Stewart Cathie Griffith, (16 June 1914 – 7 April 1993), known as Billy Griffith, 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 and cricket administrator. He played in three

Test matches Test match in some sports refers to a sporting contest between national representative teams and may refer to: * Test cricket * Test match (indoor cricket) * Test match (rugby union) * Test match (rugby league) * Test match (association football) ...

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 ...

in 1948 and 1949. He played

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 ...

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 ...

(1934–1936),

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. ...

(1934),

Marylebone Cricket Club Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) is a cricket club founded in 1787 and based since 1814 at Lord's Cricket Ground, which it owns, in St John's Wood, London. The club was formerly the governing body of cricket retaining considerable global influence ...

(MCC) (1935–1953),

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 ...

(1937–1954) and

(1948–1949).

Life and career

Griffith was born in

Wandsworth Wandsworth Town () is a district of south London, within the London Borough of Wandsworth southwest of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan The London Plan is the statutory spatial development strategy for the Gre ...

, London, and educated at

Dulwich College Dulwich College is a 2–19 independent, day and boarding school for boys in Dulwich, London, England. As a public school, it began as the College of God's Gift, founded in 1619 by Elizabethan actor Edward Alleyn, with the original purpose of ...

and

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 scored over 1,200 runs during four years in the 1st XI at Dulwich, despite being in the shadow of Hugh Bartlett, and he became a capable

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 ...

. 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 ...

in his second year at Cambridge. He toured Australia and

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

with the MCC under

Errol Holmes Errol Reginald Thorold Holmes (21 August 1905 – 16 August 1960) was an English cricketer who played first-class cricket for Oxford University, Surrey and England between 1924 and 1955. A dashing right-handed batsman, Holmes believed that c ...

's captaincy in 1935–36. He lost his Cambridge place to

Paul Gibb Paul Antony Gibb (11 July 1913 – 7 December 1977) was an English cricketer, who played in eight Tests for England from 1938 to 1946. He played first-class cricket for Cambridge University, Yorkshire and Essex, as a right-handed opening or mid ...

in 1937. After graduating from Cambridge, he returned to Dulwich as cricket master and he became the first choice wicket-keeper for Sussex in 1939. He was commissioned into the

Officers' Training Corps The Officers' Training Corps (OTC), more fully called the University Officers' Training Corps (UOTC), are military leadership training units operated by the British Army. Their focus is to develop the leadership abilities of their members whilst ...

in 1938, and transferred to the

Royal Army Service Corps The Royal Army Service Corps (RASC) was a corps of the British Army responsible for land, coastal and lake transport, air despatch, barracks administration, the Army Fire Service, staffing headquarters' units, supply of food, water, fuel and dom ...

in 1939. He later served in the

Glider Pilot Regiment The Glider Pilot Regiment was a British airborne forces unit of the Second World War, which was responsible for crewing the British Army's military gliders and saw action in the European theatre in support of Allied airborne operations. Establish ...

with Hugh Bartlett. As second-in-command he carried the commander of the

6th Airborne Division The 6th Airborne Division was an airborne infantry division of the British Army during the Second World War. Despite its name, the 6th was actually the second of two airborne divisions raised by the British Army during the war, the other being t ...

, Major-General Richard "Windy" Gale (coincidentally, he was also from Wandsworth), into

Normandy Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...

during

Operation Overlord Operation Overlord was the codename for the Battle of Normandy, the Allies of World War II, Allied operation that launched the successful invasion of German-occupied Western Front (World War II), Western Europe during World War II. The operat ...

, crash landing after being caught in a storm. He took part in the

Battle of Arnhem The Battle of Arnhem was a battle of the Second World War at the vanguard of the Allied Operation Market Garden. It was fought in and around the Dutch city of Arnhem, the town of Oosterbeek, the villages Wolfheze and Driel and the vicinity fro ...

and won the Distinguished Flying Cross. He remained in the Territorial Army (TA) after the war, reaching the rank of

lieutenant colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colone ...

. He was appointed captain-secretary of Sussex in 1946. Although he relinquished the captaincy after one year, his wicket-keeping form earned him selection for the MCC tour of the West Indies in 1947–48. On his Test debut he was used as a makeshift opener as three senior batsmen were ill, and made 140 in six hours. It made him the only England player to make his maiden first-class century on his Test debut. He toured South Africa (under F.G. Mann) in 1948–49 and played in the final two Tests, the only wicket-keeper to be preferred to

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 ...

between 1946 and 1959 when he was available to play. On his return, he retired from playing cricket to take up an appointment as the cricket correspondent of ''

The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, whi ...

