Bill Howell (cricketer)

Not to be confused with William Howell (cricketer, born 1902).

For other people named William Howell, see William Howell (disambiguation).

William Peter Howell (29 December 1869 – 14 July 1940) was an Australian cricketer who played in 18 Test matches between 1898 and 1904.

Bill Howell

Personal information
Full name	William Peter Howell
Born	(1869-12-29)29 December 1869 Penrith, New South Wales, Australia
Died	14 July 1940(1940-07-14) (aged 70) Castlereagh, New South Wales, Australia
Height	177 cm (5 ft 10 in)
Batting	Left-handed
Bowling	Right-arm medium
Role	All rounder
International information
National side	Australia
Test debut (cap 77)	14 January 1898 v England
Last Test	15 January 1904 v England
Career statistics
Competition Test First-class Matches 18 141 Runs scored 158 2,227 Batting average 7.52 14.84 100s/50s 0/0 1/6 Top score 35 128 Balls bowled 3,892 27,832 Wickets 49 519 Bowling average 28.71 21.49 5 wickets in innings 1 30 10 wickets in match 0 5 Best bowling 5/81 10/28 Catches/stumpings 12/– 126/–
Source: Cricinfo, 10 September 2022

Howell was born at Penrith, New South Wales in 1869. He made his Test debut against England at Adelaide in January 1898.^[1] He toured England in 1899 and 1902, and South Africa in 1902, playing in a total of 18 Tests. During the 1899 tour he took all ten wickets in a tour match against Surrey during Australia's 1899 tour of England, after which he became a regular member the tour XI.^[2]

In 1902 Tom Dickson convened a meeting of local cricketers at the Commercial Hotel in Penrith which formed the Nepean District Cricket Association. Locally, Howell took ten wickets for ten runs in one match,^[3] and in another hit seven sixes from a seven ball over.^{[citation needed]}

A tall and well built man,^[2] Howell turned the ball effectively at a medium pace and bowled to a good length.^[2] On the matting wickets in South Africa, he turned the ball sharply in 1902 when Joe Darling led the Australian team to success, taking 14 wickets at 12.42 in the two games he played.^[2]

While overseas in 1902, his parents, George and Hannah Howell (née Colless) died within days of each other. They owned two farms valued at £1,165. After his retirement from international cricket Bill Howell returned to one farm at Castlereagh, while his brother Athol took up the adjoining farm. In 1899, Bill married Neva, the daughter of James and Sarah Hunter of Emu Plains.^[4]

Howell died at Castlereagh, New South Wales.^[2] In 1957, the cricket oval at Penrith Stadium was named after him.

References

Media related to Bill Howell (cricketer) at Wikimedia Commons

1. "England tour of Australia, 1897/98". CricInfo. Retrieved 19 February 2013.
2. Bill Howell, CricInfo. Retrieved 10 September 2022.
3. "Death of W. P. Howell". Nepean Times. 18 July 1940. Retrieved 13 June 2024 – via trove.nla.gov.au.
4. "The Late Mrs. W. P. Howell". Nepean Times. 17 January 1952. Retrieved 13 June 2024 – via trove.nla.gov.au.