A. G. Steel

Allan Gibson Steel (24 September 1858 – 15 June 1914) was an English amateur cricketer who played for Lancashire County Cricket Club from 1877 to 1893, and in Test cricket for England from 1880 to 1888. He was born in West Derby, Liverpool, and died in Paddington, Middlesex. Steel was an all-rounder. As a right-handed batsman, he scored 7,000 career runs in 162 first-class matches at an average of 29.41 runs per completed innings with a highest score of 171 as one of eight centuries. He was a right-arm bowler with a varied action in that he could bowl both fast medium and slow medium; he also had the ability to spin the ball off the pitch as either an off break or a leg break. He took 789 first-class wickets with a best return of 9/63. He took five wickets in an innings 64 times and ten wickets in a match 20 times with a best return of 14/80. As a fielder, Steel completed 141 catches. Playing career A. G. Steel was born in West Derby, Liverpool. His father, Joseph Steel, was a Liverpool shipowner. Steel was one of seven cricketing brothers and three of his brothers Ernest (EE), Douglas (DQ) and Harold (HB) also played first-class cricket for Lancashire. After his school days at Marlborough College, where he played cricket, he proceeded to Trinity Hall, Cambridge. He was a member of the Cambridge University team of 1878 and topped the bowling averages for the whole of England as a freshman. According to H. S. Altham, "it was unquestionably A. G. Steel's bowling that made the difference between a good and a great eleven". Steel is mentioned in the opening article of the first issue of Cricket: A Weekly Record of the Game. Comparing bowlers of the Hambledon Era with those of the 1880s, the editor says that the "old bowling" must, as a rule, have been "quite plain" whereas most modern bowlers attempt to emulate Steel's expertise in "twisting the ball from both sides of the wicket", meaning Steel could bowl both off breaks and leg breaks.