Obituaries index: A-E

Ainley, Anthony, who died on May 3, 2004, aged 71, was an actor and a keen club cricketer for The Stage and London Theatres CC. "He was an eccentric and very effective opening bat who appeared in full body padding, sunblock, helmet and swimming goggles," according to his fellow-actor Christopher Douglas, "and he had a penchant for charging down the track and smashing the ball back over the bowler's head." Ainley followed his father Henry on to the stage, but found his greatest success on television as The Master, the arch-enemy of Doctor Who, in the 1980s. At one club game at the time, Ainley's fame preceded him, and the Sutton & Cheam Herald ran a headline above its match report proclaiming that "Inter-Galactic Terror" had been visited upon Surrey. A complex character, he usually took his cricket teas alone in his car - possibly because, according to one report, he "despised cheeses of all kinds".

Apperley, Frank Hockenhull, who died on June 3, 2004, aged 75, was an opening bat, and Shropshire's captain for the first seven seasons after they joined the Minor Counties Championship in 1957.

Attwell, Robert Hillman, died on May 19, 2004, aged 92. Bob Attwell played a lot of club cricket, mostly for Cranleigh in Surrey, for whom he took all ten wickets for 49 with his slow left-armers against Nigel Paul's XI in 1956. He was the non-striker in the 1942 match at Lord's when the former Surrey and England player Andy Ducat collapsed and died, aged 56, while batting for the Surrey Home Guard against their Sussex counterparts. Attwell recalled: "In the dressing-room before the game we all remarked how fit he looked."

Baldwin, Jeremy Michael Sydney, who died on March 19, 2004, aged 73, was a batsman who played 19 matches for Rhodesia in the 1950s, scoring 639 runs at 19.36.

Baskervyle-Glegg, Major-General John MBE, who died on November 30, 2004, aged 64, was Eton's opening batsman and, after Henry Blofeld was seriously injured in a road accident in 1957, wicket-keeper. He had a long career in the Grenadier Guards and became commander of the 24th Infantry Brigade. He played one first-class match, for Combined Services against Ireland, in 1962.

Beames, Percy James, who died on March 28, 2004, aged 92, was one of Australia's best-known cricket writers, covering 119 Tests for the Melbourne newspaper, The Age, from the war until his retirement in 1976. Beames was also the paper's Australian Rules football correspondent. His knowledge - regarded as profound in cricket and encyclopaedic in footy - was based on considerable playing ability. He was one of the leading footballers of his era, and a powerful and prolific batsman for the Melbourne club. However, he was only rarely given opportunities for Victoria, mainly in the secondary fixtures against Tasmania, clobbering their attack for an unbeaten 226 in 1938-39, an innings that helped him to an overall first-class average of 51.56 in his 18 matches. Beames was made state captain for the non-Sheffield Shield season in 1945-46 before concentrating on journalism. His daughter Adrienne became, in 1971, the first woman to run a marathon in under three hours.

Bichel, Donald Alan, who died of cancer on October 11, 2004, aged 69, was an off-spinner who played three games for Queensland in the 1960s. "Snowy" Bichel's bowling was highly regarded by contemporaries, but he was overshadowed by his fellow-Queenslander Tom Veivers, who was a far better batsman, and Bichel also refused to leave his farm to play club cricket in Brisbane. He was the uncle of Andy, the Australian Test player.

Blakemore, David Barry, who died on June 2, 2004, aged 71, was the driving force behind the Warwick Pool. This transformed Warwickshire into the richest club in the country and, in the days when lotteries were a novelty, revolutionised sports fund-raising. Blakemore was working at Edgbaston when the Warwickshire player Ray Hitchcock founded his pool in 1953 and he gradually took over the shilling-a-time weekly game, with Winnie Crook; they married in 1959, and continued the joint venture under the aegis of the club's Supporters' Association. Soon the number of subscribers rocketed from 50,000 to 800,000. At the Pool's peak, there were 10,000 agents, including 100 in the Longbridge motor plant alone, and thousands of punters, many living miles from Birmingham with no interest in cricket, helped the development of Edgbaston into a major venue. Blakemore remained secretary of the Supporters' Association until 1998; by then what he called "lottery fatigue" had set in and the punters had drifted away. Blakemore, however, remained a tireless worker.

