Thomas Mitchell (cricketer)
Encyclopedia
Thomas Bignall Mitchell was an English cricket
er who played for Derbyshire
between 1928 and 1939.
A leg spin
bowler, he was the most successful slow bowler in the history of a county better known for its pace bowling strength. His bowling was an important factor in Derbyshire's most successful period in the County Championship
during the 1930s. Along with Bill Copson
, Leslie Townsend
and the brothers Pope, he formed an attack sufficiently strong during the dreadful summer of 1936 to, aided by some quirks in the weather, displace Yorkshire
from their perennial position atop the Championship table.
Mitchell was born at Creswell
, Bolsover
, Derbyshire
and was a faceworker in the coal
mines. He was first spotted by Derbyshire during the General Strike of 1926 and began playing for Derbyshire in the 1928 season
but was disappointing. However in the 1929 season
he took 100 wickets and was deadly whenever the pitches took sufficient spin. In the 1930 season
, he did even better, and though expensive in the 1931
and 1932 season
s, his ability to spin the ball on dry pitches more than any other leg-spinner in county cricket saw him taken on the Ashes tour (in preference to the likes of Tich Freeman
) when business prevented Walter Robins
touring. He played in the Fourth Test as a replacement for Bill Voce
who was injured, and despite dismissing Bill Woodfull
in both innings he was never able to establish himself for England. Indeed, he was so expensive when called upon in 1934 that he took no wicket and conceded 117 runs, and the following year, when he was very disappointing on a leatherjacket
-infested Lord's wicket that should have helped him, he is quoted as having said "You couldn't captain a team of bloody lead soldiers" to his captain Bob Wyatt
. Indeed, Mitchell's tactlessness towards administrators made him quite unpopular with them and may have prejudiced his chances of doing well in representative cricket.
However, for Derbyshire Mitchell went from strength to strength in the dry summers of 1933
and 1934
, at times bowling with sensational skill, as when he dismissed Worcestershire
for 48 on a good pitch in 1934. He was close to the top of the averages in those two seasons, but from the 1935 season
appeared to sacrifice length to gain more spin and often suffered heavy punishment. Still, he could be deadly on his best days, as when he took all ten wickets in an innings against Leicestershire for 64 runs at Leicester in 1935 or when he took 7 for 26 against Gloucestershire on a blameless pitch at Derby a year later. Mitchell set a record for Derbyshire with 168 wickets in 1935 but Derbyshire's Championship win in the 1936 season
was considerably less successful and at times very expensive even when conditions favoured bowlers (e.g. against Kent at Burton-on-Trent and Warwickshire at Edgbaston). Still, on Mitchell's good days Derbyshire's bowling that season could compare with almost any county side in history, and the following two seasons still saw him as one of the best spin bowlers in England.
In the 1939 season
, however, Mitchell did not do much work because Derbyshire's pace attack was so consistently effective and he failed to take 100 wickets for the first time in 11 seasons. Moreover, when he refused to rejoin the team after World War II
, the Derbyshire committee declined to give Mitchell the benefit he was due to receive in 1940. He did, though, continue to baffle batsmen for Hickleton Main well into his fifties.
At his best a master of flight and variety, Mitchell was capable of many more balls that the typical leg break and googly bowler. Often he would vary his leg-breaks with off-breaks made by turning the wrist in the opposite direction to that of a conventional leg-break or googly, and his top-spinner also brought him many wickets. However, Mitchell, unlike such bowlers as Tich Freeman, was erratic and, especially in his later years, he could have days where he was heaven for batsmen wishing for quick runs. He was never much of a batsman, but was a capable field at cover-point.
When he died at Hickleton
, Doncaster
, Yorkshire
, Mitchell was the oldest surviving English Test cricketer and was surrounded by great-grandchildren, seemingly contented in a way not seen in his days as a player.
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 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...
between 1928 and 1939.
A leg spin
Leg spin
Leg spin is a type of spin bowling in the sport of cricket. A leg spinner bowls right-arm with a wrist spin action, causing the ball to spin from right to left in the cricket pitch, at the point of delivery. When the ball bounces, the spin causes the ball to deviate sharply from right to left, that...
bowler, he was the most successful slow bowler in the history of a county better known for its pace bowling strength. His bowling was an important factor in Derbyshire's most successful period in the County Championship
County Championship
The County Championship is the domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales...
during the 1930s. Along with Bill Copson
Bill Copson
Bill Copson was an English cricketer who played for Derbyshire between 1932 and 1950, and for England between 1939 and 1947. He took over 1,000 wickets for Derbyshire, and was prominent in their 1936 Championship season...
