Stuart Boyes

George Stuart Boyes (31 March 1899 – 11 February 1973) was an English first-class cricketer, born in Southampton, who played for Hampshire County Cricket Club.

Cricket Early life and career George Stuart Boyes was born in Southampton on 31 March 1899. Boye's talents as a slow left-arm orthodox bowler were noticed when he was aged 14 by the Hampshire cricketer Alex Bowell. He presented him to the club's secretary, Francis Bacon, who engaged Boyes on the staff in 1913. Prior to debuting for Hampshire, he played club cricket in Southampton. His first-class debut for Hampshire came against Surrey at Bournemouth in the 1921 County Championship; playing as an amateur, he made five Championship appearances in his debut season. Prior to the 1922 season, he was employed at the Ordnance Survey and was a serving member of the Royal Engineers. From the 1922 season, he played as a paid professional, His presence in the team gave support to fellow spinner Alec Kennedy, and was said to have been a factor in Kennedy's improved bowling. Boyes played in an unlikely victory by 155 runs against Warwickshire in the County Championship at Edgbaston in June. Hampshire were dismissed for 15 runs in their first innings and were forced to follow on 228 runs behind; Boyes was one of eight batsmen to be dismissed without scoring. They performed better in the second innings, making 521 runs; batting at number ten, he shared in a partnership of 70 runs for the final wicket with Walter Livsey.

In the 1923 season, Boyes made 15 first-class appearances, and despite returning for their County Championship match against Kent on 4 August, he suffered a strain in the match and missed the remainder of the season. The following season, he took 68 wickets at 27.33 from 29 appearances; From 28 appearances in the 1925 season, In the 1926 season, he took a hundred wickets in a season for the first time, with 105 at 22.89. whilst earlier in the season he had taken 6 for 17 against Northamptonshire. He was Hampshire's second highest wicket-taker in the 1926 County Championship with 102, behind Jack Newman's 145. He also claimed a second hat-trick during the season, against Warwickshire. with 50 against Sussex in May — a match in which he also took 6 for 23.

Tour selection Boyes' success in 1926 led to his selection for the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) winter tour of India and Ceylon, alongside teammate George Brown. He played 23 first-class matches on the tour — 23 in India and four in Ceylon. In the 1927 English season, he made 26 first-class appearances in the County Championship. Batting, he scored 384 runs at 15.36, making a second career half-century; His bowling form improved the following season, with Boyes taking 77 wickets at 26.59; five times he took five or more wickets in an innings, and took ten wickets in match twice. From 29 appearances in 1928, he made his highest season aggregate to that point, scoring 602 runs with two half-centuries.

Despite straining a muscle in his bowling arm, caused by overbowling in the nets, and injury ruling him out toward the end of the season, Boyes still managed to take 74 wickets at 23.45 from 23 matches in the 1929 season, claiming five or more wickets four times. In 26 matches across the season, his aggregate was 483 runs at 16.10.

Boyes was a slow left-arm bowler with a high action, taking 1415 wickets for Hampshire. He took 100 wickets in a season three times, his best year being 111 at 26.75 in 1933. He twice took a hattrick, one of them when he took his career best figures of 9 for 57 against Somerset at Yeovil in 1938. With the bat he took 413 matches before making his maiden century, only three players in history have waited longer. He was an excellent close fielder and took 498 catches in first-class matches, many of them at short-leg.

Playing style and statistics mentions style

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Coaching career During the Second World War, Boyes supervised junior coaching sessions at the County Ground. Following the end of the war in 1945, Boyes was employed as a cricket coach at Ampleforth College from 1946 to 1963. He died in Southampton in February 1973.

Personal life and death His brother, Ken, was a professional footballer with Southampton and Bristol Rovers, as well as a member of Hampshire's ground staff.

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