Jack Parsons (cricketer)

The Rev. Canon John Henry Parsons MC (30 May 1890  2 February 1981) was an English first-class cricketer for Warwickshire County Cricket Club. A right-handed batsman, he made 17969 runs at 35.72 in his 355-game career which extended over 26 years. He became a Church of England clergyman.

Jack Parsons
Parsons in 1924
Personal information
Full nameJohn Henry Parsons
Born(1890-05-30)30 May 1890
Headington, Oxfordshire, England
Died2 February 1981(1981-02-02) (aged 90)
Plymouth, Devon, England
BattingRight-handed
BowlingRight-arm medium
Domestic team information
YearsTeam
1910 to 1934Warwickshire
1919–20 to 1921–22Europeans
Career statistics
Competition First-class
Matches 355
Runs scored 17,969
Batting average 35.72
100s/50s 38/86
Top score 225
Balls bowled
Wickets 83
Bowling average 28.97
5 wickets in innings 3
10 wickets in match 1
Best bowling 7/41
Catches/stumpings 260/0
Source: Cricinfo, 4 February 2016

He was born in Oxford, and qualified by residence for Warwickshire County Cricket Club after moving to Coventry. He played for the county from 1910 to 1914 as a professional. He was commissioned into the British Army during the Great War, in which he won a Military Cross for gallantry.[1] He continued in the Army afterwards, appearing for his county as an amateur in 1919 and 1923 as Capt. J. H. Parsons. In 1924, he resumed his professional career. In 1929, he was ordained, and from then until his retirement from the game in 1934 played again as an amateur. According to his obituary in Wisden, he might well have played for England but for the break in his career between 1914 and 1923. "A tall man, who made full use of his height, he was a superb driver of fast bowling, and one of the safest slips of his day."

In his final game for Warwickshire, against Yorkshire at Scarborough in 1934, under his captaincy, 216 runs were required to win in the fourth innings. Parsons scored 94 out of 121 in under two hours, including three 6s and twelve 4s; Warwickshire won by one wicket.[2]

In the 1950s he was vicar of Liskeard in Cornwall.[3] He died in a Plymouth nursing home at the age of 90.[4]

References

  1. "No. 30450". The London Gazette (Supplement). 1 January 1918. p. 43.
  2. "Yorkshire v Warwickshire 1934". CricketArchive. Retrieved 4 February 2016.
  3. A. W. T. Langford, "Club Background", The Cricketer, 23 August 1952, p. 402.
  4. Woodcock, John, ed. (1982). Wisden Cricketers' Almanack. Queen Anne Press. pp. 1207–8. ISBN 0356-08591-0.

Further reading

  • Gerald Howat, Cricketer Militant: The Life of Jack Parsons, North Moreton Press, North Moreton, 1980
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