Donald Carr
Encyclopedia
Donald Bryce Carr is a former English
cricketer
who played for Derbyshire
from 1946 to 1967, for Oxford University
from 1948 to 1951, and twice for England in 1951/52. He captained
Derbyshire between 1955 and 1962, and scored over 10,000 runs for the county. His cricket administration roles included twelve years as assistant secretary to the MCC, taking over as secretary of the fledgling Test and County Cricket Board in 1976. In his ten years in that role, cricket writer, Colin Bateman noted that Carr "mixed diplomacy with a sense of justice as first the Packer Affair
, and then the first rebel tour
to South Africa
, threatened to split the world game".
, who was serving with the British Army of the Rhine
in Germany. He went to Forres Boarding School in Swanage
(the headmaster, RM Chadwick, a former opening bat for Dorset Minor Counties 1st X1, coached him) and then to Repton School
, where his father had taken the post of bursar. Already an above average boy cricketer, he developed into one of the best young all-rounders under the coaching of Lionel Blaxland
and Garnet Lee
. In 1944 his last year at Repton, he captained The Rest against the Lord's Schools and the Public Schools' side against a Lord's XI.
Carr joined the Army
on 1 January 1945, and was sent to Northern Ireland
, where he had little scope to play serious cricket. In the summer he went to Wrotham
for a training course and was chosen, on the withdrawal of George Pope, for England in the third Victory Test
match against Australia at Lord's
. He went to Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst and gained a Commission in the Royal Berkshire Regiment in February 1946. In the 1946 season
he first played for Derbyshire in the County Championship
. He made his debut against Kent
, when he scored a duck in his only innings in a drawn match, but took two wickets. He also played for Combined Services
.
Carr did not play first-class cricket
in 1947, as he was serving in Burma, but left the army in April 1948 and went to Oxford University. He played in the County Championship for Derbyshire in the 1948 season and, in 1949, made the Oxford University team. He also finished off the season playing for Derbyshire in the 1949 season
when he scored 1,210 runs and hit three centuries, with his career top score 170 for Oxford University against Leicestershire
. In 1950, he captained Oxford, and took six for 39 against Lancashire
. In his final year at Oxford his 34 and 50 helped defeat Cambridge
by 21 runs in the Varsity match
, and he also headed the Derbyshire Championship averages in the 1951 season
.
After university, Carr went to work for a Midlands brewery, but before starting he was given permission to tour as vice-captain to Nigel Howard
in the MCC
team in India, Pakistan and Ceylon. He played in two Test match
es against India
in 1951-52. In the first, at Delhi
, England were in a desperate situation until he and Allan Watkins
stayed together for just over five hours and added 158 to save the game. He was captain in Howard's absence in the second of those Tests, which was the first time England lost to India, which left the series drawn at 1-1. In his test career he played four innings in two matches at an average of 33.75, and a highest score of 76. He took two test wickets for the loss of 140 runs.
Carr scored 2,292 at an average of more than 44 runs an innings in the 1959 season
, and was named Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1960.
Carr played 745 innings on 446 first-class matches, with an average of 28.61 and a top score of 170. He took 328 first class wickets at an average of 34.74, and a best performance of 7 for 53.
Carr represented Oxford University
at football, and played in the FA Amateur Cup
final twice for the winning Pegasus side in 1951 and 1953.
Carr later became an ICC
match referee. After his retirement, he became assistant secretary of the MCC from 1963 to 1976, and then secretary to the Cricket Council and the Test and County Cricket Board – both forerunners of the England and Wales Cricket Board
(ECB) – for ten years after that. He also managed several MCC tours in the 1960s and 1970s.
Carr's son John played for Middlesex
. The family is no relation to the former England and Nottinghamshire
cricket captain, Arthur Carr.
