Born On This Day: 29th November

James (‘Jimmy’) Stone, James was born in Southampton in 1876. Wicketkeeper Jimmy Stone was the first local-born professional player to establish himself in the Championship side, making his debut in 1900, and replacing Charles Robson regularly from 1902. In addition to his wicketkeeping, he sometimes played as a batsman, and from 1911-1913, passed 1,000 runs in each of three seasons.

He established his credentials as a batsman scoring 174 v Sussex at Portsmouth in 1905, which remained his highest score, and one of five centuries for the county. In 274 matches for Hampshire he dismissed 474 batsmen, almost 25% of them stumped – a very high percentage in comparison to today’s ‘keepers’.

In 1914, Walter Livsey came into the side and Stone seemed to retire from first-class cricket during the war, but he moved to South Wales, played club cricket for Briton Ferry Town CC and then for Glamorgan from 1922-1924 in their first years in the Championship.

In 1923, he returned to Southampton with his new county and scored 37 & 81. He was a first-class umpire from 1925-1934. He died in Maidenhead, Berkshire in 1942.