Derek Bridge

Derek Bridge was an offspinner and lower-order batsman whose entire first-class career lasted less than two months in the glorious summer of 1947. He played once for Oxford University in May and then three times for Northamptonshire in June. The following summer he started his career as a schoolmaster at Sherborne and that was that. But he played regularly for Dorset for two decades where he had great success. His first ball in Minor Counties cricket in 1949 dismissed Cyril Washbrook and from 1954 he captained the county for 12 seasons, going on to make 173 appearances, scoring 3600 runs and taking 429 wickets. In later years he was president of the Minor Counties Cricket Association. It was on the rugby field his real success came. Described by the Independent as "tall, lithe and extremely quick on his feet, in his day he was a dashing wing three-quarter", he won his Blue three years in succession and went on to play for Barbarians, Bedford, Richmond, Dorset, Wiltshire, the East Midlands and, on one occasion, was on the reserve bench for an England international.
Martin Williamson