Mandy Mitchell-Innes
Encyclopedia
Norman Stewart Mitchell-Innes, known as Mandy Mitchell-Innes (7 September 1914 - 28 December 2006) was an English
cricket
er who played in one Test
in May 1935. He became England's oldest surviving Test cricketer on 7 October 2001, on the death of Alf Gover
. Following his own death, that distinction passed to Ken Cranston
, who himself died a few days later. Mitchell-Innes was also the last surviving English cricketer to have played Test cricket before the Second World War.
Mitchell-Innes was born in Calcutta, where his father was a businessman of Scottish descent. He returned to England with his family at the age of 5 to live in Somerset. He was educated at Sedbergh School
, where he was a precocious schoolboy batsman - he scored 302 in a house match in one afternoon. He played for Somerset
against Warwickshire
at Taunton
in August 1931, while still a 16 year old schoolboy, returning by overnight train from a golf tournament in Scotland. He won an exhibition to read law at Brasenose College, Oxford
in 1934. Despite suffering from hay fever
, which occasionally affected his performance, he scored a record 3,319 runs for Oxford University Cricket Club
from 1934 to 1937, at an average of 47.41, an aggregate which has never been surpassed. He captained Oxford in 1936 and 1937. He also played in four Gentlemen v. Players matches from 1934 to 1937, one at Folkestone
and three at Lord's
, and for Scotland in 1937. He also captained Oxford at golf
; his grandfather, Gilbert Mitchell-Innes, had been a captain of Prestwick golf club
, where the Open Championship
originated.
He was still a student when he was called up by Plum Warner
to play in his only Test for England, the first Test against South Africa at Trent Bridge
in June 1935. Warner, chairman of the England selectors, had seen him score 168 for Oxford against the tourists, but he was out for only 5 in the Test, which ended in a draw. He was also selected for the second Test, at Lord's, but withdrew on account of his hay fever, worrying that he might sneeze just as he was about to take a catch in the slips, and was replaced by Errol Holmes
. He never played for England again. He toured Australia
and New Zealand
with an MCC
team in 1935-36, but no Tests were scheduled.
He joined the Sudan Political Service after graduating in 1937, reducing his opportunities to play first-class cricket
, but he continued to appear for Somerset occasionally until 1949. He was one of the three joint captains of Somerset in 1948, alongside Jake Seamer
and George Woodhouse
, but he played in only 5 matches that year. He left the Sudan Political Service in 1954, and was company secretary
of Vaux Breweries
in Sunderland for 25 years.
He married Patricia Rossiter in 1944, and they had a son and daughter together. He retired to Herefordshire
in 1980, and lived with his daughter in Monmouthshire
after his wife died in 1989. He was survived by his son and daughter.
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
cricket
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
er who played in one Test
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...
in May 1935. He became England's oldest surviving Test cricketer on 7 October 2001, on the death of Alf Gover
Alf Gover
Alfred Richard Gover MBE was an English Test cricketer. He was the mainstay of the Surrey bowling attack during the 1930s and played four Tests before and after the Second World War...
. Following his own death, that distinction passed to Ken Cranston
Ken Cranston
Kenneth "Ken" Cranston was an English cricketer, who played first-class cricket for Lancashire and eight times for England, in 1947 and 1948. He retired from playing cricket to concentrate on his career as a dentist....
, who himself died a few days later. Mitchell-Innes was also the last surviving English cricketer to have played Test cricket before the Second World War.
Mitchell-Innes was born in Calcutta, where his father was a businessman of Scottish descent. He returned to England with his family at the age of 5 to live in Somerset. He was educated at Sedbergh School
Sedbergh School
Sedbergh School is a boarding school in Sedbergh, Cumbria, for boys and girls aged 13 to 18. Nestled in the Howgill Fells, it is known for sporting sides, such as its Rugby Union 1st XV.-Background:...
, where he was a precocious schoolboy batsman - he scored 302 in a house match in one afternoon. He played for Somerset
Somerset County Cricket Club
Somerset 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 Somerset...
against Warwickshire
Warwickshire County Cricket Club
Warwickshire 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 Warwickshire. Its limited overs team is called the Warwickshire Bears. Their kit colours are black and gold and the shirt sponsor...
at Taunton
Taunton
Taunton is the county town of Somerset, England. The town, including its suburbs, had an estimated population of 61,400 in 2001. It is the largest town in the shire county of Somerset....
in August 1931, while still a 16 year old schoolboy, returning by overnight train from a golf tournament in Scotland. He won an exhibition to read law at Brasenose College, Oxford
Brasenose College, Oxford
Brasenose College, originally Brazen Nose College , is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. As of 2006, it has an estimated financial endowment of £98m...
in 1934. Despite suffering from hay fever
Hay Fever
Hay Fever is a comic play written by Noël Coward in 1924 and first produced in 1925 with Marie Tempest as the first Judith Bliss. Laura Hope Crews played the role in New York...
