Alan Stanley Myles Oakman (20 April 1930 – 6 September 2018) was an English

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officia ...

er. He had a long career for Sussex, playing 538 first-class matches over a 21-year period, and played two Test matches for

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. He also umpired one One Day International after his retirement as a player.

Life and career

A former

Welsh Guards The Welsh Guards (WG; cy, Gwarchodlu Cymreig), part of the Guards Division, is one of the Foot Guards regiments of the British Army. It was founded in 1915 as a single-battalion regiment, during the First World War, by Royal Warrant of George V. ...

man, and a more than dependable county

all-rounder An all-rounder is a cricketer who regularly performs well at both batting and bowling. Although all bowlers must bat and quite a handful of batsmen do bowl occasionally, most players are skilled in only one of the two disciplines and are consi ...

, Oakman used his unusual height () to gain bounce for his

off-spin Off spin is a type of finger spin bowling in cricket. A bowler who uses this technique is called an off spinner. Off spinners are right-handed spin bowlers who use their fingers to spin the ball. Their normal delivery is an off break, which s ...

ners, and got well forward to drive while at the batting crease. He passed a thousand runs in a season on nine occasions, took 99 wickets in 1954 and his telescopic skill as a close fielder snared him five catches in

Jim Laker James Charles Laker (9 February 1922 – 23 April 1986) was an English professional cricketer who played for Surrey County Cricket Club from 1946 to 1959 and represented England in 46 Test matches. He was born in Shipley, West Riding of York ...

's famous 19 wicket haul at Old Trafford, and totalled 594 catches in his career. Although both his Test appearances in the home Ashes series of 1956 ended in victories, he was called upon for just eight overs at Old Trafford, whilst

Tony Lock Graham Anthony Richard Lock (5 July 1929 – 30 March 1995) was an English cricketer, who played primarily as a left-arm spinner. He played in forty nine Tests for England taking 174 wickets at 25.58 each. Lock took 2,844 first-class wicket ...

and Laker bowled over 130 between them. He played a key role in the Old Trafford match taking five catches from Australia's two innings. England's wealth of off-spinners during this period which included Laker, Illingworth and Titmus, meant his international career was brief. A stalwart for Sussex for two decades from 1947 to 1968, his value to the team was belied by his comparatively modest

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is ...

, but he still stands eleventh in the list of all time run-scorers for his county. He took five wickets in an innings 31 times, with a best of 7 for 39 against Glamorgan in 1954 (10 for 58 in the match). He scored 22 centuries, with a highest score of 229

not out In cricket, a batter is not out if they come out to bat in an innings and have not been dismissed by the end of an innings. The batter is also ''not out'' while their innings is still in progress. Occurrence At least one batter is not out at t ...

against Nottinghamshire in 1961 (off 105 overs), a season in which he made his highest tally of 2307 runs. Oakman became coach of

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Av ...

in 1970 and led them to the

County Championship The County Championship (referred to as the LV= Insurance County Championship for sponsorship reasons) is the domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales and is organised by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). It bec ...

title in 1972. After this he moved away from the pitch, becoming the club's Assistant Secretary for Cricket Administration. Oakman turned to umpiring for a brief spell after retiring, replacing

Arthur Fagg Arthur Edward Fagg (18 June 1915 – 13 September 1977) was an English cricketer who played for Kent County Cricket Club and the English cricket team. A right-handed opening batsman who first played for Kent at the age of 17, Fagg was a Test ...

for one over at the 1973 Edgbaston Test when Fagg staged a protest at the

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greate ...

attitude in the field, but then became Warwickshire's

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Co ...

between 1970 and 1987. Oakman continued to play cricket until almost seventy, making appearances for Warwickshire's Over-50s side and inspiring the founding of the Sussex Cricket Society. Oakman died on 6 September 2018, as a mark of respect the Sussex flag was flown at half mast for their championship game against Leicestershire at the

County Cricket Ground, Hove The County Cricket Ground, known for sponsorship reasons as The 1st Central County Ground, is a cricket venue in Hove, East Sussex, England. The County Ground is the home of Sussex County Cricket Club, where most Sussex home matches since 1872 ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Oakman, Alan 1930 births 2018 deaths English cricketers England Test cricketers English cricket coaches Sussex cricketers Combined Services cricketers Commonwealth XI cricketers International Cavaliers cricketers Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers Players cricketers English One Day International cricket umpires People educated at Hastings Grammar School North v South cricketers A. E. R. Gilligan's XI cricketers Sportspeople from Hastings E. W. Swanton's XI cricketers

Life and career

See also

References

External links