Anthony Waldron Catt (2 October 1933 – 6 August 2018) was an English

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

er who played as a

wicket-keeper The wicket-keeper in the sport of cricket is the player on the fielding side who stands behind the wicket or stumps being watchful of the batsman and ready to take a catch, stump the batsman out and run out a batsman when occasion arises. Th ...

for

Kent County Cricket Club Kent County Cricket Club is one of the eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Kent. A club representing the county was first founded in 1842 but Ke ...

. He made his

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 ...

debut in 1954 against

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

.Anthony Catt

CricInfo ESPN cricinfo (formerly known as Cricinfo or CricInfo) is a sports news website exclusively for the game of cricket. The site features news, articles, live coverage of cricket matches (including liveblogs and scorecards), and ''StatsGuru'', a d ...

. Retrieved 2107-04-16.Tony Catt
CricketArchive. Retrieved 2017-04-16. He died in August 2018 aged 84.Former Kent wicketkeeper Anthony Catt dies

, 2018-08-06. Retrieved 2018-08-08.

Early life

Catt was born at

Dormansland Dormansland is a large village and civil parish with a low population approximately one mile south of Lingfield in Surrey, England. It was founded in the 19th century and is bordered on the east by the county of Kent and on the south by West S ...

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

where his father was a chauffeur. He was educated at Tower Ramparts Secondary Modern School in

Ipswich Ipswich () is a port town and borough in Suffolk, England, of which it is the county town. The town is located in East Anglia about away from the mouth of the River Orwell and the North Sea. Ipswich is both on the Great Eastern Main Line r ...

Cricket career

Catt had played for the Army cricket team in 1952 and began appearing for Kent's Second XI in 1954, having taken part in a pre-season trial.Shenton K (2018) Tony Catt, Obits, i
Beyond the Boundaries
vol.23, p. 73. He won his Second XI cap in 1955, and played occasionally in the First XI until 1958, deputising along with

Derek Ufton Derek Gilbert Ufton (31 May 1928 – 27 March 2021) was an English professional cricketer and footballer, and later a football manager. Playing professionally for Kent County Cricket Club as a wicket-keeper and Charlton Athletic Football Club, ...

when

Godfrey Evans Thomas Godfrey Evans (18 August 1920 – 3 May 1999) was an English cricketer who played for Kent and England. Described by ''Wisden'' as 'arguably the best wicket-keeper the game has ever seen', Evans collected 219 dismissals in 91 Test match ...

was playing for England.Mallett A (2010) ''Eleven: The Greatest Eleven of the 20th Century'', p. 94. University of Queensland Press.
Available online
Retrieved 2017-04-15.) On Evans' retirement in 1959 Catt and Ufton shared the wicket-keeping duties until Ufton's retirement in 1962 allowed Catt to play more games, appearing 21 times in 1962, 30 in 1963 and 20 in 1964. He scored 905 runs in 1962, a career high. Catt moved to South Africa after the 1964 season and was replaced as Kent's main wicket-keeper by

Alan Knott Alan Philip Eric Knott (born 9 April 1946) is a former cricketer who represented England at international level in both Tests and One-Day Internationals (ODI). Knott is widely regarded as one of the most eccentric characters in cricket and as o ...

who had begun to establish himself during 1964.Alan Knott
Wisden Cricketer of the Year 1970, ''

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 ...

'', 1970. Retrieved 2017-04-16. He played 12 matches for

Western Province Western Province or West Province may refer to: *Western Province, Cameroon *Western Province, Rwanda *Western Province (Kenya) *Western Province (Papua New Guinea) *Western Province (Solomon Islands) *Western Province, Sri Lanka *Western Provinc ...

in South Africa. In August 1955, when

Northamptonshire Northamptonshire (; abbreviated Northants.) is a county in the East Midlands of England. In 2015, it had a population of 723,000. The county is administered by two unitary authorities: North Northamptonshire and West Northamptonshire. It is ...

made 374 in their first innings against Kent the total included 73 extras and Catt conceded 48 byes and 23 leg byes. In mitigation he was said to be suffering from the effects of "what was officially stated to be sunburn".''

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 ...

'' 1956, p. 503.On the Boundary: Statistician David comes up with an extra special fact
''Derby Telegraph'', 2009-05-20. Retrieved 2017-04-15.Lynch S (2006

, 2006-09-12. Retrieved 2017-04-16. The total of byes and leg byes conceded remains a County Championship records as of 2019.Bolton P (2018
The first, tentative steps of Calum MacLeod

, 2018-06-13. Retrieved 2019-08-15. Catt's highest score in first-class cricket came when he was used as a nightwatchman against

Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ; postal abbreviation Leics.) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East Midlands, England. The county borders Nottinghamshire to the north, Lincolnshire to the north-east, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire t ...

in 1962. Having survived until stumps, the following day he scored 121 in the morning session, finishing with a score of 162, his only first-class century despite being considered a "class" batsman and having made a score of 201 for the Second XI in 1959.Pittard S (June 2006
The XI bolts from the blue

. Retrieved 2017-04-16. In total, Catt made 138 first-class appearances, including 118 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 ...

and nine in the

Currie Cup The Currie Cup is South Africa's premier domestic rugby union competition, played each winter and spring (June to October), featuring teams representing either entire provinces or substantial regions within provinces. Although it is the premier ...

. He played twice for Kent in the Gillette Cup as one-day cricket became established in the early 1960s. He scored 3,123 first-class runs and claimed 321 victims behind the stumps.

Death

Catt died at

Rondebosch Rondebosch is one of the Southern Suburbs of Cape Town, South Africa. It is primarily a residential suburb, with shopping and business districts as well as the main campus of the University of Cape Town. History Four years after the first Dutch s ...

a suburb of

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

, South Africa in August 2018. He was aged 84.

Notes

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Catt, Anthony 1933 births 2018 deaths English cricketers Western Province cricketers Kent cricketers People from Edenbridge, Kent Wicket-keepers