R. E. Foster

{{Infobox cricketer

| name = R. E. Foster

| image = Reginald Erskine Foster c1905.jpg

| country = England

| fullname = Reginald Erskine Foster

| nickname = Tip

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1878|4|16|df=y}}

| birth_place = Malvern, Worcestershire, England

| death_date = {{Death date and age|1914|5|13|1878|4|16|df=y}}

| death_place = Brompton, London, England

| heightft =

| heightinch =

| heightm =

| batting = Right-handed

| bowling = Right arm fast

| role =

| family =

| international = true

| testdebutdate = 11 December

| testdebutyear = 1903

| testdebutagainst = Australia

| testcap = 138

| lasttestdate = 19 August

| lasttestyear = 1907

| lasttestagainst = South Africa

| club1 = Worcestershire

| year1 = 1899–1912

| club2 = Oxford University

| year2 = 1897–1900

| columns = 2

| column1 = Tests

| matches1 = 8

| runs1 = 602

| bat avg1 = 46.30

| 100s/50s1 = 1/1

| top score1 = 287

| deliveries1 = 0

| wickets1 = –

| bowl avg1 = –

| fivefor1 = –

| tenfor1 = –

| best bowling1 = –

| catches/stumpings1 = 13/–

| column2 = First-class

| matches2 = 139

| runs2 = 9,076

| bat avg2 = 41.82

| 100s/50s2 = 22/41

| top score2 = 287

| deliveries2 = 1,616

| wickets2 = 25

| bowl avg2 = 46.12

| fivefor2 = 0

| tenfor2 = 0

| best bowling2 = 3/54

| catches/stumpings2 = 178/–

| date = 11 November

| year = 2008

| source = http://uk.cricinfo.com/db/PLAYERS/ENG/F/FOSTER_RE_01000273/ Cricinfo

}}

Reginald Erskine Foster (16 April 1878 – 13 May 1914), nicknamed Tip Foster, commonly designated R. E. Foster in sporting literature,Altham, p.144. was an English first-class cricketer and footballer. He is the only man to have captained England at both sports.{{cite web|url=http://www.espncricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/149538.html |title=Forever tainted |access-date=19 April 2017 |work=ESPN Cricinfo|date=12 April 2008 }}{{cite web|url=https://www.icc-cricket.com/news/737770 |title=Off-side – a cricketing XI that made strides in football |work=International Cricket Council |access-date=21 June 2018}}

One of seven Foster brothers who were all educated at Malvern College and who all played cricket for Malvern and for Worcestershire, Foster was a right-handed middle-order batsman. In 1903 he scored 287 on Test debut, setting a world record for the highest Test score.

Cricket career

Foster was educated at Malvern College and University College, Oxford. He first played for Oxford University Cricket Club in 1897; in addition to cricket, he also represented Oxford at football, racquets and golf.{{cite web|url=https://archive.org/stream/universitycolleg00carrrich/universitycolleg00carrrich_djvu.txt |title=William Carr's History of University College Oxford |access-date=12 August 2011}} However, although he did fairly well, it was not until 1899 that his beautiful and immaculate driving to the off-side made him into one of the finest batsmen of his time. He first played for Worcestershire while they were still a minor county but against Hampshire in 1899, their inaugural season as a first-class county, he and his brother Wilfrid Foster both scored two hundreds in a match, a feat which remains unique in county cricket.{{cite web|url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/5/5289.html |title=Worcestershire v Hampshire, 1899 |publisher=Cricketarchive.com |access-date=12 August 2011}} In 1900, as captain of Oxford, he scored 171{{cite web|url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/5/5489.html |title=Oxford v Cambridge, 1900 |publisher=Cricketarchive.com |access-date=12 August 2011}} to set the record for the highest individual score in the Varsity Match, and he scored 102 not out and 136 for the Gentlemen against the Players at Lord's, the first man to score two centuries in a match in that series.{{cite web|url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/5/5501.html |title=Gentlemen v Players, 1900 |publisher=Cricketarchive.com |access-date=12 August 2011}} In total, Foster scored 930 runs at an average of 77.5 for Oxford in the 1900 season,{{cite web|url=https://cricketarchive.com/cgi-bin/player_oracle_reveals_results1.cgi |title=RE Foster innings list, Oxford University, 1900 |publisher=Cricketarchive.com |access-date=12 August 2011}} a record in University cricket.

For these performances, Foster was named a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1901 and the following year a superb run of form for Worcestershire resulted in him scoring 1,957 runs at an average of 54.36. However, business prevented him representing the MCC in Australia the following winter and England undoubtedly missed his brilliant batting.{{cite news|title=Anglo–Australian Cricket: McLaren's team – Fry and Foster Refuse to Join|journal=The Age|date=2 September 1901|page=5}} Moreover, apart from one match against Warwickshire, he could devote no time to first-class cricket in May and June 1902,{{cite book|editor-last=Pardon|editor-first=Sydney H.|editor-link=Sydney Pardon|title=John Wisden's Cricketer's Almanack|edition=40th|year=1903|page=147}} again ruling him out of contention for an England place against Australia.

