Albert Bird

Who was Albert Bird?

Albert Bird was an English cricketer: a right-arm off-break bowler and lower-order right-handed batsman who played for Worcestershire for the first ten years of their existence as a first-class county.

Born in Moseley, Birmingham, Bird was 31 by the time he played in his - and indeed Worcestershire's - first County Championship match, against Yorkshire in May 1899. He scored 14 and nought, and bowled eight overs without reward. He again went wicketless in his second match, against Sussex, and his third against Warwickshire was ruined by the weather. Bird finally broke his duck in his fourth game, when he bowled Oxford University's Lionel Collins for 42.

The years between 1901 and 1904 saw Bird's best performances, as he took around 50 wickets each summer, and claimed a total of 16 five-wicket hauls. These included an outstanding performance against Hampshire in 1901 when he took 7-53 in the first innings and 7-56 in the second for a match return of 14-109; as well as his career-best figures of 7-41, taken in 1903 against Oxford University. His only two first-class fifties were made in 1902, and in 1904, and he passed a thousand runs in both 1903 and 1904.