English cricket team
The England and Wales cricket team is a cricket team which represents England and Wales. Until 1992 it also represented Scotland. Since 1 January 1997 it has been governed by the England and Wales Cricket Board , having been previously governed by Marylebone Cricket Club from 1903 until the end...
cricketer
Cricketer
A cricketer is a person who plays the sport of cricket. Official and long-established cricket publications prefer the traditional word "cricketer" over the rarely used term "cricket player"....
who played for Derbyshire
Derbyshire County Cricket Club
Derbyshire County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the England and Wales domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Derbyshire...
from 1946 to 1967, for Oxford University
Oxford University Cricket Club
Oxford University Cricket Club is a first-class cricket team, representing the University of Oxford. It plays its home games at the University Parks in Oxford, England...
from 1948 to 1951, and twice for England in 1951/52. He captained
Captain (cricket)
The captain of a cricket team often referred to as the skipper is the appointed leader, having several additional roles and responsibilities over and above those of a regular player...
Derbyshire between 1955 and 1962, and scored over 10,000 runs for the county. His cricket administration roles included twelve years as assistant secretary to the MCC, taking over as secretary of the fledgling Test and County Cricket Board in 1976. In his ten years in that role, cricket writer, Colin Bateman noted that Carr "mixed diplomacy with a sense of justice as first the Packer Affair
World Series Cricket
World Series Cricket was a break away professional cricket competition staged between 1977 and 1979 and organised by Kerry Packer for his Australian television network, Nine Network. The matches ran in opposition to established international cricket...
, and then the first rebel tour
South African rebel tours
The South African rebel tours were a series of seven cricket tours staged between 1982 and 1990. They were known as the rebel tours because South Africa was throughout this period banned from international cricket due to the apartheid regime...
to South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
, threatened to split the world game".
Life and career
Carr was born the son of J L Carr, an officer of the Royal Berkshire RegimentRoyal Berkshire Regiment
The Royal Berkshire Regiment was an infantry regiment of the line in the British Army, formed in 1881 by the amalgamation of the 49th Regiment of Foot and the 66th Regiment of Foot.The regiment was originally formed as The Princess Charlotte of Wales's , taking the...
, who was serving with the British Army of the Rhine
British Army of the Rhine
There have been two formations named British Army of the Rhine . Both were originally occupation forces in Germany, one after the First World War, and the other after the Second World War.-1919–1929:...
in Germany. He went to Forres Boarding School in Swanage
Swanage
Swanage is a coastal town and civil parish in the south east of Dorset, England. It is situated at the eastern end of the Isle of Purbeck, approximately 10 km south of Poole and 40 km east of Dorchester. The parish has a population of 10,124 . Nearby are Ballard Down and Old Harry Rocks,...
(the headmaster, RM Chadwick, a former opening bat for Dorset Minor Counties 1st X1, coached him) and then to Repton School
Repton School
Repton School, founded in 1557, is a co-educational English independent school for both day and boarding pupils, in the British public school tradition, located in the village of Repton, in Derbyshire, in the Midlands area of England...
, where his father had taken the post of bursar. Already an above average boy cricketer, he developed into one of the best young all-rounders under the coaching of Lionel Blaxland
Lionel Blaxland
Lionel Bruce Blaxland was an English First World War flying ace, cricketer, schoolmaster and clergyman. He played first-class cricket intermittently for Derbyshire between 1925 and 1947....
and Garnet Lee
Garnet Lee
Garnet Morley Lee was an English cricketer who played first class cricket for Nottinghamshire between 1910 and 1922 and for Derbyshire between 1925 and 1933. He scored nearly 15,000 runs in his first class career....
. In 1944 his last year at Repton, he captained The Rest against the Lord's Schools and the Public Schools' side against a Lord's XI.
Carr joined the Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
on 1 January 1945, and was sent to Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
, where he had little scope to play serious cricket. In the summer he went to Wrotham
Wrotham
Wrotham is a village situated on the Pilgrims' Way in Kent, at the foot of the North Downs. It is located one mile north of Borough Green and approximately five miles east of Sevenoaks. It is within the junction of the M20 and M26 motorways....
for a training course and was chosen, on the withdrawal of George Pope, for England in the third Victory Test
Victory Tests
The Victory Tests were a series of cricket matches played in England from 19 May to 22 August 1945, between a combined Australian Services XI and an English national side...
match against Australia at Lord's
Lord's Cricket Ground
Lord's Cricket Ground is a cricket venue in St John's Wood, London. Named after its founder, Thomas Lord, it is owned by Marylebone Cricket Club and is the home of Middlesex County Cricket Club, the England and Wales Cricket Board , the European Cricket Council and, until August 2005, the...
