Lestock Adams
{{short description|English cricketer}}
{{EngvarB|date=August 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2014}}
{{Infobox cricketer
| name = Lestock Adams
| image =
| country = England
| fullname = Lestock Handley Adams
| birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1887|09|10}}
| birth_place = Ormskirk, Lancashire, England
| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1918|04|22|1887|09|10}}
| death_place = Placaut Wood, Pas-de-Calais, France
| nickname =
| heightft =
| heightinch =
| heightcm =
| heightm =
| batting =
| bowling =
| role = Bowler
| club1 = Cambridge University
| year1 = {{nowrap|1908–1910}}
| type1 = FC
| debutdate1 = 25 May
| debutyear1 = 1908
| debutfor1 = Cambridge University
| debutagainst1 = Lancashire
| lastdate1 = 27 June
| lastyear1 = 1910
| lastfor1 = Gentlemen of England
| lastagainst1 = Cambridge University
| columns = 1
| column1 = First-class
| matches1 = 6
| runs1 = 61
| bat avg1 = 12.20
| 100s/50s1 = 0/0
| top score1 = 21*
| deliveries1 = 866
| wickets1 = 17
| bowl avg1 = 31.23
| fivefor1 = 1
| tenfor1 = 0
| best bowling1 = 6/86
| catches/stumpings1 = 1/–
| date = 17 April
| year = 2014
| source = http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/player/8670.html ESPNcricinfo
}}
Lestock Handley Adams (10 September 1887 – 22 April 1918) was an English first-class cricketer who played for Cambridge University between 1908 and 1910. Six of his games attained first-class status, and in these he took 17 wickets and scored 61 runs.{{cite news | url=http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/player/8670.html | title=Player Profile: Lestock Adams | work=ESPNcricinfo | accessdate=16 April 2014}} Born in Ormskirk, in Lancashire, he was a gentlemen cricketer who played for the Gentlemen of England and various representative teams.{{cite web | url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/27/27412/all_teams.html | title=Teams Lestock Adams Played For | publisher=Cricket Archive | accessdate=16 April 2014}} Emigrating to Canada, he served in the armed forces during World War I, and was killed in Placaut Wood, France aged 30.{{cite web | url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/27/27412/27412.html | title=Player Profile: Lestock Adams | publisher=Cricket Archive | accessdate=16 April 2014}}
Playing career
The son of Reverend Henry Frederick Spencer Adams and Ethel Emma Louisa Reid,{{cite web | url=http://www.holmesacourt.org/hac/4/9298.htm | title=Lestock Handley Adams | publisher=Holmes Court | accessdate=17 April 2014}} Adams lived in Congresbury, Somerset in his early years, as recorded in the 1891 census. He lost his mother in 1900. Educated at St. Lawrence College, Ramsgate, he was captain of the First XI there for both cricket, rugby and hockey.{{cite journal | title=Baily's Magazine of Sports & Pastimes | year=1918 | volume=109 | pages=279}} While attending Queens' College,{{cite book | title=Wisden on the Great War: The Lives of Cricket's Fallen 1914–1918 | publisher=Wisden | year=2014 | pages=378 |editor=Renshaw, Andrew}} at Cambridge University, he played a Seniors Match at the invitation of Robert Baily to face an XI created by Charles Lucas. The match, billed as CE Lucas' XI v REH Baily's XI, began on 4 May 1908. Adams, a batsman and bowler of unknown handedness, batted last, scoring four, and took three wickets at the cost of 33 runs. He scored four more in his second innings, and went wickless off three overs as his side took a 61-run victory.{{cite web | url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/522/522913.html | title=CE Lucas' XI v REH Baily's XI University Match 1908 (Cambridge University Seniors' Match) | publisher=Cricket Archive | accessdate=16 April 2014}}
