American Cricket: H Crawford Coates Jr

Martin Chandler | 8:23am BST 12 July 2026

Published: 2026
Pages: 71
Author: Smith, Steve
Publisher: Private
Rating: 3 stars

With this extended monograph on the subject of Crawford Coates Steve Smith takes another break from his efforts to chronicle the history of cricket in Philadelphia prior to the Great War. As with his similar ventures with Arthur Brockie and George Lane Coates is certainly not one of the best American cricketers, but from Smith’s point of view is clearly one of the most interesting.

One thing Coates did have was an excellent nickname, Rattlesnake, the rationale for that one being that he could strike suddenly and with venom. At club level he seems to have been something of an all-rounder, but in his 21 First Class matches he didn’t take a wicket with any of the 145 deliveries he sent down, and with the bat he averaged a modest 18.24 with just a couple of half centuries to his name.

Half of those appearances came in 1897 when, as a member of the first of the three Gentlemen of Philadelphia sides to tour England, Coates was seventh in the tourists’ batting averages. His other overseas tour, to West Indies in December/January of 1887/88 was, on a personal level, rather more successful. No First Class matches were played on that tour but Coates did top the batting averages, albeit with a modest 24. Perhaps surprisingly there is an account of that tour, written by the legendary Rowland Bowen and not easy to find. To be fair to the present author he wouldn’t have learned much about Coates had he read it but, wearing his hat as the most irascible book reviewer of any age, one fears what Bowen’s reaction to his work not being referenced might have been had he been called upon to review this one.

As with all amateurs there was, by definition, much more to Coates’ life than cricket and part of the reason his First Class career was over at the age of 31 was the need to devote his time to his practice as an architect. There is certainly plenty of information about that as well, Smith being able to cite several examples of buildings designed by Coates often including features that were, for their time, ground breaking. He also takes his reader through Coates’ various relocations and a number of different practices in which he was involved something which suggests Coates may not have been the easiest of characters but, inevitably, there is no one around now who is able to shed any light on Coates’ personality.

If, like me, you enjoy learning about the lives of the less lauded to have played our great game then this one is certainly well worth investing in. As always with Steve Smith’s books American Cricket: H Crawford Coates Jr is available from Amazon and, I note, this time on eBay as well as from Red Rose Books or direct from the author at a discounted price.