Henry Tansley Luddington (9 December 1854 – 14 April 1922) was an English cricketer who played first-class cricket for Cambridge University and the "Gentlemen of England" side in the 1870s.[1] He was born at Littleport, Cambridgeshire and died at Ashdon, Essex.

Henry Luddington
Personal information
Full name
Henry Tansley Luddington
Born9 December 1854
Littleport, Cambridgeshire, England
Died12 April 1922(1922-04-12) (aged 67)
Ashdon, Essex, England
BattingRight-handed
BowlingRight-arm roundarm fast
Domestic team information
YearsTeam
1876–1877Cambridge University
Career statistics
Competition First-class
Matches 11
Runs scored 76
Batting average 6.90
100s/50s –/–
Top score 25
Balls bowled 1,917
Wickets 42
Bowling average 19.80
5 wickets in innings 3
10 wickets in match
Best bowling 2/28
Catches/stumpings 4/–
Source: Cricinfo, 25 March 2021

Luddington was educated at Uppingham School, where he was coached by the famous cricketer H. H. Stephenson, at King's Ely and at Jesus College, Cambridge.[2] He had a trial match for the Cambridge University cricket team in 1874, but did not get into the first eleven until 1876 when he achieved some success with his right-arm fast bowling, delivering the ball round arm.[1] His batting as a right-handed tail-ender was negligible. Picked for the 1876 University Match against Oxford University, he took 5 for 51 in the first innings and 4 for 72 in the second as Cambridge won by seven wickets; in the first innings, he shared the Oxford wickets with William Patterson, with whom he had been at school at Uppingham.[3] Luddington's best bowling performance came for Cambridge in 1877 against the Marylebone Cricket Club: he took 5 for 28 as MCC, including W. G. Grace, were dismissed for just 60.[4] In the 1877 University Match, Luddington and Patterson again shared the Oxford first-innings wickets equally, Luddington taking 5 for 90, but Oxford won the match easily.[5] After leaving Cambridge, Luddington played only one further first-class match, appearing for the Gentlemen of England in a fixture at Cambridge in 1878.

Luddington appears not to have followed any career after graduating from Cambridge in 1877; he was a Justice of the Peace and a county councillor for the Isle of Ely after that district achieved county status with local government reform in 1888.[2] He bought Walton's Park at Ashdon on the Essex/Cambridgeshire border in 1917 and died there five years later.[2]

References edit

  1. ^ a b "Henry Luddington". www.cricketarchive.com. Retrieved 14 August 2014.
  2. ^ a b c J. Venn and J. A. Venn. "Alumni Cantabrigienses: Henry Luddington". Cambridge, University Press. p. 231. Retrieved 14 August 2014.
  3. ^ "Scorecard: Oxford University v Cambridge University". www.cricketarchive.com. 26 June 1876. Retrieved 16 August 2014.
  4. ^ "Scorecard: Cambridge University v Marylebone Cricket Club". www.cricketarchive.com. 17 May 1877. Retrieved 16 August 2014.
  5. ^ "Scorecard: Oxford University v Cambridge University". www.cricketarchive.com. 25 June 1877. Retrieved 16 August 2014.