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George Nathaniel Francis (11 December 1897 – 12 January 1942) was a West Indian cricketer who played in West Indies' first Test in their inaugural Test tour of England. He was a fast bowler of renowned pace and was notably successful on West Indies' non-Test playing tour of England in 1923, but he was probably past his peak by the time the West Indies were elevated to Test status. He was born in Trents, St. James, Barbados and died at Black Rock, Saint Michael, also in Barbados. ==The 1923 tour of England== With limited opportunities in the inter-colonial cricket of the Caribbean and as a professional, Francis had played no first-class cricket when he was picked for 1923 West Indies tour of England. Francis' obituary in Wisden Cricketers' Almanack in 1943 states that he was a "groundsman" and that his selection for the tour came about through the "influence" of the captain, Harold Austin.〔(【引用サイトリンク】 Wisden: Obituaries in 1942 )〕 The Trinidadian writer C. L. R. James, in ''Beyond a Boundary'', wrote of how the non-selection of the Trinidad-born Herman Griffith, who played for Barbados, rankled and "an unknown, a bowler at the Austin nets, had been chosen instead". James continued: "To us it seemed that here was another flagrant piece of class discrimination. But the unknown bowler was soon to make himself known and never to be forgotten." The "unknown" was Francis. The tour featured a mixture of first-class and other matches, and Francis' first appearance in a first-class game, the match against Sussex, was a sensation: he took four wickets for 50 in the Sussex first innings and then, when the county side was set just 99 to win the match, he took six for 33 to win the game for the West Indians by 26 runs. ''The Times'' said that Francis bowled "very fast". In his next match, Francis took five Hampshire first-innings wickets for 27, following up with two for 58 in the second innings. And in his third match, against Middlesex at Lord's, he returned figures of three for 86 and six for 34. ''The Times'' reported that "he was much too fast for most of the batsmen". Francis did not keep up this pace of wicket-taking, but he had another impressive match at the beginning of August against Surrey, when he followed five for 31 in the first innings with five for 45 in the second, and the West Indians won the match by 10 wickets; he also took three first-innings catches off the bowling of Snuffy Browne. In its report on this match, ''The Times'' provided a detailed description of Francis' bowling:
Unusually, Francis also contributed significantly with the bat to this victory, making 41 out of a last-wicket partnership of 136 with the opening batsman, George Challenor, whose unbeaten 155 was more than half the West Indians' total of 306.〔 Francis continued to take wickets through August, although he was "indisposed" for one match. The tour finished on a high note for him: during the last match at the Scarborough Festival against H. D. G. Leveson-Gower's XI, with the Leveson-Gower side requiring only 28 to win on the third morning, Francis and George John bowled for an hour and 20 minutes and took six wickets between for 19 runs before a seventh wicket partnership hit the runs off. ''The Times'' reported that "the bowling of Mr Francis and Mr John may be compared to that of those famous Australian bowlers, Mr Gregory and Mr Macdonald (), during their last tour in this country". The review of the 1923 tour in Wisden Cricketers' Almanack's 1924 edition singled Francis out for praise as "an excellent fast bowler of quite an old-fashioned type". It went on: "Scorning the 'off theory' he bowled at the wicket, and in match after match he was justified by results...Though not abnormal in speed he always maintained a fine pace." 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「George Francis (cricketer)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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