. He went to Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst and gained a Commission in the Royal Berkshire Regiment in February 1946. In the 1946 season
Derbyshire County Cricket Club in 1946
Derbyshire Country Cricket Club in 1946 represents the first cricket season after a six year break from first class cricket during World War II. The English club Derbyshire had been playing for seventy five years...
he first played for Derbyshire in the County Championship
County Championship
The County Championship is the domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales...
. He made his debut against Kent
Kent County Cricket Club
Kent County Cricket Club is one of the 18 first class county county cricket clubs which make up the English and Welsh national cricket structure, representing the county of Kent...
, when he scored a duck in his only innings in a drawn match, but took two wickets. He also played for Combined Services
Combined Services cricket team
The Combined Services cricket team represents the British armed forces. The team played at first-class level in England for more than forty years in the mid-twentieth century. Their first first-class match was against Gentlemen of England at Lord's in 1920, while their last was against Oxford...
.
Carr did not play first-class cricket
First-class cricket
First-class cricket is a class of cricket that consists of matches of three or more days' scheduled duration, that are between two sides of eleven players and are officially adjudged first-class by virtue of the standard of the competing teams...
in 1947, as he was serving in Burma, but left the army in April 1948 and went to Oxford University. He played in the County Championship for Derbyshire in the 1948 season and, in 1949, made the Oxford University team. He also finished off the season playing for Derbyshire in the 1949 season
Derbyshire County Cricket Club in 1949
Derbyshire Country Cricket Club in 1949 represents the cricket season when the English club Derbyshire had been playing for seventy-eight years. It was their forty-fifth season in the County Championship and they won six matches in the County Championship to finish in fifteenth place.-1949...
when he scored 1,210 runs and hit three centuries, with his career top score 170 for Oxford University against Leicestershire
Leicestershire County Cricket Club
Leicestershire County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh national cricket structure, representing the historic county of Leicestershire. It has also been representative of the county of Rutland....
. In 1950, he captained Oxford, and took six for 39 against Lancashire
Lancashire County Cricket Club
Lancashire County Cricket Club represents the historic county of Lancashire in cricket's County Championship. The club was founded in 1864 as a successor to Manchester Cricket Club and has played at Old Trafford since then...
. In his final year at Oxford his 34 and 50 helped defeat Cambridge
Cambridge University Cricket Club
Cambridge University Cricket Club is a first-class cricket team. It now plays all but one of its first-class cricket matches as part of the Cambridge University Centre of Cricketing Excellence , which includes Anglia Ruskin University...
by 21 runs in the Varsity match
The University Match (cricket)
The University Match in a cricketing context is generally understood to refer to the annual fixture between Oxford University Cricket Club and Cambridge University Cricket Club...
, and he also headed the Derbyshire Championship averages in the 1951 season
Derbyshire County Cricket Club in 1951
Derbyshire Country Cricket Club in 1951 was the cricket season when the English club Derbyshire had been playing for eighty years. It was their forty-seventh season in the County Championship and they won five matches and lost seven to finish eleventh in the County Championship.-1951 season:Guy...
.
