tooting Bec, London at the age of 73.

Patsy's brother Denys Hendren played nine first-class games for Middlesex.

External links

* [http://content-uk.cricinfo.com/england/content/player/14158.html Cricinfo]
* [http://www.cricketarchive.com Cricket Archive]