Percy May, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death
TweetPercy May
English cricketer
Date of Birth: 13-Mar-1884
Place of Birth: Chertsey, England, United Kingdom
Date of Death: 06-Dec-1965
Profession: cricketer
Nationality: United Kingdom
Zodiac Sign: Pisces 
About Percy May
- Percy Robert "Phil" May (13 March 1884 – 6 December 1965) was an English cricketer who played first-class cricket from 1902 to 1910, and a final match in 1926. A fast bowler, Percy May played for London County in 1902 at the age of 18, and occasionally for Surrey.
- After being privately educated, May went up to Pembroke College, Cambridge in the autumn of 1902.
- He played for the university side from 1903 to 1906, taking part in victories over Oxford University in 1905 and 1906.
- In 1906 he bowled unchanged throughout both innings to take 7 for 41 and 5 for 25 in Cambridge's 305-run victory over Yorkshire at Fenner's.
- He opened the bowling for the Gentlemen against the Players later that year, taking seven wickets, more than any other bowler.
- He finished the season with 75 wickets at an average of 22.76, his most successful season.He also won a Blue at Cambridge for Association football, and toured the USA with the Corinthians in 1906.He toured New Zealand with MCC in 1906-07, taking 45 wickets in nine first-class matches at 15.97 and forming a powerful pace attack with Johnny Douglas, who took 50 wickets at 13.26.
- He took 5 for 53 and 5 for 37 in the first victory over Otago (by 232 runs) and 4 for 49 and 4 for 58 in the second victory (by an innings and 95 runs), and played in both matches against New Zealand, taking eight wickets.
- He wrote an account of the tour based on his diary, titled With the MCC in New Zealand (1907), which a New Zealand reviewer found "a very readable story ...
- which I was loth to put down ...
- the 'behind-the-scenes' life of an English amateur cricketer on tour ...
- makes for good and entertaining reading".
- Among the New Zealanders there was some question about the legitimacy of his bowling action; Dick Brittenden later described him as "a fast bowler with a peculiar leap just before delivery, and whose action was suspect".He played a few matches in 1907, with one outstanding performance for Gentlemen of the South against Players of the South at the Hastings Festival, when he took 8 for 49 and 3 for 69 in a 233-run victory.
- After that he took a job as a teacher in England and played little first-class cricket.May spent the years from 1910 to 1950 in Ceylon, managing the 2500-acre Dalkeith rubber plantation at Latpandura in the Kalutara District.
- He was a regular club cricketer for most of his time in Ceylon, and played in the annual match for Europeans against Ceylonese in 1911, 1912 and 1914.
- After suffering a shoulder injury not long after he arrived in Ceylon he was forced to abandon fast bowling and instead became a skilful underarm spin bowler and batsman.
- He served briefly as President of the Ceylon Cricket Association.May married Ursula Loughnan in 1913.
Read more at Wikipedia