Harley Roberts

Roberts was born in Bearwood, Staffordshire (now in West Midlands), and died at Romsley, Worcestershire. He served as a justice of the peace in Smethwick.[2]

A right-handed lower-middle-order batsman and a right-arm fast-medium bowler, Roberts had a trial for Warwickshire in 1930 and played for the second eleven from that year, but did not make his first-class debut until 1932, when he appeared in eight matches.[1] In his first game, he finished off the Middlesex first innings by taking the last three wickets at a personal cost of six runs in 3.1 overs.[3] Two weeks later, in the match against Essex, he and Reg Santall put on 131 for the seventh wicket in what remains the record first-class partnership for this wicket for Warwickshire against Essex; Roberts made 61, but, aside from Santall's 63, his colleagues mustered only 43 more runs between them, and the match was lost heavily.[4] Though Roberts remained at Warwickshire and played frequently for the second eleven, he did not improve on either the bowling or the batting figures of his early games, and his first-class career petered out in 1937.[1]

Following his cricket career, Roberts was a successful amateur golfer. In 1948, he was runner-up in the English Amateur championship at Little Aston. He was an England international for many years. In 1963, he was elected as president of the Midland Counties Golf Association.[2]