Bill Bradley

Walter Morris Bradley (2 January 1875 – 19 June 1944), known as Bill Bradley, was an English amateur cricketer who played in two Test matches in 1899. He played for Kent County Cricket Club between 1895 and 1903.

Early life Bradley was born at Sydenham in what was then part of Kent in 1875. He was the son of Walter George and Emma Amelia (Morris) Bradley; his father worked as a grocer, wine merchant and post master in Sydenham. Bradley was equated at Alleyn's School in Dulwich where he was in the school cricket XI for two seasons. He worked as a clerk for Lloyd's Register and played cricket for the firm where he was spotted and asked to play for Kent after taking six wickets in six balls in a match in 1895. His final appearances for Kent were on the county's North American tour in September and October 1903 against the Gentlemen of Philadelphia.

A well built, attacking right arm fast bowler, Bradley bowled off a long run with a high action. He pitched the ball up and bowled long spells, attributes which earned him two Test caps in 1899. He excelled in his first, taking 5 for 67 against Joe Darling's Australians at Old Trafford but met with less success in his second, at the Oval. The most successful amateur bowler of that season, taking 156 wickets at 19.1 including two hat tricks, he took 624 wickets in 9 seasons at 22.64. An old fashioned tail ender, he scored only 906 first-class runs at just 6.09 with 67 coming in one innings against Yorkshire at Canterbury in 1897, an unbeaten innings amassed in just 45 minutes.

Bradley is one of only twenty cricketers to have taken a wicket with his first ball in a Test match, dismissing Australian Frank Laver.

As well as his 123 appearances for Kent, Bradley played in first-class matches for a variety of other teams. He appeared in six Gentlemen v Players matches and made his final first-class appearance in 1904 for GJV Weigall's XI against Cambridge University at Fenner's. who retained his interest in club cricket and the Surrey Rifles Old Comrades Association. He watched cricket at Lord's regularly between the wars

Bradley suffered from heart problems in later life.