Full Name

Richard Thompson Spooner

Born

December 30, 1919, Thornaby-on-Tees, Stockton-on-Tees, Co Durham

Died

December 20, 1997, Lawes Bridge, Torquay, Devon, (aged 77y 355d)

Batting Style

Left hand Bat

Fielding Position

Wicketkeeper

Dick Spooner did not play first-class cricket until he was 28, but then established himself as Warwickshire's wicket-keeper/batsman for more than a decade. He was a wicket-keeper in the modern style, agile rather than elegant, but he also had the enormous plus of his no-nonsense left-hand batting. Usually, he opened the innings, and in Warwickshire's title-winning season of 1951 he topped their averages as well, scoring 1,767 Championship runs, with four centuries. He was picked for the 1951-52 tour of India, when England sent a substandard team, and played in all five Tests, scoring 71 and 92 at Calcutta. He had no chance of being picked ahead of Godfrey Evans, and played only two further Tests, both times when Evans was injured: at Port-of-Spain in 1953-54, and The Oval in 1955, when England wanted left-handers to counter Trevor Goddard's defensive bowling. In that game he got a pair but did not concede a bye. Contemporaries, however, considered him the perfect deputy, and in Cricket Cauldron Alex Bannister called him a grand team man, who was more concerned than anyone for Evans's welfare on the West Indies tour. Spooner was one of several north-easterners to join Warwickshire after the war. He was loud on the field, with definite views on most cricketing subjects, and a distinctive broken nose. In retirement, he became a groundsman in Devon.
Wisden Cricketers' Almanack

Dick Spooner Career Stats

Batting & Fielding

FormatMatInnsNORunsHSAve100s50s6sCtSt
Tests71413549227.23030102
FC3595807213851168*27.261264-589178

Bowling

FormatMatInnsBallsRunsWktsBBIBBMAveEconSR4w5w10w
Tests7------------
FC359-54460---5.11-000
Dick Spooner portrait

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Test

Debut/Last Matches of Dick Spooner

Recent Matches of Dick Spooner

MatchBatWktDateGroundFormat
England XI vs C'wealth XI6 & 322c/1s & 1c/0s03-Sep-1955HastingsFC
England XI vs Sth Africans50 & 51c/0s & 0c/0s31-Aug-1955HastingsFC
England vs South Africa0 & 02c/0s & 0c/0s13-Aug-1955The OvalTest # 412
Warwickshire vs Sth Africans2 & 283c/2s & 0c/0s03-Aug-1955BirminghamFC
Warwickshire vs Comb Srvcs10--01-Jun-1955BirminghamFC

Photos of Dick Spooner

Warwickshire keeper Dick Spooner
Dick Spooner bowled Jim Laker for 0