William, 'Billy' Flint and his brother Ben made their debuts together for Nottinghamshire in 1919 but whilst Ben played barely a dozen times for the County, William made 145 appearances over ten years as an effective all-rounder.
William had already enjoyed a distinguished career in league football before turning his attention to cricket. He made his debut for Notts County FC in 1908 and captained the club when they won promotion to the top tier of English football in 1923.
His right-arm medium pace bowling captured 6-23 on debut against Middlesex at Lord’s in May 1919, which proved to be his best figures, and he registered three first-class hundreds - scoring exactly 100no in consecutive seasons, 1926 and 27, and with a top score of 103. An honourable man, when he trod on his wicket against Middlesex at Lord’s in 1927 but was given not out by an unsighted umpire, he gave his wicket away with the very next ball.
He enjoyed a testimonial fixture in 1929 after taking 236 wickets (including six 5-fers and ten wickets in a match once) and scoring 6,971 runs in 145 matches for Nottinghamshire.
November 2023
Nottinghamshire First-Class Number: 317