Peter Bowler's brimborion

I found the word ‘brimborion’ in a book by Peter Bowler, an Australian lexicographer. Not to be confused with Peter Bowler the first-class cricketer.

But this reminded me of the main contribution that Peter Bowler (the first-class cricketer, not the Australian lexicographer) made to cricket’s reservoir of trivia. Or, cricket’s reservoir of brimborion if you prefer. Bowler was the first player to score a century on first-class debut for two different counties. He scored 100* for Leicestershire v Hampshire at Leicester in 1986 and then 155* for Derbyshire v Cambridge University at Cambridge in 1988. In 1995 he made his first-class debut for his third county, Somerset, and made a bold effort to add them to the list before running out of partners on 84* in the 2nd innings v Glamorgan at Taunton.

Three players, Jonathan Lewis (Essex and Durham), Neil Taylor (Kent and Sussex) and Andrew Symonds (Gloucestershire and Lancashire) have subsequently joined Bowler in this rare feat.

In South African first-class cricket there are three players who have made a century on debut for two different provincial teams (excluding ‘B’ teams). They are Ken Viljoen (Orange Free State and Transvaal), Terence Lazard (Western Province and Boland) and Arno Jacobs (North West and Eastern Province). Lazard is the most interesting here, as he also scored a century on his overall first-class debut which was for Western Province B. His 307* on debut for Boland v Western Province at Worcester in a pre-season friendly in 1993/94 single-handedly put an end to first-class status for pre-season friendlies.

One final point on Bowler: In an interview with Wisden Cricketer Monthly on his retirement from first-class cricket he said that he regarded an innings of 14 that he made for Derbyshire v Warwickshire in Birmingham in 1992 as the best of his career. Yes, 14! He opened the batting with an hour to go on the first day on a green-top against a rampant Allan Donald. He was 8* overnight out of 21-5 and Donald finally knocked him over for 14 the next morning. The man scored nearly 20 000 first-class runs with 45 centuries and yet regards an innings of 14 as his best. Such are the real joys of cricket.