Doug Padgett

Douglas Ernest Vernon Padgett (20 July 1934 – 20 January 2024) was an English cricketer, who played more than 500 first-class matches and represented England in Tests twice, both in 1960. Cricket writer Colin Bateman recorded Padgett was, "nimble, happy anywhere in the order, he was a great technician and one of the best batsmen of his era on a bad wicket".^[1]

Doug Padgett

Personal information
Full name	Douglas Ernest Vernon Padgett
Born	(1934-07-20)20 July 1934 Bradford, Yorkshire, England
Died	20 January 2024(2024-01-20) (aged 89) Bradford, Yorkshire, England
Batting	Right-handed
Bowling	Right-arm medium
International information
National side	England
Test debut (cap 401)	21 July 1960 v South Africa
Last Test	18 August 1960 v South Africa
Domestic team information
Years	Team
1951–1971	Yorkshire
Career statistics
Competition Test FC LA Matches 2 506 57 Runs scored 51 21,124 1,069 Batting average 12.75 28.58 20.96 100s/50s –/– 32/98 –/2 Top score 31 161* 68 Balls bowled 12 586 24 Wickets 0 6 1 Bowling average – 36.00 25.00 5 wickets in innings – – – 10 wickets in match – – – Best bowling – 1/2 1/25 Catches/stumpings –/– 261/– 13/–
Source: Cricinfo, 24 January 2024

Life and career

Born 20 July 1934,^[1] Padgett had an elder brother, Granville, who was also a professional cricketer. He played for Idle Cricket Club in 1951. In 1951, he became the youngest player then to play first-class cricket for Yorkshire, aged just 16 years and 320 days. Paul Jarvis broke Padgett's record in 1981.^[1]

Following his National Service, Padgett was one of the first of a new generation of Yorkshire batsmen to cement his place in the Yorkshire first team. He scored more than 1,000 runs in 1956, and in the County Championship-winning side of 1959 he was the leading batsman with more than 2,000 runs. He usually batted at No 3, though he occasionally opened the innings.^[2]

In 1960, a tour by the South Africans, widely perceived as weak, led the England Test selectors to experiment with new batsmen, and Padgett played in the fourth and fifth matches. He was not a great success, and was one of a number of England players criticised in The Oval Test match for slow batting in the second innings.^[3]

Padgett went to New Zealand the following winter on an extensive Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) tour, but he was never picked again for England. Padgett failed to convert his innings into big scores, albeit registering 50 one hundred and twenty nine times in his first-class career, he reached the century mark only on thirty two occasions. This counted against him when the England selectors considered his promotion to further international duty.^[1] However, he remained a valued member of the Yorkshire side that won six further Championships across the 1960s. He scored more than 1,000 runs in twelve County Championship seasons.^[4][5]

Padgett retired from playing in 1971, much to the frustration of the new captain, Geoffrey Boycott, who relied on his counsel.^[6] Padgett then captained Yorkshire's second eleven, becoming assistant, then head coach.^[7]

Padgett died on 20 January 2024, at the age of 89.^[8]

References

1. Bateman, Colin (1993). If The Cap Fits. Tony Williams Publications. pp. 100, 128. ISBN 1-869833-21-X.
2. "Doug Padgett". Cricinfo. Retrieved 3 September 2017.
3. Wisden Cricketers' Almanack 1961. p. 303.
4. "Cricket: Yorkshire hero reveals how he rejected chance to move". York Press. 20 December 1999. Retrieved 3 September 2017.
5. "Many happy returns Bryan Stott & Doug Padgett". Yorkshire County Cricket Club. Archived from the original on 3 September 2017. Retrieved 3 September 2017.
6. Leo McKinstry, Boycs: The True Story, Partridge Press (4 May 2000); ISBN 1852252790/ISBN 978-1852252793
7. Martin-Jenkins, Christopher (1980). "England". The Complete Who's Who of Test Cricketers (1st ed.). London, UK: Orbis Publishing. p. 98. ISBN 0-85613-283-7.
8. "Former Yorkshire and England cricketer Doug Padgett dies". Telegraph & Argus. 21 January 2024. Retrieved 21 January 2024.