, Leslie Townsend
Leslie Townsend
Leslie Fletcher Townsend was an English cricketer who played for England between 1929 and 1934, for Derbyshire between 1922 and 1939 and also for Auckland New Zealand between 1934 and 1936....
and the brothers Pope, he formed an attack sufficiently strong during the dreadful summer of 1936 to, aided by some quirks in the weather, displace Yorkshire
Yorkshire County Cricket Club
Yorkshire County Cricket Club represents the historic county of Yorkshire as one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure....
from their perennial position atop the Championship table.
Mitchell was born at Creswell
Creswell
-Places:* In the United Kingdom:** Creswell, Derbyshire*** Creswell Crags*** Creswell Model Village** Creswell, Staffordshire* In the United States:** Creswell, Maryland** Creswell, North Carolina** Creswell, Oregon* In Australia:...
, Bolsover
Bolsover
Bolsover is a town near Chesterfield, Derbyshire, England. It is 145 miles from London, 18 miles from Sheffield, 26 miles from Nottingham and 54 miles from Manchester. It is the main town in the Bolsover district.The civil parish for the town is called...
, Derbyshire
Derbyshire
Derbyshire is a county in the East Midlands of England. A substantial portion of the Peak District National Park lies within Derbyshire. The northern part of Derbyshire overlaps with the Pennines, a famous chain of hills and mountains. The county contains within its boundary of approx...
and was a faceworker in the coal
Coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure...
mines. He was first spotted by Derbyshire during the General Strike of 1926 and began playing for Derbyshire in the 1928 season
Derbyshire County Cricket Club in 1928
Derbyshire Country Cricket Club in 1928 was the cricket season when the English club Derbyshire had been playing for fifty seven years. It was their thirtieth season in the County Championship and they won six matches to finish tenth in the County Championship..-1928 season:Derbyshire played 26...
but was disappointing. However in the 1929 season
Derbyshire County Cricket Club in 1929
Derbyshire Country Cricket Club in 1929 represents the cricket season when the English club Derbyshire had been playing for fifty eight years. It was their thirty-first season in the County Championship and they came seventh in the competition after winning ten matches in the championship.-1929...
he took 100 wickets and was deadly whenever the pitches took sufficient spin. In the 1930 season
Derbyshire County Cricket Club in 1930
Derbyshire Country Cricket Club in 1930 was the cricket season when the English club Derbyshire had been playing for fifty nine years. It was their thirty-second season in the County Championship and they won seven matches to finish ninth in the County Championship..-1930 season:Derbyshire played...
, he did even better, and though expensive in the 1931
Derbyshire County Cricket Club in 1931
Derbyshire Country Cricket Club in 1931 represents the cricket season when the English club Derbyshire had been playing for sixty years. It was their thirty-third season in the County Championship and they won seven matches to finish seventh.-1931 season:...
and 1932 season
Derbyshire County Cricket Club in 1932
Derbyshire Country Cricket Club in 1932 represents the cricket season when the English club Derbyshire had been playing for sixty one years. It was their thirty-fourth season in the County Championship and they won six matches to finish tenth-1932 season:...
s, his ability to spin the ball on dry pitches more than any other leg-spinner in county cricket saw him taken on the Ashes tour (in preference to the likes of Tich Freeman
Tich Freeman
Alfred Percy "Tich" Freeman was an English cricketer. A leg spin bowler for Kent and England, he is the only man to take 300 wickets in an English season, and is the second most prolific wicket taker in first class cricket history.-Career:Freeman's common name comes from his extremely short...
) when business prevented Walter Robins
Walter Robins
Robert Walter Vivian Robins was a dynamic English cricketer and footballer.Walter Robins was born in Stafford and was educated at Highgate School and Cambridge University. He played football for Nottingham Forest and first-class cricket for Middlesex, Cambridge University and England...
touring. He played in the Fourth Test as a replacement for Bill Voce
Bill Voce
Bill Voce was an English cricketer. He played for the Nottinghamshire and England, and was an instrumental part of England's infamous Bodyline tour of Australia in 1932–1933.-Life and career:...
who was injured, and despite dismissing Bill Woodfull
Bill Woodfull
William Maldon "Bill" Woodfull OBE was an Australian cricketer of the 1920s and 1930s. He captained both Victoria and Australia, and was best known for his dignified and moral conduct during the tumultuous bodyline series in 1932–33 that almost saw the end of Anglo-Australian cricketing ties...
in both innings he was never able to establish himself for England. Indeed, he was so expensive when called upon in 1934 that he took no wicket and conceded 117 runs, and the following year, when he was very disappointing on a leatherjacket
Leatherjacket
Leatherjacket may refer to:* Leatherjacket fish, a species of fish* Filefish, a family of fish* Crane fly, in larval stage...
