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Harry Lawton Calder (24 January 1901 – 15 September 1995) was named as aWisden Cricketer of the Year in 1918, then a 17 year old schoolboy. Calder is the youngest person to receive this accolade, one of the game's top honours, and the onlyWisden Cricketer of the Year that never playedfirst-class cricket.
Calder was born in South Africa. His father,Henry Calder, had a brief first-class career, playing ten matches forHampshire,Western Province andEastern Province in the late 19th century.
He came to England in 1914 and was educated atCranleigh School in Surrey for five years, playing cricket for the school'sFirst XI for five years, three as captain. As a 16-year-oldspin bowler, he took many wickets for the school team in 1917, and was named as a Cricketer of the Year in the 1918 edition ofWisden Cricketers' Almanack alongside four other schoolboy cricketers, there being nofirst-class cricket during theFirst World War. Another five schoolboys were selected by Wisden as Cricketers of the Year in 1919. Calder was the youngest.
Calder never appeared in a first-class game, although he did play for theSurrey Second XI in 1920, scoring 0 and 6not out and bowling four wicketless overs for 21 againstStaffordshire.[1] The other nine schoolboy Cricketers of the Year in 1918 and 1919 all played at least one first-class game.
Calder went back to South Africa with his family in 1919. His father encouraged him to continue to play cricket, but he decided to concentrate on golf and tennis instead. He worked in industry and banking. He was not tracked down until 1994, the year before his death, when the cricket historianRobert Brooke traced him to a nursing home in Cape Town. Calder said he had not known of the honour and had not played cricket since school, more than three-quarters of a century earlier.
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