{{EngvarB|date=August 2013}} {{Use dmy dates|date=December 2023}} {{Infobox cricketer | name = Alfred Atfield | image = | country = England | fullname = Alfred John Atfield | birth_date = {{birth date|df=y|1868|3|3}} | birth_place = Ightham, Kent, England | death_date = {{death date and age|df=y|1949|1|1|1868|3|3}} | death_place = Caterham, Surrey, England | batting = Right-handed | bowling = Right-arm medium | role = Batsman | club1 = Gloucestershire | year1 = 1893 | club2 = Wiltshire | year2 = {{nowrap|1897–1899}} | club3 = Natal | year3 = 1897/98 | club4 = London County | year4 = 1900 | club5 = MCC | year5 = 1901 | club6 = Transvaal | year6 = 1906/07 | umpire = true | testsumpired = 8 | umptestdebutyr = 1909/10 | umptestlastyr = 1913/14 | type1 = FC | debutdate1 = 29 May | debutyear1 = 1893 | debutfor1 = Gloucestershire | debutagainst1 = Middlesex | lastdate1 = 28 March | lastyear1 = 1907 | lastfor1 = Transvaal | lastagainst1 = Border | columns = 1 | column1 = First-class | matches1 = 8 | runs1 = 137 | bat avg1 = 12.45 | 100s/50s1 = 0/0 | top score1 = 45 | deliveries1 = 168 | wickets1 = 3 | bowl avg1 = 34.00 | fivefor1 = 0 | tenfor1 = 0 | best bowling1 = 3/102 | catches/stumpings1 = 5/– | date = 23 August | year = 2012 | source = https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/2/2810/2810.html CricketArchive }}

'''Alfred John Atfield''' (3 March 1868 – 1 January 1949) played first-class cricket in England and South Africa and was also a Test match umpire and an influential cricket coach.<ref>{{cite web | url = https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/2/2810/2810.html| title = Alfred Atfield | publisher = www.cricketarchive.com | accessdate = 3 August 2012}}</ref> He was born at Ightham, Kent, England and died at Caterham, Surrey.<ref name="obit">{{Cite book | title = Wisden Cricketers' Almanack | edition = 1950 | publisher = Wisden |chapter = Obituary, 1949 | page = 904}}</ref>

A right-handed lower-order batsman and a right-arm medium-pace bowler, Atfield played for Kent County Cricket Club's second eleven before qualifying for Gloucestershire, for whom he played three first-class matches in 1893.<ref name="obit"/> Those were the only competitive first-class games of his career and in the third of them, batting tenth in the order against Kent, Atfield scored 45, which was his highest first-class score.<ref>{{cite web | url = https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/3/3954.html| title = Scorecard: Gloucestershire v Kent | date = 5 June 1893 | publisher = www.cricketarchive.com | accessdate = 4 August 2012}}</ref> He was then recruited to play as a professional by the mill-owning cricket patron W. H. Laverton, who ran his own country-house cricket team at Leighton House, Westbury in Wiltshire. Over the next few years, Atfield played in many non-first-class games alongside some of the leading amateur players of the time: Laverton himself was the father-in-law of Lionel Palairet, for example, who was often included in Laverton's teams.<ref name="obit"/> While employed by Laverton, he also played regularly in Minor Counties cricket for Wiltshire in the early seasons of the Minor Counties Championship.<ref>{{cite web | url = https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/2/2810/Minor_Counties_Championship_Matches.html | title = Minor Counties Championship Matches played by Alfred Atfield | publisher = www.cricketarchive.com | accessdate = 11 August 2012}}</ref>

From 1897 onwards, Atfield divided his time between playing, coaching and umpiring commitments in England and South Africa.<ref name="obit"/> In the 1897–98 South African cricket season, he was a professional in Durban club cricket and played a single first-class match for Natal in that season.<ref>{{cite web | url = https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/4/4934.html| title = Scorecard: Natal v A. Bailey's Transvaal XI| date = 7 March 1898 | publisher = www.cricketarchive.com | accessdate = 13 August 2012}}</ref> By 1900, he was back in England playing for W. G. Grace's London County team and the following year he became a professional for the Marylebone Cricket Club at Lord's, appearing in a couple of first-class matches in the 1901 season.<ref name="obit"/> In the second of these games, for MCC against London County, Atfield took his only first-class wickets; his first victim as a bowler was Grace.<ref>{{cite web | url = https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/5/5782.html| title = Scorecard: London County v MCC| date = 8 August 1901 | publisher = www.cricketarchive.com | accessdate = 13 August 2012}}</ref>

Atfield began umpiring first-class matches with MCC from 1902 and by 1905 he had graduated to umpiring in County Championship matches in the English first-class season, remaining on the first-class umpires list in England until 1924 and thereafter standing in occasional matches through to 1932.<ref>{{cite web | url = https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/2/2810/Umpire_in_First-Class_Matches.html | title = Alfred Atfield as Umpire in First-class Matches | publisher = www.cricketarchive.com | accessdate = 13 August 2012}}</ref> He continued to spend his winters in South Africa, and in 1906–07, in a series of three matches between Transvaal and Border he umpired two games and played for Transvaal in the third: his final first-class appearance as a player.<ref>{{cite web | url = https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/7/7214.html| title = Scorecard: Border v Transvaal | date = 27 March 1907 | publisher = www.cricketarchive.com | accessdate = 13 August 2012}}</ref>

Most of Atfield's time in South Africa was spent as a coach and he was credited as an influence in the development of Bob Catterall at Jeppe High School for Boys in Johannesburg.<ref>{{Cite book | title = Wisden Cricketers' Almanack | edition = 1925 | volume = Part I | publisher = Wisden |chapter = Five Cricketers of the Year | page = 292}}</ref> He umpired only occasional first-class matches in South Africa, but was called on as an umpire for four Tests on each of two successive tours of South Africa by England teams – the 1909–10 tour and the 1913–14 tour.<ref>{{cite web | url = https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/2/2810/Umpire_in_Test_Matches.html | title = Alfred Atfield as Umpire in Test Matches | publisher = www.cricketarchive.com | accessdate = 13 August 2012}}</ref> He acted as umpire in England in Gentlemen v Players matches and in a Test trial match in 1927, but was not picked to umpire any Tests in England.

==References== {{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Atfield, Alfred}} Category:1868 births Category:1949 deaths Category:English cricketers Category:Gloucestershire cricketers Category:KwaZulu-Natal cricketers Category:Gauteng cricketers Category:Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers Category:London County cricketers Category:English Test cricket umpires Category:Wiltshire cricketers Category:People from Ightham