august september american cricketer active late 19th early 20th centuries played end 19th century outbreak world war obituary described great figures american cricket career played matches considered class retirement led batting averages philadelphia captained international home matches early life career born cumberland england began playing cricket young age playing game yorkshire met president invited united_states attend school early days student cumberland described indifferent batsman entering developed batting style student excelled athlete scholar played football track tennis soccer freshman year averaged runs innings won cope bat year time final season school scored total runs took wickets averages respectively captained overseas tour scoring appearance lord tour created great impression average prepared tour england following year tour england tour undertaken ambitious results satisfactory hoped promoters tour arranged mainly educational purposes american expected win matches previous tours tended involve amateur english sides opponents low level competition schedule prepared including county cricket teams oxford cambridge_university teams sides counties thought worthwhile best field starting june oxford tour lasted months ended late july oval initially aroused curiosity english fans lost interest met sussex team brighton june dominant bowling performance helped seal victory batting innings king partners fourth wicket stand scoring continued second innings despite excitement surrounding king performances americans fare overall matches played won team lost earned draw win came match scored runs innings second best batsmen beginning match kept form tour scoring runs average counties offered contracts play england chosen captain tours england august highest score class cricket innings followed respectable second innings batting tour impressed critics called batsman described great soon greatest men day class match tour posted score innings dismissed second innings manage wickets loss kent legacy later life helped lift philadelphia cricket highest levels international play leadership understanding sport american noted biographies said batsman hit plenty strokes strong defence authored definitive history game area integral foundation proposed cricket history literature second given permanent home united_states final public appearance cricket function library opened received phd education harvard_university years head english department pennsylvania served university professor died lasting memorial pavilion cope field named honor teams international united_states_of_america usa class philadelphia philadelphia club publications essays yesterday today new_york
John Lester