A team called George

As a proud Scottish person, Fantasy Bob knows that the fact that that today is St George's Day is of no concern to him.  Let Englishmen mark it as they will and raise their glasses to the Roman soldier and dragon slayer.  Good luck to them.  FB must look for other things from this day.  April 23 has also been claimed at Shakespeare's birthday although there is no film or photos which confirm that happy event took place on this day - it's a bit of English PR.  FB stopped sending Shakespeare birthday cards a few years ago - he never got one back.

April 23 is also UNESCO World Book and Copyright Day which was created in 1995 to promote reading, publishing and copyright. UNESCO chose its date partly in honour of St George's Day as celebrated in Catalonia, when sweethearts traditionally exchange gifts of books, which seems a fine idea. But above all, this day is also International Pixel-Stained Technopeasant Day. FB has no idea what this means, but understands that it was devised to encourage members of the science fiction writing community to publish quality work on the internet.

There is little by way of interest in cricket in the Pixel-Stained Technopeasant community and Shakespeare doesn't need any more publicity form FB.  so it's back to St George.  The thought crossed FB's mind that George is not all that common a name. FB is not sure that he knows anyone called George, so he set himself the challenge of finding a team of cricketers called George. The results are quite interesting - to certain types of people admittedly.  A lot of old timers and several connections with Scotland.  Here is the George's XI - not in batting order:

George Headley

1.  George Headley (1909-1983) - the greatest George of them all - perhaps the best batsmen ever to play for West Indies he scored 2,190 runs in Tests at 60.83, and 9,921 runs  at 69.86in all first-class matches. He was one of theWisden Cricketers of the Year in 1933.

2.  George Parr (1826-1891) was known as the Lion of the North, although he only came from Nottinghamshire. He was a right-handed batsman and bowled occasional  underarm deliveries.  He was captain of the first England touring team, which went to North America in 1859. He also captained England's second tour to Australia and New Zealand in 1864, returning home unbeaten.

3.  George Bailey  (Born 1982)  Great-great-grandson of George Herbert Bailey, who was part of the Austrailian1878 touring squad to England,  Bailey was announced earlier this year as captain of the Australian T20 team. He became the second ever Australian to captain an international match, without having played one, after Dave Gregory in the first ever test match.  He is currently in the Australian ODI squad.  He played in Scotland in 2007 and 2010, scoring 696 runs and marking his final appearance by hitting 123* against Warwickshire.

George Parr (front left)
All England XI 1847

4.  George Gunn (1879-1958) played in 15 Tests from 1907 to 1930. His first class career lasted from 1902 to 1932, in the course of which he made more runs for Nottinghamshire than anyone else, before or since: 31,592 at 35.70.  All but one of his 15 Tests were abroad. He was not actually selected for the 1907-8 tour of Australia, but visited the country for the good of his health. Injuries meant he got the call up and  appeared in the first Test at Sydney. He scored 119 and 74 in a dream debut.

5.  George Hirst (1871-1954) - played for Yorkshire between 1891 and 1921 (with a further appearance in 1929) and in 24 Test matches touring Australia twice. One of the best all-rounders of his time and maybe the best ever all rounder for Yorkshire he completed the double of 1,000 runs and 100 wickets 14 times - the second highest ever. He scored 36,356 runs and took 2,742 wickets in first-class cricket.

George Bailey
in his Scotland days

6.  George Workman (Born 1989) - the New Zealander played in Scotland in 2011 for SMRH and went on to play for Scotland in 3 CB40 fixtures.  He was slated to come back to Scotland for season 2012 but had to pull out after being called up to the NZ Development Squad.  (Wikipedia says that George is also quite a hit with the women of both Palmerston North and Christchurch and can regularly be seen frequenting the upper end of the Christchurch nightlife).

7.  George Dockrell (Born 1992) the19 year old Irish left arm spinner already has 35 wickets in 28 ODIs at 26.62.  He was the youngest player in the 2010 ICC World Twenty20 taking 4 wickets against the West Indies and (as any left armer does) troubling KP in a tight bowling display in the abandoned match with England.  He now plays with Somerset and took 6-27 in their first match of the 2012 season.

George Dockrell

8.  George Lohman (1865-1901) holds the lowest Test bowling average among bowlers with more than 15 wickets.  In 18 Tests he took 112 wickets at 10.75 before his Test career ended following his attempts to increase the pay offered to professionals. His early death at 36 was due to tuberculosis

9.  George Salmond (Born 1969) - captained Scotland in the 1999 World Cup and played for Scotland 146 times top scoring with 181.  He also played at one time for go ahead Edinburgh club Carlton and is now a football referee and school master.

10.  George Ulyett (1851-1898) - played in the first ever Test match at MCG in 1877.  He was also known as Happy Jack, and modestly suggested that Yorkshire only played him for his good behaviour and his whistling. He played a number of seasons as goalkeeper for Sheffield Wednesday.

That is 10 Georges. FB thinks the team needs a bit of strengthening on the batting so he is bending his rules a bit and calling on Donald George Bradman to fill the final spot.

FB is confident this team could give any team of Pixel-Stained Technopeasants a run for its money.