Robert Arthur White (6 October 1936 – 8 November 2023) 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 of three or more days scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officially adju ...

er and

umpire An umpire is an official in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The term derives from the Old French , , and , : (as evidenced in cricke ...

. He played or umpired more than 1,200 matches of first-class or

List A cricket List A cricket is a classification of the limited-overs (one-day) form of the sport of cricket, with games lasting up to eight hours. List A cricket includes One Day International (ODI) matches and various domestic competitions in which the num ...

between 1958 and 2001.

Cricket career

Player

White joined the

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

staff at 15 after leaving school. In 1955 and 1956 he did his

National Service National service is a system of compulsory or voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act ...

, mainly in

Cyprus Cyprus (), officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Situated in West Asia, its cultural identity and geopolitical orientation are overwhelmingly Southeast European. Cyprus is the List of isl ...

. In 1958 he made his county debut with

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, former county in South East England, now mainly within Greater London. Its boundaries largely followed three rivers: the River Thames, Thames in the south, the River Lea, Le ...

, where he played as a batsman. He had his most successful season in 1963 when he scored 1355 runs, the only time he reached 1000 runs in a season. He was awarded his

county cap In sport, a cap is a player's appearance in a game at international level. The term dates from the practice in the United Kingdom of awarding a cap to every player in an international match of rugby football and association football. In the e ...

during the season. In 1966 White moved to

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated ''Notts.'') is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. The county is bordered by South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. Th ...

, where he developed his off-spin and played as an all-rounder. His best bowling season was 1971, when he was the county's most successful bowler. He took 81 wickets, and achieved his best figures of 7 for 41 against

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It borders Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, and South Yorkshire to the north, Nottinghamshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south-east, Staffordshire to the south a ...

; he had taken 10 wickets for 51 in the match when rain washed out play early on the third day. He made his highest score of 116

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

against

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

in 1967, when he and

Mike Smedley Michael John Smedley (born 28 October 1941) is an English former first-class cricketer. He began his career with Yorkshire and played for the Second XI 1960–62. In 1963, he joined Nottinghamshire and made his first-class debut in 1964. Smedley ...

set a Nottinghamshire record of 204 for the seventh wicket after the score had been 64 for 6. In his final years at Nottinghamshire, White was manager and captain of the Second XI. In his second-last first-class match, against Derbyshire in 1980, he took 4 for 33 in the first innings and 6 for 24 in the second, when Nottinghamshire dismissed Derbyshire for 54 and won by 89 runs.

Umpire

In 1983 White began a 19-year career as a first-class umpire. He umpired 314 first-class and 323

List A List A cricket is a classification of the Limited overs cricket, limited-overs (one-day) form of the sport of cricket, with games lasting up to eight hours. List A cricket includes One Day International (ODI) matches and various domestic competit ...

matches before retiring after the 2001 season. His most important appointments were to umpire several quarter-finals of the county one-day competitions.

Death

White died on 8 November 2023, aged 87.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:White, Bob 1936 births 2023 deaths English cricketers Middlesex cricketers Nottinghamshire cricketers English cricket umpires People from Fulham Cricketers from the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers International Cavaliers cricketers 20th-century English sportsmen