Cecil Bodington

{{short description|English cricketer}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2022}}{{Use British English|date=April 2011}}

{{Infobox cricketer

| name = Cecil Bodington

| image =

| country = England

| fullname = Cecil Herbert Bodington

| nickname =

| birth_date = 20 January 1880

| birth_place = Suffield, Norfolk, England

| death_date = {{Death date and age|1917|4|11|1880|1|20|df=yes}}

| death_place = Near Arras, Pas-de-Calais, France

| heightft =

| heightinch =

| batting = Right-handed

| bowling = Unknown

| role =

| club1 = Hampshire

| year1 = {{nowrap|1901–1902}}

| columns = 1

| column1 = First-class

| matches1 = 10

| runs1 = 154

| bat avg1 = 11.00

| 100s/50s1 = –/–

| top score1 = 36

| deliveries1 = 375

| wickets1 = 9

| bowl avg1 = 31.88

| fivefor1 = –

| tenfor1 = –

| best bowling1 = 3/19

| catches/stumpings1 = 4/–

| date = 19 January

| year = 2010

| source = http://www.cricinfo.com/ci/content/player/9138.html Cricinfo

}}

Cecil Herbert Bodington (20 January 1880 – 11 April 1917) was an English cricketer and educator.

The son of The Reverend Herbert James Bodington, he was born in January 1880 at Suffield, Norfolk. He was educated firstly at a national school in Overstrand, before going to Charterhouse School on a junior scholarship in 1893. Three years later he went up to The King's School, Canterbury on a senior scholarship, where he played both rugby union and cricket for the school.{{cite book|last=McCrery|first=Nigel|title=Final Wicket: Test and First Class Cricketers Killed in the Great War|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6mphCgAAQBAJ|date=30 July 2015|page=418|publisher=Pen and Sword|isbn=978-1473864191}} From there, he matriculated to Peterhouse, Cambridge.{{cite book|last=Venn|first=John|title=Alumni Cantabrigienses|year=1944|volume=1|publisher=Cambridge University Press|page=307|url=https://archive.org/details/p2alumnicantabri01univuoft|language=en}} At Cambridge, he was a member of Cambridge University Cricket Club but did not play at first-class level for the university. However, he did play first-class cricket during his studies in 1901 and 1902 for Hampshire on ten occasions, making nine appearances in the County Championship and a further appearance against the touring Australians.{{cite web |url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/6/6491/First-Class_Matches.html|title=First-Class Matches played by Cecil Bodington|publisher=CricketArchive|accessdate=16 December 2022|url-access=subscription}} In these matches, he scored 154 runs at an average of exactly 11, with a highest score of 36.{{cite web |url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/6/6491/f_Batting_by_Team.html|title=First-Class Batting and Fielding For Each Team by Cecil Bodington|publisher=CricketArchive|accessdate=16 December 2022|url-access=subscription}} With the ball, he took 9 wickets at a bowling average of 31.88, with best figures of 3 for 19.{{cite web |url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/6/6491/f_Bowling_by_Team.html|title=First-Class Bowling For Each Team by Cecil Bodington|publisher=CricketArchive|accessdate=16 December 2022|url-access=subscription}}

After graduating from Cambridge, he went to The Cape. From there, he went to British India, where he was tutor to three sons of the Maharaja of Kapurthala. He later returned to England, where he became an assistant master at Elstree School and Stanmore Park Preparatory School. Bodington served in the British Army during the First World War, being commissioned as a temporary second lieutenant in November 1914,{{London Gazette|issue=28976|date=13 November 1914|page=9376}} the same month in which he was appointed to the Household Battalion.{{London Gazette|issue=29075|date=16 February 1915|page=1711|supp=y}} He was made a temporary lieutenant in April 1916,{{London Gazette|issue=29567|date=2 May 1916|page=4442|supp=y}} before being appointed a temporary captain in September of the same year.{{London Gazette|issue=29772|date=3 October 1916|page=9560}} Bodington was killed in action on 11 April 1917 during the Battle of Arras.{{cite web |url=https://www.espncricinfo.com/wisdenalmanack/content/story/228158.html|title=Wisden - Obituaries during the war, 1917|publisher=ESPNcricinfo|accessdate=16 December 2022}}