Frank Field (cricketer, born 1874)

Frank Field
Personal information
Full name
Ernest Frank Field
Born23 September 1874
Weethley, Warwickshire, England
Died25 August 1934(1934-08-25) (aged 59)
Droitwich, Worcestershire, England
BattingRight-handed
BowlingRight-arm fast
Domestic team information
YearsTeam
1897–1920Warwickshire
1900London County
Career statistics
Competition First-class
Matches 264
Runs scored 1,900
Batting average 7.66
100s/50s –/–
Top score 39
Balls bowled 46,304
Wickets 1,026
Bowling average 23.48
5 wickets in innings 80
10 wickets in match 17
Best bowling 9/104
Catches/stumpings 107/–
Source: Cricinfo, 14 December 2022

Frank Ernest Field or Ernest Frank Field (23 September 1874 in Weethley, Warwickshire, England – 25 August 1934 in Droitwich, Worcestershire, England) was a Warwickshire fast bowler who is best remembered for sharing with Frank Foster the bowling honours in Warwickshire's flukish County Championship triumph in the abnormally dry summer of 1911 — the only time any county outside the "Big Six" won between 1890 and 1935.

However, aside from this triumph, Field had a long career before Foster even played for Warwickshire. Indeed, if Foster’s career was tragic, Field’s was in many ways more so, for a succession of serious accidents hampered him at exactly the time he would otherwise have become a top-class fast bowler and a candidate for representative honours.

Field had no pretensions to be a batsman, but at his best was a bowler of considerable pace and capable of a sharp break-back on a worn or fiery pitch, as was shown most clearly in Warwickshire’s crucial win against Yorkshire on a newly laid and severely criticised Harrogate pitch in 1911, when he took 7 for 20 to bowl Yorkshire out for 58. He was over 6 feet or 183 centimetres tall, broad shouldered and highly muscular, but was often criticised for not getting his arm high enough.