William Shaw was the brother of Nottinghamshire and England stalwart Alfred Shaw but the elder sibling did not enjoy the same levels of success on the cricket field.
William, born 5 August 1827, was a medium-pace right-arm bowler, an average bat and a short slip fielder. He played regularly for his home village of Burton Joyce from about 1853; in 1861 he was one of the XXII Colts v Nottinghamshire and five years later played for the county against XVI Colts.
Shaw’s one First-Class game, in 1866, was played for Notts v Cambridgeshire, scoring one in his only innings; he did not bowl and took no catches. In 1879, at the age of 62, he played in two fixtures – home and away – for the Veterans of Nottinghamshire v Veterans of Leicestershire. In the game at Leicester he took five wickets in the match and one catch but scored nought; in the home fixture he took three wickets and was 2no when the game ended in a draw.
William Shaw was a framework knitter who lived in Burton Joyce all his life and died there on 13 February 1890.
July 2020
Nottinghamshire First-Class Number: 112