Shields teen rewrites record books
AS South Shields' lamentable start to their Premier League campaign took a dramatic upturn with a three-game winning sequence last month, a compelling historic question was raised.
Did Andrew Elliott's undefeated 112 in his side's winning run chase of
266-2 against Stockton make him the youngest century-maker in the club's 160-year history?
Having delved into the dim and distant past while researching and writing its story in Grass Roots – the History of South Shields Cricket Club, I believe that 19-year-old opening batsman Andrew is almost certainly its only First X1 teenage centurion.
Only almost certainly? It is hardly possible to be adamant when dealing with records that go back into the 19th century.
But let us examine the realities. In what can be regarded as Shields' infancy in the earlier years of Victoria's reign, centuries were rare at the highest level, and even more so in the parochial game.
The first recorded century by a South Shields batsman was 126 not out by Thomas Forsyth Wilson against Whitburn on July 2, 1887, when he was a man of maturity.
League cricket arrived in 1891, and thereafter the club's triumphs and travails received better local Press coverage, and yearly statistics were published.
In the period between then and the creation of the Durham Senior League in 1903, just seven centuries were scored by Shieldsmen, the first against Philadelphia in 1895 by Matthew Stainton.
So it was something of a monumental event when captain Tom Coulson, whose family glass-making business may be remembered still by older townsfolk, hit 200 before giving up his wicket against Wearmouth in the Senior League's inaugural season, and that still remains the club's highest individual score at first team level.
Scrolling forward through the years, Len Weight, impeccable of technique and appearance, scored eight centuries between the wars, and Stephen Greensword hit six in his two years as professional, including a club record of five in the second of them in 1971.
This was surpassed when John Dunn struck six in his golden summer of 1996.
But these were all mature players. David Cannon (1957-72) hit a century for Durham at 18, and although his stroke play lit up many a Shields innings, his top score for his club was 99.
The talented Paul Muchall scored a century after returning to Wood Terrace from Tynemouth in 2008 when he was 21, which in all probability made him the youngest ever centurion until Elliott's disciplined match-winning knock which came off 170 balls and included 10 fours and a six.
Andrew, a former Durham School pupil now studying at Northumbria University, has been a Shields member since he was 10.
A spate of pre-season departures from Wood Terrace gave him his First X1 opportunity, and he had already displayed his blossoming talent with a knock of 52 at Hetton Lyons.
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Friday 25 May 2012
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