Adams went on to make his first-class debut on 25 May against Lancashire. He went wicketless, but managed to score 21 in his seconds innings. Cambridge suffered a 171-run defeat.{{cite web | url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/7/7533.html | title=Cambridge University v Lancashire University Match 1908 | publisher=Cricket Archive | accessdate=16 April 2014}} Cambridge then played a representative XI led by Gerry Weigall, where he took 1/66 in a straightforward victory.{{cite web | url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/7/7567.html | title=Cambridge University v GJV Weigall's XI University Match 1908 | publisher=Cricket Archive | accessdate=16 April 2014}} Adams did not play another recorded match until May 1910, where he appeared an exhibition game, Etceteras v Perambulators. Adams featured in the latter team, and took a five wicket haul.{{cite web | url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/216/216757.html | title=Etceteras v Perambulators Other matches in England 1910 | publisher=Cricket Archive | accessdate=16 April 2014}} On 30 May he faced Kent, taking 3/52,{{cite web | url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/8/8119.html | title=Cambridge University v Kent University Match 1910 | publisher=Cricket Archive | accessdate=16 April 2014}} and on 6 June he took 2/66 against the Free Foresters.{{cite web | url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/131/131794.html | title=Cambridge University v Free Foresters University Match 1910 | publisher=Cricket Archive | accessdate=16 April 2014}} He took his career-best 6/86 against Sussex on 20 June, with three more wickets in the second innings,{{cite web | url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/8/8161.html | title=Sussex v Cambridge University University Match 1910 | publisher=Cricket Archive | accessdate=16 April 2014}} but went wicketless against the Marylebone Cricket Club a week later in a rain-affected game.{{cite web | url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/8/8168.html | title=Marylebone Cricket Club v Cambridge University University Match 1910 | publisher=Cricket Archive | accessdate=16 April 2014}} On 27 June he made his final first-class appearance, Gentlemen of England v Cambridge University. Playing for the Gentlemen, he took 2/96 and 2/32, and made a pair with the bat – two scores of zero.{{cite web | url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/8/8173.html | title=Gentlemen of England v Cambridge University University Match 1910 | publisher=Cricket Archive | accessdate=16 April 2014}} He is recorded as living in Broadstairs in Kent in the 1911 census. He moved to Canada and married Emilie Anderson d'Auquier in 1913, residing near Winnipeg, playing with "some success" at Winnipeg Cricket Club, according to Wisden. He took part in two games against a touring Australian side in 1913, taking one wicket in the first and 3/62 in the second.{{cite web | url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/135/135422.html | title=Winnipeg Cricket Association v Australians Australia in North America 1913 – First Match | publisher=Cricket Archive | accessdate=16 April 2014}}{{cite web | url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/135/135423.html | title=Winnipeg Cricket Association v Australians Australia in North America 1913 – Second Match | publisher=Cricket Archive | accessdate=16 April 2014}}
Military career
Adams enlisted in the armed forces and served in The Rifle Brigade, rising to the rank of lieutenant.{{cite web | url=http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/SearchUI/details/C1108257?descriptiontype=Full&ref=WO+339/54406 | title=Lieutenant Lestock Handley ADAMS The Rifle Brigade (The Prince Consort's Own). | publisher=The National Archives | accessdate=17 April 2014}} Part of the 1st Battalion of the Rifles, he was killed in France in 1918. He is buried at Le Vertannoy British Cemetery, Pas de Calais.{{cite web | url=http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/247585/ADAMS,%20LESTOCK%20HANDLEY | title=Lieutenant Lestock Handley ADAMS | publisher=Commonwealth Graves Commission | accessdate=17 April 2014}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{cricinfo|id=8670}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Adams, Lestock}}
Category:Sportspeople from Ormskirk
Category:Alumni of Queens' College, Cambridge
Category:Cambridge University cricketers
Category:British military personnel killed in World War I
Category:People educated at St Lawrence College, Ramsgate
Category:Gentlemen of England cricketers
Category:Rifle Brigade officers
Category:British Army personnel of World War I