Basil Ward (cricketer)

Basil Jordain Ward (6 August 1889 – 29 March 1972) was an Irish first-class cricketer.

Ward was born at Dublin in August 1889, where he was educated at Mountjoy School.[1] After finishing his schooling, he went up to Trinity College, Dublin in 1908, where he played club cricket for Dublin University.[1] He did not appear regularly for the university until 1912, but did represent Leinster alongside.[1] Ward made his debut in first-class cricket for Ireland against Scotland at Dublin in 1912.[2] He played in the same fixture in 1913 at Edinburgh, and in 1914 at Dublin.[2] Ward served in the British Army during World War I, enlisting in August 1915 as a Second Lieutenant in the Royal Field Artillery.[3] Surviving the war, he returned to playing club cricket for Dublin University.[1] He made a final first-class appearance for Ireland against Scotland at Edinburgh in 1920,[2] a year in which he also played minor matches against Cambridge University and Derbyshire at College Park, Dublin.[4] Ward played in a total of four first-class matches, scoring 56 runs with a highest score of 17.[5] However, it is a fast-medium bowler that is better remembered, where alongside an impressive club record,[1] Ward also took 13 first-class wickets, at an average of 21.00, with best innings figures of 4/66.[6] A schoolteacher by profession, he took up a teaching position in London soon after his final appearance for Ireland.[1] He died at Wandsworth Common in London in March 1972.[1]