John Dexter Fitton (born 24 August 1965) is a former 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. Fitton is a left-handed batsman who bowls right-arm

off break Off spin is a type of finger spin bowling in cricket. A bowler who uses this technique is called an off spinner. Off spinners are right-handed spin bowlers who use their fingers to spin the ball. Their normal delivery is an off break, which spi ...

. He was born in

Littleborough, Lancashire Littleborough ( ) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale, Greater Manchester, England, in the upper Roch Valley by the foothills of the South Pennines, northeast of Rochdale and northeast of Manchester; Milnrow and the M62 motorwa ...

. Fitton made his first-class debut for

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 ...

against

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...

in the

1987 County Championship The 1987 Britannic Assurance County Championship was the 88th officially organised running of the County Championship. Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated Notts.) is a landlocked county in the East Midlands region of England, b ...

. He made 51 further first-class appearances for the county, the last of which came against

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 ...

in the

1992 County Championship The 1992 Britannic Assurance County Championship was the 93rd officially organised running of the County Championship. Essex won the Championship title. Durham Durham most commonly refers to: *Durham, England, a cathedral city and the county tow ...

. In these matches, he took 82 wickets at an

average In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7, ...

of 53.15, with best figures of 6/59. These figures, one of three

five wicket haul In cricket, a five-wicket haul (also known as a "five–for" or "fifer") occurs when a bowler takes five or more wickets in a single innings. This is regarded by critics as a notable achievement, equivalent to a century from a batsman. Taking ...

s he took, came against

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

in 1988. As a bowling

all-rounder An all-rounder is a cricketer who regularly performs well at both batting and bowling. Although all bowlers must bat and quite a handful of batsmen do bowl occasionally, most players are skilled in only one of the two disciplines and are consi ...

, Fitton had some ability with the bat, scoring 872 runs at a batting average of 18.95, with a high score of 60. This score, which was his only first-class fifty, came against

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 ...

in 1991. His

List A 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 numbe ...

debut came against

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 ...

in the

1987 Refuge Assurance League The 1987 Refuge Assurance League was the nineteenth competing of what was generally known as the Sunday League. The competition was won for the second time by Worcestershire County Cricket Club. The Worcestershire team included stars such as ...

. He made twenty further List A appearances for Lancashire, the last of which came against

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...

in the 1992 Sunday League. In his twenty List A matches for the county, he took 23 wickets at an average of 32.13, with best figures of 4/26. With the bat, he scored 131 runs at an average of 21.83, with a high score of 36. He left Lancashire at the end of the

1993 season File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peace ...

. Dexter was the overseas professional player for the Sydenham Cricket Club in Christchurch New Zealand between 1987 and 1992, scoring over 2000 runs, with a top score of 183. He also took 83 wickets with a best of 5/29. In 1994, Fitton made a single List A appearance for

Cumberland Cumberland ( ) is a historic county in the far North West England. It covers part of the Lake District as well as the north Pennines and Solway Firth coast. Cumberland had an administrative function from the 12th century until 1974. From 19 ...

in the NatWest Trophy 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 ...

. He scored a single run in this match, before being dismissed by

Phil Simmons Philip Verant Simmons (born 18 April 1963) is a Trinidadian cricket coach and former cricketer who was an all-rounder played as an opening batsman, a medium-fast bowler and a slip fielder. He is the current coach of the West Indies cricket ...

, while in Leicestershire's innings he wasn't required to bowl. This was Fitton's only match for Cumberland, he didn't feature in any Minor counties match for them. He later played club cricket in the Central Lancashire League for Norden Cricket Club, before the League's demise.

References

External links

Dexter Fitton
at

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Dexter Fitton
at CricketArchive {{DEFAULTSORT:Fitton, Dexter 1965 births Living people People from Littleborough, Greater Manchester English cricketers Lancashire cricketers Cumberland cricketers