John Cuffe
Encyclopedia
John Alexander Cuffe was an Australia
n-born English
cricketer
who played more than 200 times in first-class cricket
for Worcestershire
between 1903 and 1914, having previously made a single appearance for New South Wales. After retiring from county cricket
, he stood as an umpire
for three years in the 1920s. He also played at least once as a professional for Lowerhouse
in the Lancashire League.
Cuffe was also a footballer and played ten seasons for Glossop North End
in the Football League Second Division
.
, Cuffe made his first-class debut for that state side, against Queensland at Sydney
on Boxing Day
1902. He made 5 and 25 with the bat, and took the single wicket of Charles Patrick. This was the only time Cuffe played in a first-class match outside England.
(He did turn out for Worcestershire against Glamorgan
at Cardiff Arms Park
in 1910, but this game did not have first-class status.)
at The Parks in May 1903. He was not yet qualified to appear in the County Championship
, but also played against Cambridge University
and the Philadelphians
that season, scoring 91 against the latter side. He again turned out three times in 1904, playing once each against the universities and appearing also against the touring South Africans, claiming 5-58 in an innings defeat of Oxford.
For the ten seasons from 1905 to 1914, Cuffe was a regular part of the Worcestershire side, and he made a career-best 145 against Hampshire
in the first of those years. On three occasions — 1906, 1908 and 1911 — he passed 1,000 first-class runs in a season, while in 1907 and 1911 he obtained his hundred wickets. His "double" in 1911 consisted of 1,054 runs at 25.70
(even though he made no score greater than 78) and 110 wickets at 23.56
. His best bowling figures (9-38) were achieved against Yorkshire
at Bradford in 1907, but in the above-mentioned minor game against Glamorgan in 1910 he returned the extraordinary first-innings analysis
of 8.1-4-5-9.
Also in 1910, he performed the hat-trick
against Hampshire at Dean Park
, Bournemouth
.
In what turned out to be the last three years of his first-class career, 1912 to 1914, his bowling continued to be quite productive with at least 50 wickets in each summer. Indeed, he took 11-163 in the match against Gloucestershire
as late as July 1914. His batting, however, declined, and in 99 first-class innings he made only three half-centuries. Cuffe's final first-class game came against Sussex
at Eastbourne
in late August 1914. In a two-day innings defeat he scored 10 and did not bowl a ball; his career ended sadly when he was absent hurt in the second innings.
Cuffe did not reappear in first-class cricket after the First World War.
After stints in the Lancashire League with Todmorden
and Lowerhouse
Cuffe retired from playing.
in 66 first-class matches between 1925 and 1927.
n to play in the Football League. Playing with Glossop North End
between 1905 and 1914, Cuffe played 282 matches as a full-back.
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n-born English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
cricketer
Cricketer
A cricketer is a person who plays the sport of cricket. Official and long-established cricket publications prefer the traditional word "cricketer" over the rarely used term "cricket player"....
who played more than 200 times in first-class cricket
First-class cricket
First-class cricket is a class of cricket that consists of matches of three or more days' scheduled duration, that are between two sides of eleven players and are officially adjudged first-class by virtue of the standard of the competing teams...
for Worcestershire
Worcestershire County Cricket Club
Worcestershire County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Worcestershire...
between 1903 and 1914, having previously made a single appearance for New South Wales. After retiring from county cricket
County cricket
County cricket is the highest level of domestic cricket in England and Wales. For the 2010 season, see 2010 English cricket season.-First-class counties:...
, he stood as an umpire
Umpire (cricket)
In cricket, an umpire is a person who has the authority to make judgements on the cricket field, according to the Laws of Cricket...
for three years in the 1920s. He also played at least once as a professional for Lowerhouse
Lowerhouse Cricket Club
Lowerhouse Cricket Club is a cricket club in the Lancashire League, which plays its home games at Liverpool Road in Burnley. For the 2011 season its captain is Charlie Cottam, and its professional is South African Francois Hasbroek. The club won the league for the first time in 2005, captained by...
in the Lancashire League.
Cuffe was also a footballer and played ten seasons for Glossop North End
Glossop North End A.F.C.