Booth, Arthur, who died on September 12, 2004, aged 78, played only four first-class matches for Lancashire in 1950 and 1951, but scored 253 in the Minor Counties Championship against Lincolnshire at Grimsby in 1950, which was a Lancashire Second XI record for 48 years. His highest first-class score was 49. He had spells as a professional with Dukinfield and Haslingden.

Borrett, Norman Francis, who died on December 10, 2004, aged 87, was a batsman and slow left-armer who took a hat-trick in the 1939 Cambridge Seniors' Match, then considered an important trial. He never played a first-class match for the university, though he did play three times for Essex, before and after the war, and regularly for Devon until 1959, shining both as batsman and cover point. His more significant sporting achievements came elsewhere: he captained England to the hockey silver medal at the 1948 Olympics, but he was an even more outstanding squash player, winning the English Amateur Championship every year from 1946 to 1950, almost without practice, because he lived in Devon where he had no serious opposition. He played golf off four, reputedly failed to play at Wimbledon only because he was too busy, and turned down an invitation to be a co-driver at Le Mans. The Times called him "probably Britain's most talented post-war all-round amateur sportsman". He taught at Framlingham College for 30 years.

Brooks, Gordon Victor, who died of cancer on January 31, 2004, aged 65, was a South Australian fast bowler of sharp pace with an action that generated whispers at a time of sensitivity over throwing, though he was never called. He was also an old-fashioned tail-ender: in 26 first-class matches, he had 61 wickets - but only 41 runs. Brooks was a useful member of the cast when Garry Sobers inspired South Australia to the Sheffield Shield in 1963-64, and the prime mover of the reunion to mark the 40th anniversary of the triumph. He died on the day of the celebration.

Brownlow, Bertie, who died on October 22, 2004, aged 84, was a lefthand bat and wicket-keeper who played eight matches for Tasmania in their pre- Sheffield Shield days in the 1950s. He was on the management committee of the Tasmanian Cricket Association for many years before being made a life member in 1981, and often joked about his first-ball duck, inflicted by Trevor Bailey, when he played against the 1954-55 England tourists.

Buultjens, Dooland Philip, who died on April 25, 2004, aged 70, was a Sri Lankan umpire who stood in three Tests and 18 one-day internationals. These included the England v South Africa qualifier at Melbourne in the 1992 World Cup, the teams' first meeting in 27 years. He represented Sri Lanka at both cricket and football, and later opened his own coaching school.

Capel-Cure, George Nigel, died on August 8, 2004, aged 95. Nigel Capel- Cure was an Etonian leg-spinner and left-hand bat who played one match for Essex in 1929. He represented Cambridge at squash, but never at cricket.

Cartledge, Brian Lewis, who died on October 22, 2004, aged 63, played four first-class matches for Tasmania in the 1970s, the first of them against Ray Illingworth's England tourists in 1970-71. He made only 53 runs at 7.57, but did manage an innings of 56 in a one-day game against Western Australia at Launceston.

Cartwright-Jones, Richard Henry, who died on July 14, 2004, aged 87, played one match for Warwickshire (as R. H. Jones), in a two-wicket victory over Somerset at Edgbaston in 1946. Unusually, he opened both the batting (scoring 9 and 23) and the bowling, without taking a wicket.

Chamberlain, William Richard Frank, died on April 7, 2004, aged 78. After a war spent as a Fleet Air Arm pilot guarding Arctic convoys, Frank Chamberlain had a less distinguished career as a batsman in six matches for Northamptonshire in 1946. He disappeared from the professional game into the family leather business for the next three decades while at the same time running his old boys' team, the Uppingham Rovers. He reappeared as a member of the club committee in 1977 and had an improbably meteoric career in cricket administration, becoming chairman of Northamptonshire in 1985 and, five years later, starting a four-year stint as chairman of the Test and County Cricket Board, which then ran the English game. Chamberlain was a courtly, low-key chairman chosen by the counties as an antidote to his activist predecessor, Raman Subba Row. "He had endeared himself to the other chairmen and they chose him more or less unanimously," recalled A. C. Smith, then the chief executive. "They acknowledged his business experience and thought he would chair the meetings in an accomplished manner, which indeed he did." He operated as a non-executive, encouraging officials to take their own decisions. And though the England team lost a lot of games and the TCCB were outmanoeuvred by an Asian-led alliance that transformed the game's international politics, English cricket maintained its financial strength under Chamberlain, and has rarely been better-natured.

