Samuel Butler (cricketer)

Samuel Evan Butler (born 15 April 1850 at Colombo, British Ceylon; died 30 April 1903 at Combe Hay, Bath, Somerset, England) was an English cricketer who attended Brasenose College, Oxford. In the University Match of 1871 he took all ten Cambridge University wickets in their first innings, the only time this has been achieved in the fixture, and (as of March 2013) the only time an Oxford bowler has taken ten wickets in any first-class innings. He captured five more wickets in the second innings, for fifteen in the match, assisting Oxford University to win by eight wickets. His figures were 10/38 and 5/57. His Wisden obituary says of him: "On that one afternoon at Lord's he was unplayable, but he never afterwards approached the same form."

His first-class career lasted only from 1870 to 1874; after leaving Oxford in 1873 he played in only two further first-class matches, both in 1874. 16 of his 21 matches were played for Oxford, the remainder being for various "Gentlemen" sides. He was a right-arm roundarm fast bowler and a right-handed batsman. Wisden says that he "possessed great pace". He took 106 wickets in his career at an average of 14.33, ten times taking five wickets or more in an innings and three times ten or more in a match. He was a negligible batsman, managing 256 runs at an average of 9.14, with a highest score of only 31.

On the strength of his performance in the 1871 University Match, he was chosen for the Gentlemen against the Players that year both at Lord's and the Oval, but he did nothing of note with the ball and made a duck in all three of his innings.

In the 1873 University Match, he took 5/48 in Cambridge's first innings, helping Oxford to win a close match by three wickets.

References

• CricketArchive entry
• Wisden Cricketers' Almanack, 1904 edition, obituary