Glossop North End A.F.C. are an English football club based in Glossop, Derbyshire. Former members of the Football League, they are currently in the North West Counties League and are members of the Derbyshire County Football Association. They play their home matches at Surrey Street, which has a...
in the Football League Second Division
Football League Second Division
From 1892 until 1992, the Football League Second Division was the second highest division overall in English football.This ended with the creation of the FA Premier League, prior to the start of the 1992–93 season, which caused an administrative split between The Football League and the teams...
.
New South Wales
Born in Coonamble, New South WalesNew South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
, Cuffe made his first-class debut for that state side, against Queensland at Sydney
Sydney Cricket Ground
The Sydney Cricket Ground is a sports stadium in Sydney in Australia. It is used for Australian football, Test cricket, One Day International cricket, some rugby league and rugby union matches and is the home ground for the New South Wales Blues cricket team and the Sydney Swans of the Australian...
on Boxing Day
Boxing Day
Boxing Day is a bank or public holiday that occurs on 26 December, or the first or second weekday after Christmas Day, depending on national or regional laws. It is observed in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and some other Commonwealth nations. In Ireland, it is recognized as...
1902. He made 5 and 25 with the bat, and took the single wicket of Charles Patrick. This was the only time Cuffe played in a first-class match outside England.
(He did turn out for Worcestershire against Glamorgan
Glamorgan County Cricket Club
Glamorgan County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh national cricket structure, representing the historic county of Glamorgan aka Glamorganshire . Glamorgan CCC is the only Welsh first-class cricket club. Glamorgan CCC have won the English County...
at Cardiff Arms Park
Cardiff Arms Park
Cardiff Arms Park , also known as The Arms Park, is primarily known as a rugby union stadium, but it also has a bowling green, and is situated in the centre of Cardiff, Wales. The Arms Park was host to the British Empire and Commonwealth Games in 1958, and hosted four games in the 1991 Rugby World...
in 1910, but this game did not have first-class status.)
Worcestershire
Cuffe then came to England, making his Worcestershire debut against Oxford UniversityOxford University Cricket Club
Oxford University Cricket Club is a first-class cricket team, representing the University of Oxford. It plays its home games at the University Parks in Oxford, England...
at The Parks in May 1903. He was not yet qualified to appear in the County Championship
County Championship
The County Championship is the domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales...
, but also played against Cambridge University
Cambridge University Cricket Club
Cambridge University Cricket Club is a first-class cricket team. It now plays all but one of its first-class cricket matches as part of the Cambridge University Centre of Cricketing Excellence , which includes Anglia Ruskin University...
and the Philadelphians
Philadelphian cricket team
The Philadelphian cricket team was a team that represented Philadelphia in first-class cricket between 1878 and 1913. Even with the United States having played the first ever international cricket match against Canada in 1844, the sport began a slow decline in the country. This decline was...
that season, scoring 91 against the latter side. He again turned out three times in 1904, playing once each against the universities and appearing also against the touring South Africans, claiming 5-58 in an innings defeat of Oxford.
For the ten seasons from 1905 to 1914, Cuffe was a regular part of the Worcestershire side, and he made a career-best 145 against Hampshire
Hampshire County Cricket Club
Hampshire County Cricket Club represents the historic county of Hampshire in cricket's County Championship. The club was founded in 1863 as a successor to the Hampshire county cricket teams and has played at the Antelope Ground from then until 1885, before moving to the County Ground where it...
in the first of those years. On three occasions — 1906, 1908 and 1911 — he passed 1,000 first-class runs in a season, while in 1907 and 1911 he obtained his hundred wickets. His "double" in 1911 consisted of 1,054 runs at 25.70
Batting average
Batting average is a statistic in both cricket and baseball that measures the performance of cricket batsmen and baseball hitters. The two statistics are related in that baseball averages are directly descended from the concept of cricket averages.- Cricket :...
(even though he made no score greater than 78) and 110 wickets at 23.56
Bowling average
Bowling average is a statistic measuring the performance of bowlers in the sport of cricket.A bowler's bowling average is defined as the total number of runs conceded by the bowlers divided by the number of wickets taken by the bowler, so the lower the average the better. It is similar to earned...