Cleverley, Donald Charles, died on February 16, 2004, aged 94. When he died, Don Cleverley was the oldest surviving Test cricketer - a mantle he passed on to a fellow New Zealander, Eric Tindill. Cleverley was a fast-medium bowler with the ability to generate surprising lift, and played two Tests for New Zealand, more than 14 years apart. His first cap came against South Africa in 1931-32, when he went wicketless in an innings defeat, a pattern repeated when he was called up for the ill-starred inaugural Test against Australia in March 1946, in which New Zealand were shot out for 42 and 54. He played on for Auckland until 1951, and rounded off his career in 1952-53 with one match for Central Districts, by which time he was 43. To his delight, his new side polished off his old one by an innings. Cleverley took eight for 75 for Auckland at Wellington in January 1946, a performance that sparked his selection against Australia. He was also a national amateur boxing champion, and eventually established a gym in one of the hotels he managed. His brother Alf boxed for New Zealand at the 1928 Olympics.

Clingly, Michael Thomas, died on August 16, 2004, aged 72. Mick Clingly was a left-arm medium-pacer who could drop his speed and bowl orthodox spin when required; he played five Sheffield Shield matches for South Australia in the late 1950s - and also represented the state at Australian Rules football.

Coghlan, Timothy Boyle Lake, died on February 11, 2004, aged 64. Tim Coghlan was a fastish bowler who took a hat-trick at Lord's while captaining Rugby against Marlborough in 1956. He played 19 times for Cambridge University between 1958 and 1960, winning a Blue in his final year, when his two victims were a future Pakistan Test captain (Javed Burki) and a future MCC president (Charles Fry). He toured the Far East in 1964 with a strong side, raised by E. W. Swanton, which also included Richie Benaud and Garry Sobers.

Collis, Gerald Fraser, who died on May 6, 2004, aged 82, was president of Gloucestershire from 2001 until his death, having undertaken many committee jobs over the years. An RAF pilot, architect and pub landlord, Gerry Collis was one of the most versatile and popular figures at Nevil Road.

Covill, Reginald John, who died on March 18, 2002, aged 96, was a fast bowler who played a dozen first-class matches in the 1930s, mostly for MCC while on the groundstaff at Lord's, and took five for 31 against The Army there in 1931.

Cox, Nicholas George, who died on December 13, 2004, aged 62, was the son and grandson of the two George Coxes who between them played more than a thousand matches for Sussex between 1895 and 1960. The third generation Cox became instead a historian, and senior official at the Public Record Office; The Guardian called him an "unsung hero" of contemporary history and "a passionate believer in freedom of information". Among his researches was the discovery that, owing to a transcription error in the 1901 census, his grandfather had been described as a professional "ticketer". He said it made it sound as though his forefathers worked on the Underground.

Darks, Geoffrey Chalton, who died in late 2004, aged 78, played seven matches for Worcestershire as a fast-medium bowler between 1946 and 1950, taking five for 49 against Combined Services at New Road in 1950. Darks umpired the youth Test between England and West Indies at Stone in 1974.

Davies, Ian Stuart, who died on December 20, 2004, aged 71, was sports editor of the BBC World Service from 1982 to 1990. His passion for cricket ensured the game remained a central part of the sporting coverage. He cheerfully filled in as Northamptonshire correspondent for Wisden 1998.

de Andrado, Harold, who died on November 6, 2004, aged 76, was a wellknown Sri Lankan cricket writer from the 1950s onwards. He was also a regular player for the Nondescripts club before Sri Lanka had first-class domestic cricket.

Denman, Henry Wynne, who died on December 28, 2002, aged 73, was a wicket-keeper/batsman from Oundle School who played seven matches for Cambridge University in the early 1950s, without winning a Blue. He managed only four runs in five innings.

de Villiers, Peter, died on June 4, 2004, aged 63. "Sam" de Villiers played two Currie Cup matches for Griqualand West in 1967-68, scoring 24 runs in his three innings.