''. After two years in this role, he was appointed by the MCC in 1952 as one of two assistant secretaries to

Ronnie Aird Ronald Aird (4 May 1902 – 16 August 1986) was an English first-class cricketer and administrator. Ronnie Aird was born in Paddington, London. After Eton, he went up to Clare College, Cambridge, winning his blue in 1923. He played 136 fi ...

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 ...

. He succeeded Aird as the Secretary of the MCC in 1962, and he oversaw the abolition of amateur status, the introduction of one-day cricket, the creation of the

Test and County Cricket Board The Test and County Cricket Board (TCCB) was the governing body for Test and county cricket in Great Britain between 1968 and 1996. The TCCB was established in 1968 to replace the functions of the Board of Control for Test Matches (established in ...

, the Cricket Council, and the "

D'Oliveira Affair The D'Oliveira affair was a prolonged political and sporting controversy relating to the scheduled 1968–69 tour of South Africa by the England cricket team, who were officially representing the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC). The point of cont ...

". His busy schedule in 1962–63 prevented him from managing the

MCC tour of Australia in 1962–63 MCC may refer to: Aviation * McClellan Airfield (IATA code MCC) in Sacramento, California * Multi-crew cooperation, allowance to fly in a multi-pilot aircraft Buildings * Castellania (Valletta), a former courthouse and prison in Valletta, Malta ...

, except for one month when he flew out to relieve the

Duke of Norfolk Duke of Norfolk is a title in the peerage of England. The seat of the Duke of Norfolk is Arundel Castle in Sussex, although the title refers to the county of Norfolk. The current duke is Edward Fitzalan-Howard, 18th Duke of Norfolk. The dukes ...

. Aware of

M.J.K. Smith Michael John Knight Smith , better known as M. J. K. Smith or Mike Smith, (born 30 June 1933) is an English former cricketer who was captain of Oxford University Cricket Club (1956), Warwickshire County Cricket Club (1957–1967) and ...

's natural caution on the

MCC tour of Australia in 1965–66 The Marylebone Cricket Club tour of Australia in 1965–66 under the captaincy of M.J.K. Smith was its fourteenth since it took official control of overseas tours in 1903-1904. The touring team played as England in the 1965–66 Ashes series ag ...

, Griffith was given extraordinary powers granting him overall control of cricket while managing the tour. He did not resort to these powers as he preferred more diplomatic means, but he urged attacking cricket in the tour games, notably against

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

. Smith asked him when he should declare, Griffith said "Now!" and the MCC won by nine runs in the last minute. The deadpan Smith observed "that's the last time I take the ruddy manager's advice on a declaration".p132, E.W. Swanton, ''Swanton in Australia with MCC 1946–1975'', Fontana, 1977 He retired in 1974, and he later served as Chairman of the Friends of Arundel Castle Cricket Club. His son, Mike Griffith, also captained Sussex. Billy Griffith died in

Felpham Felpham (, sometimes pronounced locally as ''Felf-fm'') is a village and civil parish in the Arun District of West Sussex, England. Although sometimes considered part of the urban area of greater Bognor Regis, it is a village and civil parish in ...

, West Sussex, following a long illness in 1993, aged 78.

References

External links

1st British Airborne Division officers 1939−1945
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Griffith, Billy 1914 births 1993 deaths British Army personnel of World War II Commanders of the Order of the British Empire English cricket administrators English cricketers England Test cricketers Cricketers who made a century on Test debut Glider Pilot Regiment officers People educated at Dulwich College Alumni of Pembroke College, Cambridge Recipients of the Distinguished Flying Cross (United Kingdom) Royal Army Service Corps officers Secretaries of the Marylebone Cricket Club Sussex cricketers Surrey cricketers Cambridge University cricketers Sussex cricket captains Free Foresters cricketers North v South cricketers Gentlemen cricketers Presidents of the Marylebone Cricket Club Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers Gentlemen of England cricketers English cricketers of 1919 to 1945 People from Wandsworth H. D. G. Leveson Gower's XI cricketers Officers' Training Corps officers People from Felpham 20th-century British businesspeople Wicket-keepers Military personnel from London