Laurie Hawkins

Laurie Hawkins

Personal information
Full name	Laurence Cyril Hawkins
Born	15 May 1907 Solihull, Warwickshire, England
Died	4 October 2003 (aged 96) Padstow, Cornwall, England
Batting style	Right-handed batsman
Bowling style	Right-arm leg-break
Role	All-rounder
Domestic team information
Years	Team
1928–1937	Somerset
First-class debut	18 July 1928 Somerset v Nottinghamshire
Last First-class	6 August 1937 Somerset v Middlesex
Career statistics
Competition First-class Matches 46 Runs scored 1252 Batting average 17.15 100s/50s –/5 Top score 96 Balls bowled 1417 Wickets 22 Bowling average 48.50 5 wickets in innings – 10 wickets in match – Best bowling 4/39 Catches/stumpings 23/–
Source: CricketArchive, 29 May 2010

Laurence Cyril Hawkins (15 May 1907 – 4 October 2003) played first-class cricket for Somerset in 46 matches between 1928 and 1937.^[1] He was born in Solihull, Warwickshire, and died at Padstow, Cornwall.

Hawkins was a middle or lower order batsman and an occasional right-arm leg-spin bowler who was a long-standing player for Weston-super-Mare Cricket Club and turned out as an amateur for Somerset in a few games every season for 10 years. In 1934, he appeared in 12 matches, but in no other season was he picked for more than seven games.^[2]

Hawkins made a promising start to county cricket, hitting 65 in his first innings in the match against Nottinghamshire at Taunton in 1928 and sharing in a ninth wicket stand of 89 in 90 minutes with Wally Luckes.^[3][4] But in 17 other matches in that and the following three seasons he did not pass 50 in any innings.

It was against Nottinghamshire again that Hawkins played his next significant innings: in the 1932 match, batting at No 9, he made an unbeaten 63 and shared a last-wicket partnership of 67 with Bill Andrews.^[5] And yet again, Nottinghamshire were the opposition when Hawkins began the 1934 season with an innings of 82: Hawkins scored more than half of Somerset's runs and came in after six wickets had gone for just 31 runs to make what was then his highest score.^[6] This innings propelled Hawkins temporarily up the Somerset batting to a middle-order position, and it was from there, less than three weeks later, that he made his highest first-class score, 96 against Middlesex at Lord's, sharing a seventh wicket stand of 125 with Jack White that enabled Somerset to save a game where they had trailed by 207 on the first innings.^[7]

Hawkins' absence, rather than his presence, produced a highlight of the 1935 season. As Wisden put it in his obituary in the 2004 edition: "He was injured for the game against Essex at Frome, which led to the call-up of 20-year-old Harold Gimblett and the most famous of all debut innings."^[8] And Hawkins himself had one final good match for Somerset in 1936, scoring 79 and 43 not out against the Indians and taking four wickets for 39 runs, his best bowling figures in first-class cricket and including a spell of four wickets for 10 runs.^[9][10] He did not play for Somerset after the 1937 season.

References

1. "Laurie Hawkins". www.cricketarchive.com. Retrieved 29 May 2010.
2. "First-class Batting and Fielding in each Season by Laurie Hawkins". www.cricketarchive.com. Retrieved 29 May 2010.
3. "Scorecard: Somerset v Nottinghamshire". www.cricketarchive.com. 18 July 1928. Retrieved 29 May 2010.
4. "Somerset Matches". Wisden Cricketers' Almanack (1929 ed.). Wisden. p. 388.
5. "Scorecard: Somerset v Nottinghamshire". www.cricketarchive.com. 11 June 1932. Retrieved 29 May 2010.
6. "Scorecard: Nottinghamshire v Somerset". www.cricketarchive.com. 5 May 1934. Retrieved 29 May 2010.
7. "Scorecard: Middlesex v Somerset". www.cricketarchive.com. 23 May 1934. Retrieved 29 May 2010.
8. "Obituaries". Wisden Cricketers' Almanack (2004 ed.). Wisden. p. 1544.
9. "Scorecard: Somerset v Indians". www.cricketarchive.com. 9 May 1936. Retrieved 29 May 2010.
10. "India in England". Wisden Cricketers' Almanack (1937 ed.). Wisden. p. 11.