Gerard Alexander Rotherham (28 May 1899 – 31 January 1985) was a first-class cricketer for Cambridge University and Warwickshire in England and for Wellington in New Zealand. His uncle, Hugh Rotherham, played first-class cricket in the 1880s.

Gerard Rotherham
Personal information
Full name
Gerard Alexander Rotherham
Born(1899-05-28)28 May 1899
Coventry, Warwickshire, England
Died31 January 1985(1985-01-31) (aged 85)
Bakewell, Derbyshire, England
BattingRight-handed
BowlingRight arm medium
RoleAll-rounder
Domestic team information
YearsTeam
1919–1920Cambridge University
1919–1921Warwickshire
1928/29Wellington
FC debut21 May 1919 Cambridge University v Australian Imperial Force Touring XI
Last FC22 January 1929 Wellington v Auckland
Career statistics
Competition First-class
Matches 65
Runs scored 1,801
Batting average 18.76
100s/50s 0/7
Top score 84*
Balls bowled 9,556
Wickets 180
Bowling average 28.36
5 wickets in innings 8
10 wickets in match 0
Best bowling 7/69
Catches/stumpings 48/–
Source: CricketArchive, 23 August 2007

Rotherham's chief cricket fame was achieved as a schoolboy at Rugby School, where his record as a fast-medium bowler led to him being named as a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in the 1918 edition of Wisden, at a time when first-class cricket was suspended for the First World War. He then went up to Trinity College, Cambridge.[1]

Rotherham's later first-class career lasted only a few seasons. He got a Blue at Cambridge in both 1919 and 1920, when his swashbuckling lower-order batting was almost as valuable as his increasingly wayward bowling. In 1921, he had a full season of county cricket with Warwickshire, and this time the bowling was more valuable than the batting, and he took 88 wickets in the season. But at the end of the season he moved to New Zealand, where he made just a few appearances for Wellington in 1928–29.

References

edit
  1. ^ "Cricket". The Times. No. 42094. London. 8 May 1919. p. 5.
edit