Hugh Dinwiddy 1912-2009

Hugh Dinwiddy dies aged 97

Martin Williamson

November 2, 2009

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Hugh Dinwiddy, Kent's oldest cricketer and the last person to have played first-class cricket with both Don Bradman and Jack Hobbs, has died at the age of 97. A right-hand batsman and legbreak/googly bowler, as well as a superb cover point, Dunwiddy's career consisted of five matches for Cambridge University and ten for Kent, all coming between 1933 and 1935.

He was included in the Kent side in July 1933 after a double hundred for the 2nd XI against Devon, and in his second first-class game he scored a career-best 45 against Surrey at Blackheath. In that game Hobbs, who was 50 and in his penultimate season, scored a hundred. Dinwiddy later recalled that "Hobbs was very kind to me and wished me luck".

The following season, in his second year at Cambridge, Dinwiddy broke into the XI for the match against the Australians in early May. Bradman, who had opened the tour with a double hundred at Worcester, made all the headlines when he was dismissed for a duck, but the Australians still closed the first day on 418 for 4. Dinwiddy made 0 and 2 as the students were routed by an innings and 163 runs. He described Bradman as "alright … he didn't say much to me".

His first-class career fizzled out in 1935 but he made more of a mark on the rugby field where he won Blues in 1934 and 1935 and was good enough to be given an England trial in 1936.

In an interview with Derek Barnard in 2004, Dinwiddy admitted that his first love was cricket and he wished he could have made his mark in the first-class game.

After Cambridge, he taught at Ampleforth College either side of serving with the Royal Navy and in 1956 he moved to Uganda where he helped establish Makerere University in Kampala, receiving an OBE for his efforts in 1971. He returned to England the previous year.

Martin Williamson is executive editor of Cricinfo and managing editor of ESPN Digital Media in Europe, the Middle East and Africa

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Martin Williamson Executive editor Martin Williamson joined the Wisden website in its planning stages in 2001 after failing to make his millions in the internet boom when managing editor of Sportal. Before that he was in charge of Sky Sports Online and helped launch and run Sky News Online. With a preference for all things old (except his wife and children), he has recently confounded colleagues by displaying an uncharacteristic fondness for Twenty20 cricket. His enthusiasm for the game is sadly not matched by his ability, but he remains convinced that he might be a late developer and perseveres in the hope of an England call-up with his middle-order batting and non-spinning offbreaks. He is now managing editor of ESPN EMEA Digital Group as well as his Cricinfo responsibilities.
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