Name:

Tate, Maurice W

Nickname:

Chub

Date of Birth:

30 May 1895

Gender:

Male

Place of Birth:

Brighton, Sussex

Career:

Test: 1924 - 1935
First Class: 1912 - 1937

Teams:

England (Country)
Sussex (Regional)

1924 2nd Test: Hobbs and Sutcliffe partnership delivers win (Lords)

Maurice Tate: Took wicket with first Test delivery

Maurice Tate was born on May 30, 1895 in Preston, Brighton, Sussex. He died aged 60 on May 18, 1956 in Wadhurst, Sussex.

Tate was a big man, with broad shoulders and huge feet. He started as an off spin bowler. He changed to a fast medium bowler at the age of 27 when Sussex needed an opening bowler and he impressed his captain, Arthur Gilligan with his change of delivery style in the nets one day. He was one of the first to bowl leg cutters and also used the seam to generate cut both ways.

Tate's father Fred played a single Test for England which was disastrous. Fred had dropped a crucial catch and had been the last man out as England lost the 1902 Old Trafford Test by just three runs. However, legend has it that Fred claimed that he had a son who would put things right, and how right he was.

In 14 seasons his lowest wicket tally was 99 (he was injured for the last month) and his highest was, incredibly, 228 in 1925, a season in which he bowled nearly 1,600 overs.

Tate made his Test debut against South Africa at Edgbaston in 1924 taking 24 wickets at 15.70. He had a sensational start when he took a wicket with his first delivery and ended with 4-12 to bowl out South Africa for 30. His skipper Arthur Gilligan took 6-7.

In the 1924/25 Ashes series, Tate took 38 wickets at 23.18 to be the top bowler from either side despite finishing on the wrong side of a 4-1 result to Australia. In the home Ashes series of 1926, Tate was one of the stars that enabled England to regain the Ashes. He topped the bowling from either side, taking 13 wickets at 29.84, as England won 1-0 by winning the 5th Test at the Oval by 299 runs.

Tate was also a free scoring batsman who made 23 hundreds in his first class career, with a top score of 203. He made the double of 1000 runs and 100 wickets in a first class season on 8 occasions.

In 39 Tests, Tate took 155 wickets at 26.13 and scored 1,198 runs at 25.48 including a century.

After retiring in 1937, Tate managed several pubs, the last of them The Greyhound in Wadhurst. In 1956, to make ends meet, he took a job coaching at Butlin's in Clacton, came home to the pub at the end of his first week complaining of a cold, went to bed and died of a heart attack, aged 60.

Sussex County named the gates at their Hove ground in honour of Tate.

Source: CricketCrowd Staff Reporter