Charles Marriott

Charles Stowell "Father" Marriott (14 September 1895 – 13 October 1966) was an English cricketer, who played first-class cricket for Lancashire, Cambridge University and Kent. Marriott played between 1919 and 1938 and was considered one of the best leg-break and googly bowlers of the time. He went on to teach, having served during World War I in the British Army.

Marriott played in one Test match for the England cricket team in 1933 at the age of 37, taking 11 wickets.

Early life Marriott was born at Heaton Moor near Stockport in Lancashire; his birth was registered as "Charlie Stowell Marriott". His father, Joshua Marriott, was a solicitor. He was educated in Ireland, first at Monkston Park School in Dublin from 1904 to 1909 and then at The Royal School, Armagh between 1909 and 1912 before attending St Columba's College, Dublin from 1912 to 1913. He played cricket in the school XI at both Royal School and St Columba's and was a member of the St Columba's Officer Training Corps (OTC).

After leaving school Marriott enrolled at Trinity College Dublin where he was also a member of the OTC. His studies were interrupted by the outbreak of World War I. He spent time on the front line at Ovillers and, later in the year, to the north of Arras and was promoted, first to Lieutenant and then to acting Captain, commanding a company. He went on to make his Lancashire debut later the same month. The match, against Essex at Leyton, is reported to be the first county cricket match Marriott had ever seen. He played 12 matches for Lancashire from 1919 to 1921. He played for Cambridge University Cricket Club, making 17 first-class appearances for the team in his two years at Cambridge. (Marriott took a shortened degree.) This was standard practice at Cambridge immediately after World War I, with men who had served during the war being allowed to graduate more quickly. Marriott was credited with three terms worth of study for his war service. It was at Cambridge that Marriott was nicknamed "Father" on account of his relatively advanced age of 25. Wisden reported that with "clever flighting of the ball, perfect length and spin" he produced "one of the best performances accomplished by a bowler when playing for England for the first time" and Marriott remains the bowler with the lowest bowling average to have taken more than 10 wickets in Test matches. He "bewildered" the West Indian batsmen although he took a hat-trick against Madras, the only time he completed the hat-trick during his career.

Playing style and legacy Marriott was one of the best leg break bowlers of the 1920s and 1930s. He bowled with a high bowling action, swinging his arm behind his back before he delivered the ball in a style which Wisden compared to Kent's great spin bowler Colin Blythe. If he did bowl the delivery it was generally during the first few overs of a spell to act as a deterrent to batsmen.

The 11 wickets Marriott took in his only Test match remain the best bowling figures for any player who has only played a single Test. He is the only player to have taken two five wicket hauls in their only Test and his Test bowling average of 8.72 runs per wicket is the lowest of any Test cricketer to have taken 10 or more wickets.

Marriott took a total of 711 wickets during his first-class career, 429 of them taken for Kent. He took 10 wickets in a match 10 times, eight for Kent, and five wickets in an innings 48 times. He was a less than capable fielder and batsman and scored fewer runs, 574, than he took wickets. As a coach at Dulwich College he coached a number of future first-class players,

Personal and later life Marriott married Phyllis Taylor at Kensington in 1924 and taught at Dulwich College throughout his career. He retired from teaching in 1953, three years early due to ill health. As a teacher he was "well known" for a passion for literature, playing roles in school plays and he played the trombone in the school orchestra.

During World War II Marriott was an anti-aircraft gunner in the Home Guard and played cricket in war-time matches, including at Lord's in 1944 when he was 47. He died in a nursing home at Dollis Hill in Middlesex in 1966 aged 71.