Frank Field

Who was Frank Field?

Frank Field 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 first played for Warwickshire in 1897, but it was only the following year with a tireless 8 for 144 in an innings of 509 against Gloucestershire that he was seen as possibly a major acquisition for the county. Despite occasional setbacks, he advanced rapidly to be Warwickshire's leading bowler in the dry summer of 1899 with 73 wickets for 23 each - a remarkable performance on such true pitches as Edgbaston was then known for.