Gerald Bardswell

Who was Gerald Bardswell?

Gerald Roscoe Bardswell was an English cricketer who played 59 first-class matches between 1894 and 1902. He was born at Woolton, Liverpool and died at New Orleans, Louisiana.

Bardswell was a right-handed batsman sometimes used as an opener and a right-arm medium-pace bowler. He was educated at Uppingham School where he was played mainly as a medium-pace bowler, and at Oriel College, Oxford. It was as a bowler that made his first-class debut for Oxford University on 21 May 1894. In his third game he took six Lancashire wickets for 36 runs in the county side's only innings of the match. His nine wickets in the next Oxford game, against MCC, included several Test match players. He was picked for the University match against Cambridge and took six for 76 in Cambridge's second innings to help Oxford to an eight-wicket victory. After nine matches for Oxford, he had taken 40 wickets at an average of just over 16 runs per wicket. He then played in a few matches for Lancashire when the university season was over, taking five catches in one match and four in another: Wisden Cricketers' Almanack wrote later that "among the short-slips of his day no one surpassed him".