Born on 21 November 1858 in Sutton-in-Ashfield, Charles Shore was a left-hand batsman and a slow left-arm bowler with an occasional fast yorker. He played for XXII Colts v Notts and for Notts Colts v Yorkshire Colts in 1880. His Notts First-Class debut came in a two-day 10 wicket defeat to Lancashire at Old Trafford on 2 and 3 June 1881 where he took 4-86 in the first innings. The following week at Lord’s he had figures of 5-36 and 4-58 against Middlesex. In July he had figures of 5-40 v Gloucestershire at Trent Bridge and achieved his top score of 24. In eight Notts matches in 1881 he took 29 wickets @22.06. He was not called upon until the Colts match of 1885 when he bowled in astonishing form – 38.2-27-20-13 – in the Colts only innings. He played two Notts matches in 1885, the last one versus MCC at Lord’s on 28 and 29 May. In 10 First-Class matches for Notts he scored 70 runs @7.77 and took 31 wickets @23.35.
On 16 and 17 July 1886, Shore played for Liverpool & District v Australians, scoring 42 not out and taking 4 wickets. This led to his debut and only match for Lancashire v Gloucestershire at Old Trafford during the following week. His final First-Class match was in July 1887 was for Liverpool & District v Yorkshire in June 1887. In 13 First-Class matches he scored 159 runs @13.25 and 41 wickets @22.87.
In 1886 he played in one match for Herefordshire. He had professional engagements for Huyton (1877) and Sefton Park (1879-88) in Liverpool. It was on the advice of his doctor that he left the West coast and he moved to Norfolk in 1889 and stayed there until 1901, being the mainstay of that county’s bowling. His best season for Norfolk was in 1891 when he took 69 wickets @8.51. Norfolk were one of the inaugural members of the Minor Counties Championship in 1895 and in 48 matches in the competition until 1901, Shore scored 372 runs @7.15 and took 229 wickets @15.09. Against Durham at Lakenham in 1897, he had match figures 16-72 including first innings figures of 21.3-7-50-10. These outstanding analyses still remain Norfolk’s best individual best bowling figures in an innings and a match in the Minor Counties Championship. In all matches for Norfolk, Shore took 569 wickets @13.28.
Shore died on 5 June 1912 in Sutton-in-Ashfield aged 53 years.
June 2020
Nottinghamshire First-Class Number: 173