Dick, William Allan AO, died on March 27, 2004, aged 81. Allan Dick played 18 matches as a leg-spinner for Victoria in the decade from 1946-47. His five for 31 at Melbourne in 1954-55 - on a pitch on which Richie Benaud had struggled - helped set up a narrow victory over New South Wales. He had a long career in grade cricket, and was awarded the Order of Australia for his work for the Anti-Cancer Council of Victoria.

Dudman, Leonard Charles, died on February 12, 2004, aged 70. Len Dudman was an opening bat who played 49 games for Scotland, and almost gave them their first-ever victory over a first-class county when he made 161 against Warwickshire at Edgbaston in 1956. He made another 91 against them in Edinburgh seven years later. Dudman played football for Falkirk and Forfar.

Dunn, Wallace Peter, died on February 1, 2004, aged 82. Peter Dunn was a left-arm fast-medium bowler who played 18 times for Western Australia. His first wicket, in 1948-49, was that of Keith Miller; his last, four years later, was Alan Davidson. In between there were 46 others, nine of them for 58 in one match, against South Australia at Perth in 1949-50.

Edrich, Geoffrey Arthur, died on January 2, 2004. He was 85. One of the famous Norfolk family (his brother Bill and cousin John played for England, while brothers Brian and Eric also played county cricket), Geoff Edrich was a Lancashire stalwart for a dozen seasons after the Second World War, which he had ended weighing only six stone after being captured by the Japanese. He was a consistent, determined right-hander and in 1950 was talked of as an England possible. "There is a good deal of his distinguished brother in him," wrote E. W. Swanton. "A similar physique, a similar predilection for the drive, and among other mannerisms that trick of remaining poised after the stroke, with the bat following full through pointing the direction of the ball." But this Edrich was solid rather than stellar, reaching 1,000 first-class runs in eight of his 11 full seasons, and falling just short in the other three. In 1952 he passed 2,000 runs, and in all scored more than 15,000, with 26 hundreds. He was also a fine close fielder, especially to the off-spin of Roy Tattersall. In his later years Edrich occasionally captained Lancashire when Cyril Washbrook was away. "Geoff was a much more aggressive captain," remembered Geoffrey Howard, Lancashire's secretary at the time. "He always played to win; Cyril played not to lose." Edrich's tenure included the match against Leicestershire at Old Trafford in 1956 which Lancashire won without losing a wicket, the first such instance in first-class cricket. But his association with the county ended bitterly in 1959 when, as captain of the Second XI, he was blamed after his players damaged a guesthouse. Edrich, who had recently received a drink-driving caution, was sacked, and struggled for some time. He bounced back to become a respected groundsman/coach at Cheltenham College, presiding over Gloucestershire's annual festival there until his retirement.

Elliott, Charles Standish MBE, died on January 1, 2004, aged 91. Charlie Elliott had a long career as a county batsman - he played in Derbyshire's only Championship-winning side, in 1936 - Test umpire, selector, and county administrator. He started at Derby in 1932, joining his uncle Harry, their longserving wicket-keeper. He was not quite a regular in the 1930s; although he did play over half the matches in the title-winning year, he was released a year later, and played league cricket before being re-engaged after the war. Once established, he passed 1,000 runs every year from 1947 to 1952. The highest of his nine centuries was 215 at Trent Bridge in 1947, when he put on 349 for the second wicket with John Eggar, which remained a record for any Derbyshire wicket until 1997. Elliott's career batting average of 27 was better than it looks, because Derbyshire pitches were notoriously green. After a poor season in 1953, he took up umpiring, and quickly rose to the top, standing in 42 Tests between 1957 and 1974, then second only to Frank Chester, including one (very rare at the time) in New Zealand, in 1970-71, when he was there on a Churchill Fellowship. "He was one of the old school of umpires," said the England wicket-keeper Bob Taylor, "and all the players had a lot of respect for him." In addition to the other umpiring paraphernalia, Elliott always kept a big cigar in his top pocket. After stepping down, he had seven years as an England selector, until 1981. "He was a great fellow, very reliable," remembered Alec Bedser, his chairman, "and a sound judge of a player." Elliott later became chairman of Derbyshire's cricket committee and, more than 60 years after first arriving there as a player, was the county's president in 1994. He also played soccer, as a defender for Coventry City, whom he managed in 1954-55. In his 90th year he was still running a memorabilia-festooned guesthouse in Nottingham.