In 1903, his appearances were restricted to three matches in June and August, but England were desperate for a captain for that winter's Ashes tour. Foster was (oddly) able to arrange to be away from England. Although one might have feared that he would be out of practice, in the first Test at Sydney in 1903, Foster scored 287.{{cite web|url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/6/6375.html |title=Australia v England, 1st Test, 1903/04 |publisher=Cricketarchive.com |date=17 December 1903 |access-date=12 August 2011}} This was the highest score in Test cricket until 1930 (surpassed by Andy Sandham), and remains the highest score by a debutant and the third highest by a batsman of any nationality against Australia, home or away.surpassed only by Len Hutton's 364 in 1938 and Ross Taylor's 290 in 2015{{cite web|url=http://stats.cricinfo.com/ci/engine/stats/index.html?class=1;filter=advanced;opposition=2;orderby=batted_score;runsmin1=200;runsval1=runs;template=results;type=batting;view=innings |title=Cricinfo: innings list, greater than 200, against Australia |publisher=Stats.cricinfo.com |access-date=12 August 2011}} For more than a century, Foster also held the record for the highest score in a Test match at the SCG, his score not being beaten until Australian Michael Clarke scored 329 not out against India in January 2012.{{cite news|last = Jackson|first = Glenn|date = 5 January 2012|title = Advantage Australia as Clarke's triple ton puts hosts in box seat|url = http://www.smh.com.au/sport/cricket/advantage-australia-as-clarkes-triple-ton-puts-hosts-in-box-seat-20120105-1pm0m.html|newspaper = Sydney Morning Herald|access-date = 5 January 2012|publisher = Fairfax Media}} Foster did not follow that up until the final Test on a vicious wicket at Melbourne, where he top-scored in both innings with 18 in a total of 61 all out and, having been promoted to open, an excellent 30 out of 101 all out.{{cite web|url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/6/6399.html |title=Australia v England, 5th Test, 1903/04 |publisher=Cricketarchive.com |date=8 March 1904 |access-date=12 August 2011}}

In the following three seasons Foster could spare no time for cricket apart from August 1905, when he scored 246 on his first appearance,{{cite web|url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/6/6834.html |title=Worcestershire v Kent, 1905 |publisher=Cricketarchive.com |date=2 August 1905 |access-date=12 August 2011}} and two games in one week of August 1906, when he made one score of 198 against Somerset.{{cite book |editor-last=Pardon|editor-first=Sydney H. |title=John Wisden's Cricketers' Almanack |year=1907 |pages=196, 228 |edition=44th}} However, in 1907 he was able to find time to play regularly from the beginning of June, and his batting was as good as ever in a summer of appalling wickets and helped Worcestershire – fourteenth of sixteen counties in 1906 – to rise to equal second with Yorkshire. He captained England in the three-match series against South Africa, winning one match and drawing two. Offered the captaincy of the MCC for the 1907/1908 Ashes tour, Foster declined because business commitments were monopolising his attention.{{cite news|title=The Waning Cricket Season|date=22 August 1907|work=Birmingham Evening Mail|page=2}}

After the Third Test of 1907 he could spare time for only two more first-class matches, one in 1910 when he scored 133 against Yorkshire{{cite web|url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/8/8247.html |title=Worcestershire v Yorkshire, 1910 |publisher=Cricketarchive.com |date=6 August 1910 |access-date=12 August 2011}} and one in 1912 against the Australians. However, in Saturday club cricket, he never lost his brilliance. In one club match in 1909 he scored 261 in just 75 minutes.

Football career

In football, Foster played as a forward for the Corinthians in the early 1900s, scoring 22 goals in 26 matches.{{cite book |last= Cavallini |first= Rob | title= Play Up Corinth: A History of The Corinthian Football Club |year= 2007 |page=275 |isbn=978-0-7524-4479-6 }} He also played for Old Malvernians, a team made up of ex pupils from Malvern College.{{cite web|url=http://www.isfa.org.uk/about/27-about/history/199-7-great-names-from-the-past |title=7. GREAT NAMES FROM THE PAST |publisher=ISFA |access-date=8 April 2013}}

He played five matches for England between 1900 and 1902, making his debut against Wales on 26 March 1900. In his second game, against Ireland at the Dell, Southampton, he scored his first international goal in a 3–0 victory.{{cite web|url=http://www.11v11.com/matches/england-v-ireland-09-march-1901-222628/|title=England v Ireland, 09 March 1901 – 11v11 match report|website=11v11.com|access-date=17 May 2018}} C. B. Fry played at full-back in the same game. Foster was awarded the captaincy against Wales in his final appearance on 3 March 1902, which ended in a 0–0 draw. During his short England career he scored two goals.[http://www.thefa.com/england/All-Teams/Players?p=333334 RE (Reginald Erskine) Foster]. TheFA.com. Retrieved on 17 May 2018.

He also played one match for England Amateurs against Germany, on 21 September 1901, at White Hart Lane, London. He scored 6One source gives 7 goals in a 12–0 win.{{cite book |last1=McColl |first1=Brian |last2=Gorman |first2=Douglas |last3=Campbell |first3=George | title= UK Amateur International Football: The Complete Record 1901-1974 |edition=2nd |year= 2017 |isbn=978-1-326-35601-9 |pages=15, 338 }}

Business career

Foster was a member of the stock exchange.{{England Football Online|ref=y|access-date=17 May 2018}}

Death

By 1913 it was clear Foster was suffering severely from diabetes. A trip to South Africa failed to help him recover and he died in May 1914 at the age of 36.

Notes

References

Bibliography

H S Altham, A History of Cricket, Volume 1 (to 1914), George Allen & Unwin, 1926

External links

{{Commons category-inline|R. E. Foster}}
[https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/0/273/273.html CricketArchive – profile of Reginald Foster]
[https://web.archive.org/web/20041012065554/http://uk.cricinfo.com/db/PLAYERS/ENG/F/FOSTER_RE_01000273/ Cricinfo page on R E Foster]
{{Englandstats}}

{{succession box|

before=Harry Foster|

title=Worcestershire County Cricket Captain|

years= 1901|

after=Harry Foster

}}

{{succession box|

before=Pelham Warner|

title=English national cricket captain|

years=1907|

after=Arthur Jones

}}