-infested Lord's wicket that should have helped him, he is quoted as having said "You couldn't captain a team of bloody lead soldiers" to his captain Bob Wyatt
Bob Wyatt
Robert "Bob" Elliott Storey Wyatt was an English cricket player. He played for Warwickshire, Worcestershire, and the English cricket team....
. Indeed, Mitchell's tactlessness towards administrators made him quite unpopular with them and may have prejudiced his chances of doing well in representative cricket.
However, for Derbyshire Mitchell went from strength to strength in the dry summers of 1933
Derbyshire County Cricket Club in 1933
Derbyshire Country Cricket Club in 1933 was the cricket season when the English club Derbyshire had been playing for sixty two years. It was their thirty-fifth season in the County Championship and they won eleven matches to finish sixth.-1933 season:...
and 1934
Derbyshire County Cricket Club in 1934
Derbyshire Country Cricket Club in 1934 was the cricket season when the English club Derbyshire had been playing for sixty-three years. It was their thirty-sixth season in the County Championship and they won ten matches in the County Championship, to finish third.-1934 season:Derbyshire played...
, at times bowling with sensational skill, as when he dismissed Worcestershire
Worcestershire County Cricket Club
Worcestershire 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 Worcestershire...
for 48 on a good pitch in 1934. He was close to the top of the averages in those two seasons, but from the 1935 season
Derbyshire County Cricket Club in 1935
Derbyshire Country Cricket Club' in 1935 was the cricket season when the English club Derbyshire were runners up in the County Championship for the first time, as a prelude to winning the Championship in the 1936 season. They had been playing for sixty four years and it was their thirty-seventh...
appeared to sacrifice length to gain more spin and often suffered heavy punishment. Still, he could be deadly on his best days, as when he took all ten wickets in an innings against Leicestershire for 64 runs at Leicester in 1935 or when he took 7 for 26 against Gloucestershire on a blameless pitch at Derby a year later. Mitchell set a record for Derbyshire with 168 wickets in 1935 but Derbyshire's Championship win in the 1936 season
Derbyshire County Cricket Club in 1936
Derbyshire Country Cricket Club in 1936 was the cricket season when the English club Derbyshire won the County Championship for the first and only time. They had been playing for sixty five years and it was their thirty-eighth season in the County Championship....
was considerably less successful and at times very expensive even when conditions favoured bowlers (e.g. against Kent at Burton-on-Trent and Warwickshire at Edgbaston). Still, on Mitchell's good days Derbyshire's bowling that season could compare with almost any county side in history, and the following two seasons still saw him as one of the best spin bowlers in England.
In the 1939 season
Derbyshire County Cricket Club in 1939
Derbyshire Country Cricket Club in 1939 was the last cricket season before World War II, when the English club Derbyshire had been playing for sixty-eight years...
, however, Mitchell did not do much work because Derbyshire's pace attack was so consistently effective and he failed to take 100 wickets for the first time in 11 seasons. Moreover, when he refused to rejoin the team after World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, the Derbyshire committee declined to give Mitchell the benefit he was due to receive in 1940. He did, though, continue to baffle batsmen for Hickleton Main well into his fifties.
At his best a master of flight and variety, Mitchell was capable of many more balls that the typical leg break and googly bowler. Often he would vary his leg-breaks with off-breaks made by turning the wrist in the opposite direction to that of a conventional leg-break or googly, and his top-spinner also brought him many wickets. However, Mitchell, unlike such bowlers as Tich Freeman, was erratic and, especially in his later years, he could have days where he was heaven for batsmen wishing for quick runs. He was never much of a batsman, but was a capable field at cover-point.
When he died at Hickleton
Hickleton
Hickleton is a village and civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Doncaster in South Yorkshire, England. It has a population of 290.There are records of Hickleton’s history dating back to Saxon times, although some consider the settlement has Roman roots.More recently, it was the 'estate...
, Doncaster
Doncaster
Doncaster is a town in South Yorkshire, England, and the principal settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Doncaster. The town is about from Sheffield and is popularly referred to as "Donny"...
, Yorkshire
Yorkshire
Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...
, Mitchell was the oldest surviving English Test cricketer and was surrounded by great-grandchildren, seemingly contented in a way not seen in his days as a player.