After university, Carr went to work for a Midlands brewery, but before starting he was given permission to tour as vice-captain to Nigel Howard
Nigel Howard
Nigel David Howard was an English cricketer, who played for Lancashire and England. Born in Gee Cross, Hyde, Cheshire, he captained England for the tour to India in the only four Test matches he played in, winning one and drawing three, although the series was drawn after the fifth Test match was...
in the MCC
Marylebone Cricket Club
Marylebone Cricket Club is a cricket club in London founded in 1787. Its influence and longevity now witness it as a private members' club dedicated to the development of cricket. It owns, and is based at, Lord's Cricket Ground in St John's Wood, London NW8. MCC was formerly the governing body of...
team in India, Pakistan and Ceylon. He played in two Test match
Test cricket
Test cricket is the longest form of the sport of cricket. Test matches are played between national representative teams with "Test status", as determined by the International Cricket Council , with four innings played between two teams of 11 players over a period of up to a maximum five days...
es against India
Indian cricket team
The Indian cricket team is the national cricket team of India. Governed by the Board of Control for Cricket in India , it is a full member of the International Cricket Council with Test and One Day International status....
in 1951-52. In the first, at Delhi
Delhi
Delhi , officially National Capital Territory of Delhi , is the largest metropolis by area and the second-largest by population in India, next to Mumbai. It is the eighth largest metropolis in the world by population with 16,753,265 inhabitants in the Territory at the 2011 Census...
, England were in a desperate situation until he and Allan Watkins
Allan Watkins
Allan Watkins Allan Watkins Allan Watkins (born Albert John Watkins (21 April 1922 – 3 August 2011) was a Welsh cricketer, who played for England in fifteen Tests from 1948 to 1952. He toured India and Pakistan in 1951-2 with the MCC, and also participated in the 1955-6 'A' Tour to Pakistan...
stayed together for just over five hours and added 158 to save the game. He was captain in Howard's absence in the second of those Tests, which was the first time England lost to India, which left the series drawn at 1-1. In his test career he played four innings in two matches at an average of 33.75, and a highest score of 76. He took two test wickets for the loss of 140 runs.
Carr scored 2,292 at an average of more than 44 runs an innings in the 1959 season
Derbyshire County Cricket Club in 1959
Derbyshire Country Cricket Club in 1959 represents the cricket season when the English club Derbyshire had been playing eighty-eight years. It was their fifty-fifth season in the County Championship and they won thirteen matches to finish seventh in the County Championship.-1959 season:Derbyshire...
, and was named Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1960.
Carr played 745 innings on 446 first-class matches, with an average of 28.61 and a top score of 170. He took 328 first class wickets at an average of 34.74, and a best performance of 7 for 53.
Carr represented Oxford University
Oxford University A.F.C.
Oxford University Association Football Club is an English football club representing the University of Oxford.-History:Formed in 1872, the club was a giant of the 1870s, winning the FA Cup 2-0 against Royal Engineers in 1874 and finishing the competition as runners up in 1873, 1877 and 1880, the...
at football, and played in the FA Amateur Cup
FA Amateur Cup
The FA Amateur Cup was an English football competition for amateur clubs. It commenced in 1893 and ended in 1974 when The Football Association abolished official amateur status.-History:...
final twice for the winning Pegasus side in 1951 and 1953.
Carr later became an ICC
International Cricket Council
The International Cricket Council is the international governing body of cricket. It was founded as the Imperial Cricket Conference in 1909 by representatives from England, Australia and South Africa, renamed the International Cricket Conference in 1965, and took up its current name in 1989.The...
match referee. After his retirement, he became assistant secretary of the MCC from 1963 to 1976, and then secretary to the Cricket Council and the Test and County Cricket Board – both forerunners of the England and Wales Cricket Board
England and Wales Cricket Board
The England and Wales Cricket Board is the governing body of cricket in England and Wales. It was created on 1 January 1997 combining the roles of the Test and County Cricket Board, the National Cricket Association and the Cricket Council...
(ECB) – for ten years after that. He also managed several MCC tours in the 1960s and 1970s.
Carr's son John played for Middlesex
Middlesex County Cricket Club
Middlesex County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Middlesex. It was announced in February 2009 that Middlesex changed their limited overs name from the Middlesex Crusaders, to the...
. The family is no relation to the former England and Nottinghamshire
Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club
Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Nottinghamshire, and the current county champions. Its limited overs team is called the Nottinghamshire Outlaws...
cricket captain, Arthur Carr.