Cornelius Coward

Cornelius Coward (27 January 1838 – 15 July 1903) was an English cricketer. A talented fielder and right-handed batsman, popularly known as Kerr, Coward played 49 first-class matches for Lancashire County Cricket Club between 1865 and 1876. He scored 1,210 runs in the middle order for Lancashire, before retiring to play club cricket for his home town of Preston – who he also coached – as well as becoming a cricket umpire for 98 matches, a licensed victualler and a teacher at the Roman Catholic institutions of Stonyhurst College in Lancashire and Clongowes Wood College in Ireland.

Cricket career

Early days Coward was born in Preston, Lancashire. On 26 May 1862, aged 24, Coward appeared for All England Eleven – a team of hitherto untested cricketers who had not played professional cricket before – at Lord's against a 20-man-Yorkshire team. He then played a second match in June 1862, for a team of professionals against the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) at Lord's, where he scored another duck in the first innings, and then top-scored with 17 in the second innings, earning a presentation bat from the Hon. F. Ponsonby. His skills with the bat, "reckoned to be an excellent batsman and a good field at long-leg or cover-point," attracted the attention of Lancashire. Middlesex won the toss and batted first, reaching 226 and dismissing Lancashire for 112 with Coward making 23. Following on, Coward was run out for a duck, with Lancashire's 130 all out leaving Middlesex only 17 to win, which they reached without losing a wicket, and with a day still remaining in the game. Coward did not play another match in the 1865 season, however he became a more regular fixture in the 1866 season, with five appearances for his county. He scored 183 runs at 20.33, including his career-best 85. This score came in a 5 July 1866 match at Old Trafford, where Coward came in to bat with Lancashire on 48/6. He took Lancashire to 181 before becoming the last wicket to fall. His abilities with the bat earned him places in the United All England Eleven sides as well as both Gentlemen and Players' teams.

Coward enjoyed regular first-class appearances during the next two seasons – 1867 and 1868 – making ten appearances in both. He scored 285 runs in 1867, another career best, at 16.76 with a high score of 34; and he scored 267 runs in 1868 at 14.05 – which included more matches for North of England Eleven – with a best of 46. He also took six catches in the field. He also faced the MCC on 19 July, where Coward scored five in the first innings, and 15 in the second before he was bowled by WG Grace. Coward also played two All England Eleven matches against Worksop and Northamptonshire, scored five, three, 15 and 18; and in the latter match her took four catches.

Umpiring

Coward was reduced to two appearances in 1870, and the second for United North of England Eleven first against United South of England Eleven. and 19 other matches.

Coward continued to umpire cricket matches while he played more occasionally for Lancashire. He returned in 1875 for three matches, scoring only 54 runs at 10.80, and one final match in 1876 where he failed to score a run.

Later life

In 1881, a local census recorded Coward living at Riverside Bowling Green Inn, Preston, with his wife Ellen, aged 41. He had two domestic servants and, at age 43, was a licensed victualler. The 1901 census listed him as a professional cricketer, however his wife had by then died, and Coward was shown to live at 204 South Meadow Road, Preston with one servant. In his last years he continued to play club cricket for Preston, and spent some time at Stonyhurst College, Lancashire and at Clongowes Wood College, in Ireland. He died in July 1903, in the town of his birth, Preston.

His younger brother, Frederick, also played first-class cricket.