John David Frederick Larter (born 24 April 1940, Inverness,

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

) is a former Scottish

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 str ...

er, who played in ten Tests for

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from 1962 to 1965. The cricket writer, Colin Bateman, noted, "David Larter was a complex character. There were days at Northampton when he just would not fancy bowling. But when the mood took him and his 6ft 7in physique was in perfect working order, he was a frighteningly good fast bowler, as a career record of 666 wickets at 19 apiece suggests".

Life and career

A six-foot seven-inch right arm fast bowler with a long run-up, Larter played his earliest cricket in England with Suffolk in the Minor Counties Championship, having been educated in the county at

Framlingham College Framlingham College is a public school (independent day and boarding school) in the town of Framlingham, near Woodbridge, Suffolk, England. Together with its preparatory school and nursery at Brandeston Hall, it serves pupils from 3 to 18 ye ...

. He then qualified for

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. He made his debut for Northamptonshire in 1960, and made such a favourable impression that he was picked for the non-Test playing tour of New Zealand that winter and proved the "great success" of the tour with 36 wickets for under 15 runs apiece. With the retirement of

Tyson Tyson is a male given name of old French origin meaning 'high-spirited', 'fire'. It is from this that a surname arose 'son of Tyson'. Surname *Alan Tyson (1926–2000), British musicologist * Barbara Tyson (born 1964), Canadian actress * Bill Tys ...

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and

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, he became the county's leading wicket-taker in 1961 with 70 for 19.87 apiece in a summer unfavourable to bowlers. The following season saw Larter improve even more to take over 100 wickets, including nine on his Test debut against

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. Larter bagged sixteen wickets in his first two Tests, and a long Test career appeared to beckon, although he was overlooked by the selectors during his most successful year of 1963 despite being the second most successful fast bowler after Trueman with 121 wickets for 16.75 apiece. Larter had become a regular tourist for England with his selection for the 1962/63 Ashes tour, and for the 1963/64 tour of India, but his Test appearances were limited by a succession of niggling injuries. In all, he took just 37 wickets at 25.43. His career was badly affected by an ankle injury picked up in Sydney on the 1965/66 tour of Australia and he retired after playing a few games for Northamptonshire in 1966 and 1969. He took 666 first class wickets at 19.53 apiece. His best figures, 8 for 28, came in the second innings against

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at Northampton in 1965 after he had taken 4 for 28 in the first innings. In the next match, against

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other English counties, functions have ...

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, he took 5 for 43 and 7 for 37, giving him 24 for 136 in one week. Although Larter's batting was notoriously poor, he hit an unlikely unbeaten half century against

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated Notts.) is a landlocked county in the East Midlands region of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. The trad ...

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in 1962, coming in at his usual number 11 and putting on a valuable last-wicket stand of 85 in an hour with Keith Andrew.''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'', 1963, p. 564. After retiring from cricket at the age of 29, he ran the family transport business before moving into company training.

References

External links

David Larter
Cricinfo
David Larter
CricketArchive {{DEFAULTSORT:Larter, David 1940 births Living people England Test cricketers Scottish cricketers Northamptonshire cricketers Cricketers from Inverness Cricketers who have taken five wickets on Test debut Players cricketers Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers Suffolk cricketers People educated at Framlingham College T. N. Pearce's XI cricketers Marylebone Cricket Club Australian Touring Team cricketers

Life and career

See also

References

External links