Jake Seamer dies aged 92

Jake Seamer: once scored a hundred before breakfast © Somerset CCC

Jake Seamer, who was joint captain of Somerset in 1948, has died at the age of 92.

Seamer, who was educated at Marlborough College, won Blues for Oxford in 1934, 1935 and 1936 but before then he had already made 14 Championship appearances for the county. A top-order batsman, his best season was in 1934 when his 858 runs came at 35.94, including three of his four career hundreds. His best score of 194 was for Oxford against Minor Counties, five days after his maiden first-class hundred against Free Foresters. He also won Blues at hockey in 1933, 1934, 1935 and skippering the side in 1936.

Immediately after university he joined the Colonial Service and was posted to the Sudan, although he returned to play a handful of matches in 1938 and 1939.

He played for Somerset after the War, and in 1948 shared the captaincy of the side with three others. But he failed to recapture his earlier form and in 24 post-War innings he managed only 274 runs at 14.42 with one fifty. As it was, he only averaged 15.61 in his 59 matches for the county, with his best performances coming for his university. He had a reputation as a stayer rather than a free-scoring batsman. He did, however, once claim to have hit a hundred before breakfast in the Sudan, where matches started at 7am!

He left the Colonial Service in 1950 and returned to Marlborough to teach. He retired in 1973. He was elected Mayor of Marlborough twice and was made a Freeman of the city in 2001.