David Michael Green (10 November 1939 – 19 March 2016) was a Welsh

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 who played for

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 ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...

and

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of Gl ...

. Green was born at

Llanengan Llanengan ( Welsh for " St. Einion's") is a small village and community around Abersoch in Gwynedd in north-west Wales. It had a population of 2,024 at the 2001 census, which had been reduced to 1,989 at the 2011 Census. The popular seaside re ...

Caernarfonshire , HQ= County Hall, Caernarfon , Map= , Image= Flag , Motto= Cadernid Gwynedd (The strength of Gwynedd) , year_start= , Arms= ''Coat of arms of Caerna ...

, in Wales. A fair-haired right-handed batsman often used as an opener and a medium-pace bowler, he went to

Brasenose College, Oxford Brasenose College (BNC) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. It began as Brasenose Hall in the 13th century, before being founded as a college in 1509. The library and chapel were added in the mi ...

, from

Manchester Grammar School The Manchester Grammar School (MGS) in Manchester, England, is the largest independent school (UK), independent day school for boys in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1515 as a Grammar school#free tuition, free grammar school next to Manchester C ...

and was a regular and successful player for three years from 1959 to 1961, turning out for Lancashire in his holidays. He scored 1,000 runs in his first season, but failed to do so in his other two university seasons, and again in 1962, when he played fairly often for Lancashire. After a year away playing in league cricket in 1963, he came back to Lancashire in 1964 and was a regular in the first team for three seasons. In 1965, with the benefit of playing in 35 first-class matches, he set a record that is unlikely ever to be beaten by scoring more than 2,000 runs without a single century: his highest for the season was 85. The previous highest number of runs in a season without a century was 1,709 by C.B. Harris in

1935 Events January * January 7 – Italian premier Benito Mussolini and French Foreign Minister Pierre Laval conclude Franco-Italian Agreement of 1935, an agreement, in which each power agrees not to oppose the other's colonial claims. * ...

, whilst not since 1970 has anyone scored 1,500 runs with no centuries in one season.''

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 ...

'' 2017, pp. 202–4. After a more moderate season in 1966, he was injured and drifted out of the side in 1967, and was allowed to leave Lancashire at the end of the season to join Gloucestershire. Green's aggressive batting in 1968 for his new county had him belatedly touted as a possible

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 ...

opener: he scored 2,137 runs at an average of more than 40 runs per innings. In the event, the only honour he received was to be selected as a

Wisden Cricketer of the Year The ''Wisden'' Cricketers of the Year are cricketers selected for the honour by the annual publication ''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'', based primarily on their "influence on the previous English season". The award began in 1889 with the naming ...

in 1969. After two more modest seasons in 1969 and 1970, he gave up first-class cricket for a career in business and journalism, writing on cricket and rugby for ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was fo ...

'' from 1982 to 2009. He also played

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

for Sale R.F.C. Green died on 19 March 2016, at the age of 76.

References

External links

*
Telegraph obituary
{{DEFAULTSORT:Green, David Michael 1939 births 2016 deaths Welsh cricketers Oxford University cricketers Lancashire cricketers Gloucestershire cricketers International Cavaliers cricketers Wisden Cricketers of the Year People educated at Manchester Grammar School Alumni of Brasenose College, Oxford Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers T. N. Pearce's XI cricketers Marylebone Cricket Club President's XI cricketers