Allan Frederick Tinsdale White (5 September 1915 – 16 March 1993) was an English

amateur An amateur () is generally considered a person who pursues an avocation independent from their source of income. Amateurs and their pursuits are also described as popular, informal, autodidacticism, self-taught, user-generated, do it yourself, DI ...

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 officiall ...

er. He was a right-handed batsman who played for both

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-Avon an ...

and

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a county in the West Midlands of England. The area that is now Worcestershire was absorbed into the unified Kingdom of England in 927, at which time it was constituted as a county (see His ...

, captaining the latter county between 1947 and 1949, though sharing the captaincy with

Bob Wyatt Robert Elliott Storey Wyatt (2 May 1901 – 20 April 1995) was an English cricketer who played for Warwickshire, Worcestershire and England in a career lasting nearly thirty years from 1923 to 1951. He was born at Milford Heath House in Surrey ...

in the last of those three seasons. He also played for

Cambridge University , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

, as well as making a single appearance for

Free Foresters Free Foresters Cricket Club is an English amateur cricket club, established in 1856 for players from the Midland counties of England. It is a 'wandering' (or nomadic) club, having no home ground. The Free Foresters were founded by the Rev. Willi ...

. Curiously, he passed fifty 26 times without ever going on to score a century.

Early life and education

Born in

Earlsdon Earlsdon is a residential suburb and electoral ward of Coventry, England. It lies approximately one mile to the southwest of Coventry City Centre. It is the birthplace of aviation pioneer Frank Whittle. Amenities Most shops and restaurants are ...

Coventry Coventry ( or ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. It is on the River Sherbourne. Coventry has been a large settlement for centuries, although it was not founded and given its ...

, White was educated at

Uppingham School Uppingham School is a public school (English independent day and boarding school for pupils 13-18) in Uppingham, Rutland, England, founded in 1584 by Robert Johnson (rector), Robert Johnson, the Archdeacon of Leicester, who also established Oa ...

before going up to

Pembroke College, Cambridge Pembroke College (officially "The Master, Fellows and Scholars of the College or Hall of Valence-Mary") is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England. The college is the third-oldest college of the university and has over 700 ...

. He made his first-class debut for Cambridge University against

Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...

in May 1936, scoring 93 (which was to remain his highest score for the university) before being out lbw to the bowling of

Charles Oakes Charles William Oakes (30 November 1861 – 2 July 1928) was an Australian politician. Early life Oakes was born in Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, to Agnes Jane Revelle and James Richard Oakes, a storekeeper. He was educated at state schools ...

. He won his

blue Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RYB colour model (traditional colour theory), as well as in the RGB (additive) colour model. It lies between violet and cyan on the spectrum of visible light. The eye perceives blue when obs ...

that season, playing in the

Varsity Match A varsity match is a fixture (especially of a sporting event or team) between two university teams, particularly Oxford and Cambridge. The Scottish Varsity rugby match between the University of St Andrews and the University of Edinburgh at Murray ...

Lord's Lord's Cricket Ground, commonly known as Lord's, is a cricket venue in St John's Wood, London. Named after its founder, Thomas Lord, it is owned by Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and is the home of Middlesex County Cricket Club, the England and ...

where he made 19 and 5. He also played six games for Warwickshire in 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 ...

, often getting a good start though never going on to a big score, and finishing with 272 runs at an average of 30.22, placing him third in the county's averages.

County cricket career

In 1937 White continued to play for Cambridge, although without winning another blue. He also made a further two appearances for Warwickshire, although his four innings totalled just 14 runs. He was then out of first-class cricket for a while before moving to Worcestershire in 1939, and although his record was mediocre (386 runs at 13.78, with a top score of only 47) he was kept on by the county when cricket resumed after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, enjoying his most successful season in 1946 with 1,179 first-class runs and a career-best 95 against the

Combined Services 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 Lo ...

. In 1947 White was made Captain of Worcestershire. This proved to be a good choice – his obituary in ''

Wisden ''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'', or simply ''Wisden'', colloquially the Bible of Cricket, is a cricket reference book published annually in the United Kingdom. The description "bible of cricket" was first used in the 1930s by Alec Waugh in a ...

'' called him "a popular and enterprising leader"''Obituaries in 1993''.

Wisden Cricketers' Almanack ''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'', or simply ''Wisden'', colloquially the Bible of Cricket, is a cricket reference book published annually in the United Kingdom. The description "bible of cricket" was first used in the 1930s by Alec Waugh in a ...

, 1994. – and he again passed a thousand runs for the season, albeit from 54 innings, the most he was ever to play in a single summer. From 1948 onwards his attentions were increasingly taken up by his off-field responsibilities as a mushroom farmer and after a final season for Worcestershire in 1949 (a successful year in which they came third in the

), he retired from first-class cricket. However, he played on for several years afterwards, representing the county's Second XI.

Death

White died in

Worcester Worcester may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Worcester, England, a city and the county town of Worcestershire in England ** Worcester (UK Parliament constituency), an area represented by a Member of Parliament * Worcester Park, London, Englan ...

at the age of 77.

References

*
Statistical summary
from CricketArchive {{DEFAULTSORT:White, Allan 1915 births 1993 deaths English cricketers Cambridge University cricketers Warwickshire cricketers Worcestershire cricketers Worcestershire cricket captains Free Foresters cricketers Denbighshire cricketers People educated at Uppingham School Alumni of Pembroke College, Cambridge