Nicholas Felix

Nicholas Felix

Personal information
Full name	Nicholas Wanostrocht
Born	(1804-10-05)5 October 1804 Camberwell, London, England
Died	3 September 1876(1876-09-03) (aged 71) Wimborne Minster, Dorset, England
Batting	Left-handed
Bowling	Slow left arm orthodox
Role	Batsman
Domestic team information
Years	Team
1834–1852	Kent
1846–1852	Surrey

Frontispiece for Felix on the Bat by George Frederic Watts

Nicholas Wanostrocht (5 October 1804 – 3 September 1876), known as Nicholas Felix, was an English amateur "gentleman" cricketer, classical scholar, musician, linguist, inventor, writer and artist. He was one of the few players who – at his request – was routinely known by his pseudonym, Felix.

Early life

When his father died in 1824 he inherited the running of a school at age nineteen. He feared that the parents of pupils might think that cricket was too frivolous a pastime for a schoolmaster so adopted his pseudonym.

Career

Felix was a specialist left-handed batsman, although he occasionally bowled underarm slow left-arm orthodox. He was a mainstay of the Kent team of the mid-19th century alongside such players as Alfred Mynn, Fuller Pilch, William Hillyer and Ned Wenman. In the words of the famous elegy, best loved of Bernard Darwin,

And with five such mighty cricketers 'twas but natural to win

As Felix, Wenman, Hillyer, Fuller Pilch and Alfred Mynn.

Felix played for Kent from 1830 until 1852. He also appeared for Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), and was a member of the All England Eleven.

Felix played in 149 matches and scored 4,556 runs with a highest score of 113. He played at a time when prevailing conditions greatly favoured bowlers and was rated highly as a batsman by his contemporaries.

He was the author of an instruction book: Felix on the Bat published in 1845. He invented the catapulta (a bowling machine), as well as India-rubber batting gloves.

Death

Felix died at Wimborne Minster in Dorset and is buried in Wimborne cemetery.

Bibliography

• Carlaw, Derek (2020). Kent County Cricketers, A to Z: Part One (1806–1914) (PDF). Cardiff: ACS.
• Barclays (1986). Swanton, E. W.; Plumptre, George; Woodcock, John (eds.). Barclays World of Cricket. London: HarperCollins. ISBN 978-00-02181-93-8.

External links

• Media related to Nicholas Felix at Wikimedia Commons
• Nicholas Felix at Cricinfo
• Felix on the Bat