Frank Foster England (Eng)
Batting style	Right-handed batsman (RHB)
Bowling type	Left arm fast medium (LFM)
	Tests	First-class
Matches	11	159
Runs scored	330	6,548
Batting average	23.57	26.61
100s/50s	0/3	7/35
Top score	71	305 not out
Balls bowled	2,447	123,328
Wickets	45	717
Bowling average	20.57	20.75
5 wickets in innings	4	53
10 wickets in match	0	8
Best bowling	6/91	9/118
Catches/stumpings	11/0	121/0
Test debut: December 15, 1911 Last Test: August 22, 1913 Source: [1] Image File history File links Flag_of_England. ... The logo of the England Cricket Team which shows the three Lions of England below a five-pointed crown The England cricket team is a cricket team which represents England and Wales, operating under the auspices of the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). ... Image File history File links Cricket_no_pic. ... Cricket batsman A batsman in the sport of cricket is, depending on context: Any player in the act of batting. ... In the sport of cricket there are two categories of bowler: pace bowler and spin bowler. ... Test cricket is the longest form of the sport of cricket. ... First-class cricket matches are those in which both teams have two innings each and which involve either international teams or the highest standard of domestic teams. ... Batting average is a statistic in both baseball and cricket measuring the performance of baseball hitters and cricket batsmen, respectively. ... In the sport of cricket the word wicket has several distinct meanings: // Meanings of wicket Each wicket consists of three stumps, upright wooden poles that are hammered into the ground, topped with two wooden crosspieces, known as the bails. ... Bowling average is a statistic measuring the performance of bowlers in the sport of cricket. ... An innings, or inning, is a fixed-length segment of a game in any of a variety of sports – most notably baseball and cricket – during which one team attempts to score while the other team attempts to prevent the first from scoring. ... In the sport of cricket, the term stump has three different meanings: part of the wicket, a manner of dismissing a batsman, and the end of the days play (stumps). Part of the wicket The stumps are three vertical posts supporting the bails to form a wicket at each... December 15 is the 349th day of the year (350th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1911 (MCMXI) was a common year starting on Sunday (click on link for calendar). ... August 22 is the 234th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (235th in leap years), with 131 days remaining. ... 1913 (MCMXIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday. ...

This article is about the cricketer. For the RAF officer see Frank William Foster, for the musician see Frank Foster (musician).

Frank Rowbotham Foster (born January 31, 1889, Birmingham, England; died May 3, 1958, Northampton, England) was a Warwickshire and England all-rounder whose career was tragically cut short by an accident during World War I. Nonetheless, his achievements during the early 1910s are suffient to rank him as one of cricket's finest all-round players. Wing Commander Frank William Foster was born in London in 1887, although he was brought up and educated in the village of Stockcross in Berkshire. ... Frank Foster (b. ... January 31 is the 31st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1889 (MDCCCLXXXIX) was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... The city from above Centenary Square. ... Motto: (French for God and my right) Anthem: Multiple unofficial anthems Capital London Largest city London Official language(s) English (de facto) Government Constitutional monarchy  - Queen Queen Elizabeth II  - Prime Minister Tony Blair MP Unification    - by Athelstan AD 927  Area    - Total 130,395 km² (1st in UK)   50,346 sq... May 3 is the 123rd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (124th in leap years). ... 1958 (MCMLVIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Northampton Guildhall, built 1861-4, E.W. Godwin, architect Northampton is a large market town and a local government district in central England on the River Nene, and the county town of Northamptonshire, in the English East Midlands region. ... Motto: (French for God and my right) Anthem: Multiple unofficial anthems Capital London Largest city London Official language(s) English (de facto) Government Constitutional monarchy  - Queen Queen Elizabeth II  - Prime Minister Tony Blair MP Unification    - by Athelstan AD 927  Area    - Total 130,395 km² (1st in UK)   50,346 sq... In cricket, an all-rounder is a player who is good at both batting and bowling. ... Combatants Allied Powers: France Italy Russia Serbia United Kingdom United States Central Powers: Austria-Hungary Bulgaria Germany Ottoman Empire Commanders Ferdinand Foch Georges Clemenceau Victor Emmanuel III Luigi Cadorna Nicholas II Aleksei Brusilov Herbert Henry Asquith Douglas Haig John Jellicoe Woodrow Wilson John Pershing Wilhelm II Paul von Hindenburg Reinhard... // Events and trends The 1910s represent the culmination of European militarism which had its beginnings during the second half of the 19th Century. ...

