Alexander Watson

Who was Alexander Watson?

Alexander Watson, also known as Alec Watson, was a Scottish first-class cricketer who played for Lancashire. Watson was one of the first long-serving professionals for Lancashire, and in his prime formed part of an exceedingly formidable bowling attack with Allan Steel, Dick Barlow and John Crossland that lifted Lancashire from an upstart county to the most powerful in domestic cricket, winning twenty-two and only losing one of twenty-nine county games in 1881 and 1882.

Watson learned his cricket in his native Scotland for the Drumpelier and Edinburgh Clubs as a fast bowler, but attracted no attention until he moved to Rusholme in 1869 where he was discovered by Lancashire as a slow bowler in the contemporary round-arm style; however, Watson had an unusually deceptive flight for his time and could vary his stock off-break with a ball that turned the other way to great effect. Moreover, Watson was an exceptionally accurate bowler and his short stature and consequent low trajectory meant he was impossible for contemporary batsmen to jump out to and hit.