Bill Lockwood

Who was Bill Lockwood?

William Henry "Bill" Lockwood was an English Test cricketer, best known as a fast bowler and the unpredictable, occasionally devastating counterpart to the amazingly hard-working Tom Richardson for Surrey in the early County Championship. A capable enough batsman against weaker bowling sides who scored over 10,000 runs in first-class cricket, stronger bowling tended to show flaws in his technique.

In contrast to Richardson's consistency and strenuous work, Lockwood was never capable of long bowling spells. He bowled off a much shorter run than Richardson and tended to come down very heavily in his delivery stride. Lockwood could break back, though rarely as sharply as Richardson, but what really set Lockwood apart was his unpredictability, with extremely subtle variations of pace and pitch characterising his bowling. Frequently Lockwood would deliver a slow ball without change of action and the batsman would claim they never expected it.