John Boys (cricketer)
John James Boys (17 August 1856 – 1 August 1883) was an English cricketer active in first-class cricket in the mid-1870s and early 1880s. Born at Titchfield, Hampshire, Boys was a right-handed batsman who played as a wicket-keeper.
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | John James Boys | ||||||||||||||
| Born | 17 August 1856 Titchfield, Hampshire | ||||||||||||||
| Died | 1 August 1883 (aged 26) Woolwich, Kent | ||||||||||||||
| Batting | Right-handed | ||||||||||||||
| Bowling | Right-arm roundarm fast | ||||||||||||||
| Role | Wicket-keeper | ||||||||||||||
| Domestic team information | |||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | ||||||||||||||
| 1875–1881 | Kent | ||||||||||||||
| Career statistics | |||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||
Source: CricInfo, 27 June 2014 | |||||||||||||||
Boys entered the British Army at the age of fifteen with the Royal Artillery based at Woolwich, where he was a musician with the Royal Artillery Band.[1] He played cricket with some success for the Royal Artillery Cricket Club and was asked to play for Kent County Cricket Club many times but was unable to get leave of absence to do so.[1] He did, however, make his debut in first-class cricket for Kent in 1875 against Hampshire. He later made two further first-class appearances for Kent in 1881 against the Marylebone Cricket Club and Surrey.[2] Boys scored 34 runs in his four matches, as well as taking four catches and making two stumpings.[3]
Boys died suddenly aged 26 at Woolwich on 1 August 1883 on the day of his planned wedding to his fiancée.[1][4]
References
- Ambrose, Don. "Brief Profile of J. J. Boys". CricketArchive. Retrieved 27 June 2014.
- "First-Class Matches played by John Boys". CricketArchive. Retrieved 27 June 2014.
- "First-class Batting and Fielding For Each Team by John Boys". CricketArchive. Retrieved 27 June 2014.
- Carlaw D (2020) Kent County Cricketers A to Z. Part One: 1806–1914 (revised edition), pp. 83–84. (Available online at the Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians. Retrieved 7 August 2022.)