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.

Percy May

Personal information
Full name	Percy Robert May
Born	(1884-03-13)13 March 1884 Chertsey, Surrey, England
Died	6 December 1965(1965-12-06) (aged 81) Eastleigh, Hampshire, England
Nickname	Phil[1][2]
Batting	Right-handed
Bowling	Right-arm fast
Domestic team information
Years	Team
1902 to 1904	London County
1902 to 1909	Surrey
1903 to 1906	Cambridge University
Career statistics
Competition First-class Matches 72 Runs scored 1037 Batting average 14.20 100s/50s 0/1 Top score 51 not out Balls bowled 10,858 Wickets 247 Bowling average 24.67 5 wickets in innings 14 10 wickets in match 3 Best bowling 8/49 Catches/stumpings 36/0
Source: Cricket Archive, 18 October 2014

A fast bowler, Percy May played for London County in 1902 at the age of 18, and occasionally for Surrey. After being privately educated,[3] May went up to Pembroke College, Cambridge in the autumn of 1902.[4] 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.[5] He opened the bowling for the Gentlemen against the Players later that year, taking seven wickets, more than any other bowler.[6] He finished the season with 75 wickets at an average of 22.76, his most successful season.[7]

He also won a Blue at Cambridge for Association football, and toured the US with the Corinthians in 1906.[4]

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.[8] 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.[9] 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".[10] 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".[11]

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.[12] After that he took a job as a teacher in England and played little first-class cricket.[4]

May spent the years from 1910 to 1950 in Ceylon, managing the 2500-acre Dalkeith rubber plantation at Latpandura in the Kalutara District.[2] 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.[13] 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.[2][14] He served briefly as President of the Ceylon Cricket Association.[4]

May married Ursula Loughnan in 1913.[15]