 Parkin on a 1922 card | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Full name | Cecil Harry Parkin | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 18 February 1886 Eaglescliffe,Stockton-on-Tees, England | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Died | 15 June 1943 (aged 57) Cheetham Hill,Manchester, England | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Batting | Right-handed | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bowling | Right-arm off-break | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| National side | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Test debut | 17 December 1920 v Australia | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Last Test | 14 June 1924 v South Africa | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Career statistics | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Source:CricInfo,1 February 2020 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Cecil Harry Parkin (18 February 1886 – 15 June 1943), known asCec orCiss Parkin, was an Englishcricketer who played in 10Test matches between 1920 and 1924 and made 157 appearances forLancashire County Cricket Club.
Parkin played onefirst-class match forYorkshire in 1906, before it was discovered that he was born twenty yards outside the county boundary.[1] Despite the fact that many cricketers had appeared for Yorkshire who were not born inside the county boundaries he then spent the next 8 years playing league and minor counties cricket forDurham. From 1910 he representedChurch CC in the Lancashire League, taking 685 wickets in six seasons at an average of 8.27.[2] He then joinedLancashire and played atOld Trafford from 1914 to 1926, although four of these years were lost to the Great War. He was aWisden Cricketer of the Year in 1924.
In 1921 he was described as the best bowler in England.[3] He took 14Leicestershire County Cricket Club wickets on his debut for the Red Rose at Liverpool in 1914, when he was already 28, and did not become a full-time cricketer until the age of 34 in 1921, the year he topped the Test averages againstWarwick Armstrong's mighty Australian side. Before then he had combined his Saturday league commitments forRochdale CC with appearances for Lancashire.
He took 14 wickets in the 1919Roses Match at Old Trafford at just 10 apiece and, in the first innings of theGentlemen v Players match of 1920 dismissed 9 Gentlemen at theOval, six clean bowled, for 85. He was picked for England's tour of Australia that winter and took 5 for 60 in the first innings atAdelaide in a difficult rubber for the England team. He was England's most successful bowler in all first-class games on the tour however, with 73 at 21 each. In all he played 8 Tests against Australia without ever appearing on the winning side. He is one of the few players to have opened both the bowling and batting, against Australia at Old Trafford, for England, a remarkable performance by a spin bowler who played only 10 games.
He was known for his outspoken views that often saw him clash with cricketing authorities. He was dropped from the England team when he criticised England CaptainArthur Gilligan in a newspaper article and fell out with the Lancashire Committee two years later which ended his first-class career. After leaving Lancashire he returned to league cricket and continued to prove a heavy wicket taker for many years.
He was Lancashire's best bowler in 1923, taking 209 wickets at 16.94, and 1924, 200 at just 13.67, but in 1925 took 'only' 121 wickets at 20.79.Ted McDonald andDick Tyldesley began to dominate the attack for the powerful Lancashire team as they sought to end Yorkshire's dominance of theCounty Championship. His benefit match with Middlesex in 1925 realised £1,880 and in 1926 he played in eleven county matches, taking 36 wickets at 15.13 and helped Lancashire win the championship for the first time since 1904. A dispute with the powers that be saw his first-class career end at 40.
He wrote lively accounts of his cricketing days and was a talented conjurer and magician.[4]
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