Search Results - Challen, John

John Challen

John Bonamy Challen (23 March 1863 – 5 June 1937) was a Welsh amateur sportsman who played first-class cricket and association football during the late 19th century. He played football for Corinthian F.C., and was selected to play for Wales four times between 1887 and 1890. As a cricketer, he made over 50 first-class appearances, all for Somerset County Cricket Club. His availability in both sports was limited by his career in education; he was headmaster at a number of schools across southern England.

Challen was considered one of Somerset's principal amateur batsmen during the late 1880s and early 1890s, when he frequently finished near the top of their batting averages. His style was more defensive than many of his fellow amateurs, and he was often praised for playing vital innings to keep Somerset's batting together. He scored the only first-class century of his career in 1893 against Sussex, but began to appear less often after 1894, finally bowing out of county cricket after the 1899 season. In all, he scored 1,656 first-class runs at an average of 19.71. Provided by Wikipedia