Name:

Ames, Leslie E G

Nickname:

Les

Date of Birth:

03 Dec 1905

Gender:

Men

Place of Birth:

Elham, Kent, England

Date Died:

27 Feb 1990

Career:

Test: 1929 - 1939
First Class: 1926 - 1951

Teams:

Kent (Regional)
England (Country)

1935: Cameron, Mitchell deliver first ever South African win in England (Lords)

Leslie Ames: Best wicketkeeepr batsman of his generation

Les Ames was born on December 3, 1905 in Elham, Kent. He died aged 84 on February 27, 1990 at Canterbury, Kent.

A cheerful and bubbly character, Ames was the first choice keeper for England throughout the 1930s. He was equally comfortable keeping to the spin of Freeman and standing back to the pace of Larwood. Ames was also a highly competent, free scoring batsman.

Ames was the only wicket-keeper to score more than a hundred first-class centuries. He made a habit of achieving the wicket-keeper's 'double' of 1,000 runs and 100 dismissals in a season. In 1932, he scored 2,482 runs and had 104 dismissals. The following year he broke the 3000-run barrier for the only time in his career.

Only one of his eight Test centuries was against Australia. This was at Lords in 1934. His 123 runs before lunch in the 1935 Oval Test against South Africa remained a record until Ben Stokes beat it at Cape Town in 2016.

His highest score of 149 was made against the West Indies at Kingston in 1929. He made 417 runs in that series at 59.57.

After retirement, Ames was a selector for England in the 1950s. He was also an able administrator of Kent County Cricket.

Source: CricketCrowd Staff Reporter