, which occasionally affected his performance, he scored a record 3,319 runs for Oxford University Cricket Club
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 1934 to 1937, at an average of 47.41, an aggregate which has never been surpassed. He captained Oxford in 1936 and 1937. He also played in four Gentlemen v. Players matches from 1934 to 1937, one at Folkestone
Folkestone
Folkestone is the principal town in the Shepway District of Kent, England. Its original site was in a valley in the sea cliffs and it developed through fishing and its closeness to the Continent as a landing place and trading port. The coming of the railways, the building of a ferry port, and its...
and three 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...
, and for Scotland in 1937. He also captained Oxford at golf
Golf
Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....
; his grandfather, Gilbert Mitchell-Innes, had been a captain of Prestwick golf club
Prestwick Golf Club
Prestwick Golf Club is located in the town of Prestwick, South Ayrshire, Scotland. It is approximately southwest of Scotland's largest city, Glasgow. Prestwick is a classic links golf course, being built on the rolling sandy land that "links" the beach and the land further inland...
, where the Open Championship
The Open Championship
The Open Championship, or simply The Open , is the oldest of the four major championships in professional golf. It is the only "major" held outside the USA and is administered by The R&A, which is the governing body of golf outside the USA and Mexico...
originated.
He was still a student when he was called up by Plum Warner
Plum Warner
Sir Pelham Francis Warner MBE , affectionately and better known as Plum Warner, or even "the Grand Old Man" of English cricket was a Test cricketer....
to play in his only Test for England, the first Test against South Africa at Trent Bridge
Trent Bridge
Trent Bridge is a Test, One-day international and County cricket ground located in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England and is also the headquarters of Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club. As well as International cricket and Nottinghamshire's home games, the ground has hosted the Finals Day of...
in June 1935. Warner, chairman of the England selectors, had seen him score 168 for Oxford against the tourists, but he was out for only 5 in the Test, which ended in a draw. He was also selected for the second Test, at Lord's, but withdrew on account of his hay fever, worrying that he might sneeze just as he was about to take a catch in the slips, and was replaced by Errol Holmes
Errol Holmes
Errol Reginald Thorold Holmes, born at Calcutta on 21 August 1905 and died in London on 16 August 1960, was a cricketer who played for Oxford University, Surrey and England....
. He never played for England again. He toured Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
and New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
with an 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 1935-36, but no Tests were scheduled.
He joined the Sudan Political Service after graduating in 1937, reducing his opportunities to 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...
, but he continued to appear for Somerset occasionally until 1949. He was one of the three joint captains of Somerset in 1948, alongside Jake Seamer
Jake Seamer
John Wemyss "Jake" Seamer was an amateur cricketer who played for Oxford University and Somerset either side of the Second World War. A bespectacled cricketer, Seamer was a right-handed batsman who played with a defensive streak to his game which was rarely seen among amateur batsmen of his time...
and George Woodhouse
George Woodhouse
George Edward Sealy Woodhouse DL, born at Blandford Forum, Dorset, on 15 February 1924 and died also at Blandford on 19 January 1988, had two careers: one as a cricketer for Somerset and Dorset, the second as the chairman from 1962 to his death of the family brewing company Hall and Woodhouse...
, but he played in only 5 matches that year. He left the Sudan Political Service in 1954, and was company secretary
Company secretary
A company secretary is a senior position in a private company or public organisation, normally in the form of a managerial position or above. In the United States it is known as a corporate secretary....
of Vaux Breweries
Vaux Breweries
Vaux Breweries was a major brewer based in Sunderland. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange.-History:The Company was founded by Cuthbert Vaux in Sunderland in 1837 and for nearly 170 years was a major employer in the town....
in Sunderland for 25 years.
He married Patricia Rossiter in 1944, and they had a son and daughter together. He retired to Herefordshire
Herefordshire
Herefordshire is a historic and ceremonial county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes it is a NUTS 3 region and is one of three counties that comprise the "Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Gloucestershire" NUTS 2 region. It also forms a unitary district known as the...
in 1980, and lived with his daughter in Monmouthshire
Monmouthshire
Monmouthshire is a county in south east Wales. The name derives from the historic county of Monmouthshire which covered a much larger area. The largest town is Abergavenny. There are many castles in Monmouthshire .-Historic county:...
after his wife died in 1989. He was survived by his son and daughter.
External links
- Obituary, The Daily TelegraphThe Daily TelegraphThe Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
, 30 December 2006 - Obituary, The GuardianThe GuardianThe Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
, 12 January 2007 - Obituary, The TimesThe TimesThe Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
, 7 February 2007