. His best bowling figures (9-38) were achieved against Yorkshire
Yorkshire County Cricket Club
Yorkshire County Cricket Club represents the historic county of Yorkshire as one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure....
at Bradford in 1907, but in the above-mentioned minor game against Glamorgan in 1910 he returned the extraordinary first-innings analysis
Bowling analysis
In the sport of cricket, a bowling analysis usually refers to a notation summarising a bowler's performance in terms of overs bowled, how many of those overs are maidens , total runs conceded and number of wickets taken...
of 8.1-4-5-9.
Also in 1910, he performed the hat-trick
Hat-trick
A hat-trick or hat trick in sport is the achievement of a positive feat three times during a game, or other achievements based on threes. The term was first used in 1858 in cricket to describe HH Stephenson's feat of taking three wickets in three balls. A collection was held for Stephenson, and he...
against Hampshire at Dean Park
Dean Park Cricket Ground
Dean Park is a cricket ground in Bournemouth, England, currently used by Bournemouth University Cricket Club, as well as by and Suttoners Cricket Club....
, Bournemouth
Bournemouth
Bournemouth is a large coastal resort town in the ceremonial county of Dorset, England. According to the 2001 Census the town has a population of 163,444, making it the largest settlement in Dorset. It is also the largest settlement between Southampton and Plymouth...
.
In what turned out to be the last three years of his first-class career, 1912 to 1914, his bowling continued to be quite productive with at least 50 wickets in each summer. Indeed, he took 11-163 in the match against Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire County Cricket Club
Gloucestershire County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh national cricket structure, representing the historic county of Gloucestershire. Its limited overs team is called the Gloucestershire Gladiators....
as late as July 1914. His batting, however, declined, and in 99 first-class innings he made only three half-centuries. Cuffe's final first-class game came against Sussex
Sussex County Cricket Club
Sussex County Cricket Club is the oldest of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Sussex. The club was founded as a successor to Brighton Cricket Club which was a representative of the county of Sussex as a...
at Eastbourne
The Saffrons
The Saffrons is a multi-purpose sports ground in Eastbourne, East Sussex. The ground is home to Eastbourne Cricket Club, Eastbourne Hockey Club and Eastbourne Town Football Club. There is also an astroturf pitch....
in late August 1914. In a two-day innings defeat he scored 10 and did not bowl a ball; his career ended sadly when he was absent hurt in the second innings.
Cuffe did not reappear in first-class cricket after the First World War.
After stints in the Lancashire League with Todmorden
Todmorden Cricket Club
Todmorden Cricket Club is a cricket club in the Lancashire League, which plays its home games at Centre Vale in Todmorden, West Yorkshire. For the 2011 season its captain is Simon Newbitt, and its professional is Qaiser Abbas. The club has won the league on five occasions and won the cup eight times...
and Lowerhouse
Lowerhouse Cricket Club
Lowerhouse Cricket Club is a cricket club in the Lancashire League, which plays its home games at Liverpool Road in Burnley. For the 2011 season its captain is Charlie Cottam, and its professional is South African Francois Hasbroek. The club won the league for the first time in 2005, captained by...
Cuffe retired from playing.
Umpiring career
Cuffe stood as an umpireUmpire (cricket)
In cricket, an umpire is a person who has the authority to make judgements on the cricket field, according to the Laws of Cricket...
in 66 first-class matches between 1925 and 1927.
Football career
Cuffe is recognised as being the first AustraliaAustralia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n to play in the Football League. Playing with Glossop North End
Glossop North End A.F.C.
Glossop North End A.F.C. are an English football club based in Glossop, Derbyshire. Former members of the Football League, they are currently in the North West Counties League and are members of the Derbyshire County Football Association. They play their home matches at Surrey Street, which has a...
between 1905 and 1914, Cuffe played 282 matches as a full-back.
External links
- Statistical summary from CricketArchiveCricketArchiveCricketArchive is a website that aims to provide a comprehensive archive of records relating to the sport of cricket. It claims to be the most comprehensive cricket database on the internet, including scorecards for all matches of first-class cricket , List A cricket , Women's Test cricket and...