Wilfred Rhodes

Wilfred Rhodes was a former English cricketer who represented his country in test cricket matches. Rhodes was a right-handed batsman as well as a slow left-armed orthodox bowler. He was known to be an all-rounder in his team. Before playing for the national team, Rhodes was part of the Yorkshire cricket club.

Rhodes is better known as the first batsman to have completed 100 wickets as well as 1,000 runs in Test matches. He is also the world-record holder for participating in most number of first-class matches (4,204). He started his career with the Yorkshire County Cricket Club in 1898 as a left arm slow bowler. He easily gained the reputation of being one of the best bowlers in the world prior to the First World War. After the War, he improved upon his batting and was then considered one of the best batsmen in the world.

Rhodes made his debut for national English cricket team in 1899 in a match against Australia. He played a total of 58 test matches for England before calling it quits from test cricket in 1921. Later on, in 1926, he was recalled for the legendary Ashes series where he played an important part and helped England clinch a win. Rhodes was a very accurate bowler who could also bring in variations in his deliveries as he wished. He was a very effective bowler during wet pitch conditions and proved to be a key player in rain affected matches.

After his retirement from cricket, he chooses to coach the cricket aspirants at the Harrow School. However, after 1939, his eyesight began to dim slowly and by 1952 he went completely blind. Rhodes passed away in 1973 at Dorset in England.

Career Highlights

Rhodes earned himself an honorary membership at the Marylebone Cricket Club in 1949.

He was named the Wisden Cricketer of the year 1899.