He was a fast-medium left-handed bowler who could develop a great deal of spin, which meant the ball could, in the words of a later Wisden, "double its speed upon hitting the ground". He bowled from very wide of the bowling crease, but was very straight because of the swing inwards his easy body action generated, whilst his height (he was about 6 foot 1 or 186 centimetres - tall for that time) allowed him to gain a lot of bounce of the fast wickets of the day. As a batsman, he was very aggressive and a fast scorer with a good range of strokes - most of his major innings were played at over a run a minute - but on difficult wickets his technique certainly had major flaws which he never was able to truly correct, and which cost him dearly at times. Darren Gough bowling A bowler in the sport of cricket is usually a player whose speciality is bowling. ... Wisden is the main publisher of information on cricket in the United Kingdom. ...

Of Lincolnshire descent, and no relation to the famous Worcestershire Foster family, Frank Foster first played for Warwickshire in 1908. In five matches, he took 23 wickets cheaply, but it was thought he was trying to bowl too fast and was overdoing himself. The following year, he became a regular member of the team but was only modestly successful - though for the first time he showed traces of ability as a hard-hitting batsman. Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs) is a county in the east of England. ...

It was in 1910 that he first became a cricketer of high class, taking 91 wickets for Warwickshire at a cost of 22 each and in all matches taking over 100 wickets for the first time despite a wet summer rarely suiting his bowling. For the Gentlemen against the Players, he took 4 for 34 in the second innings at The Oval and repeated those figures exactly the following week at Lord's. This, however, was not a brilliant performance give that the central part of the Lord's square that year was so worn the ball consistently kept low. However, on good wickets Foster was though so highly he played for the Rest of England against Kent (who had dominated the season more completely than any side since Yorkshire in 1901), but he never found his length. The famous gasometers, which are now listed buildings. ... The Media Centre at Lords Cricket Ground Lords Cricket Ground is a cricket ground in St Johns Wood in London. ...

For reasons of business, it was doubted that Foster would play any cricket in 1911 after he had initially accepted the Warwickshire captaincy. Yet, the season became an incredible array of feats for Foster right from the moment he first stepped onto the field. Twice, his use of "change bowlers" captured vital wickets for Warwickshire in early matches, and he did the match double (with 9 for 118 in the first innings and his maiden century) in a loss to Yorkshire in early June. Whilst he had improved Warwickshire's fortunes in the unusually hot and dry weather of May, a brief wet spell in June put them back to mid-table by the end of that month.

Remarkably, when the sizzling, dry weather returned, Warwickshire, with Foster and Frank Field making unrivalled use of extremely fast wickets, won match after match - only stopped by a few draws due to heavy scoring - to claim the Championship. In this period, Foster scored 200 against Surrey and 105 in an hour against Yorkshire, and achieved such bowling feats as 11 for 73 at Northampton in the final match. For the whole season, Foster headed both batting and bowling averages for his county, and it was no surprise when he went to Australia for the 1911/1912 Ashes tour. The Ashes is a regular international cricket contest between England and Australia, played every two years, so named after the trophy, which is a small wooden urn, said to contain the burnt bails from an 1882 game between the countries at The Oval. ...

On this tour, Foster used the rock-hard wickets of Australia like few other English bowlers, and his performance in taking 32 wickets in five Tests for 21.62 runs each has seldom been surpassed. He batted consistently without making any big scores, though he hit two hundreds in minor matches. Test cricket is the longest form of the sport of cricket. ...

That Warwickshire's Championship win in 1911 was not a reflection of their ability but of the abnormal weather was doubted by nobody at the time, and 1912 - a summer as abnormally wet as 1911 was dry - saw his county fall back to mid-table after winning their first four games. Faults in his batting technique were clearly revealed on slow and treacherous pitches: his average fell from 44 to 19, but Foster again did very well in bowling - taking 5 for 16 in one Test against South Africa, 11 for 87 against Middlesex and 12 wickets against Leicestershire.

Yet again, there was talk that claims of business would prevent Foster playing again during 1912, and in 1913 he was, for the only time in his career, a disappointment, even though he hit a brilliant century against Hampshire. However, in 1914 he was back to his superb form of 1911 with the ball, and hit an amazing innings of 305 against Worcestershire to give him a batting average of 34. In the last match, against Surrey, the County Champions, Foster made 81 in the unfamiliar role of opener on a difficult pitch, and took nine for 72 (of which eight were clean bowled).

Tragically a horrific accident in 1915 made sure Foster would never be able to resume playing cricket when the war ended in 1919. However, his memoirs were published in 1930 and he continued to watch the game until his death.

External links

• First Class Batting Records
• Test Bowling Records
• First Class Bowling Records
• Cricinfo page on Frank Foster