Richard Mayes (7 October 1922 – 10 July 2013), known as Dicky Mayes, was an English professional

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 who played 80

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 ...

matches for

Kent County Cricket Club Kent County Cricket Club is one of the eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Kent. A club representing the county was first founded in 1842 but Ke ...

between 1947 and 1953. Mayes, who was considered a stylish batsman, later coached cricket and played for

Suffolk County Cricket Club Suffolk County Cricket Club is one of twenty minor county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Suffolk. The team is currently a member of the Minor Counties Championship Easter ...

. He had served in World War II.

Early life

Mayes was born at

Littlebourne Littlebourne is a village and civil parish east of Canterbury in Kent, South East England. History The significant Howletts Anglo-Saxon cemetery is in the parish. It is regarded as " Jutish"; finds are in the British Museum and elsewhere, and i ...

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

and joined the Kent staff at

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. ...

in 1939.Mayes, Richard
Obituaries in 2013, ''

Wisden Cricketers' Almanack ''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 ...

'', 2014. Retrieved 18 December 2018. He played once for the county Second XI before the outbreak of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

later in the year.Dicky Mayes
CricketArchive. Retrieved 18 December 2018. Initially primarily a

leg spin Leg spin is a type of spin bowling in cricket. A leg spinner bowls right-arm with a wrist spin action. The leg spinner's normal delivery causes the ball to spin from right to left (from the bowler's perspective) when the ball bounces on the ...

bowler, he returned to the game after serving in

North Africa North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in ...

during the war as a batsman, partially as a result of playing cricket on hard pitches in Egypt his service.

Cricket career

Mayes made his first-class cricket debut in 1947 against

Northants 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 kn ...

Gravesend Gravesend is a town in northwest Kent, England, situated 21 miles (35 km) east-southeast of Charing Cross (central London) on the Bank (geography), south bank of the River Thames and opposite Tilbury in Essex. Located in the diocese of Ro ...

. He played for the county First XI for the next seven seasons, making a total of 80 appearances for the side in first-class matches. His best seasons were in 1951, when he scored 719 runs, which he bettered the following season when he made 934.Kent Cricket saddened by the death of Richard Mayes

, 10 July 2013. Retrieved 18 December 2018. He scored four centuries for Kent at First XI level, making his first, a score of 133 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 1951 before scoring three the following season, including his highest score of 134 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 ...

Tunbridge Wells Royal Tunbridge Wells is a town in Kent, England, southeast of central London. It lies close to the border with East Sussex on the northern edge of the Weald, High Weald, whose sandstone geology is exemplified by the rock formation High Roc ...

,Dicky Mayes
''Boundaries'', issue 13, p.11.

The Professional Cricketers' Association The Professional Cricketers' Association is the representative body of past and present first-class cricketers in England and Wales, founded in 1967 by former England fast bowler Fred Rumsey (when it was known as the Cricketers' Association). In t ...

, 2013. Retrieved 18 December 2018. during which he and

Bill Murray-Wood William Murray-Wood (30 June 1917 – 21 December 1968) was an English Amateur status in first-class cricket, amateur cricketer who played first-class cricket for Oxford University Cricket Club, Oxford University and Kent County Cricket Club, Ke ...

set a record for the sixth-wicket at the ground which stood until 2010.Stevens romps to an unbeaten 181 before rain arrives in Tunbridge Wells

, 5 June 2010. Retrieved 18 December 2018. 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 ea ...

in 1952. Although he was a "prolific scorer of runs" at Second XI level and considered a "stylish right-handed batsman", Mayes was considered a "bad starter" and he made 23 ducks during his career. He was released by Kent at the end of the 1953 season. He went on to become coach and groundsman at

Woolverstone Hall School In the early 1950s the London County Council obtained use of Woolverstone Hall near Ipswich, Suffolk, and some of adjoining land for the purpose of establishing a secondary grammar boarding school for London boys. The premises were previously o ...

near

Ipswich Ipswich () is a port town and borough in Suffolk, England, of which it is the county town. The town is located in East Anglia about away from the mouth of the River Orwell and the North Sea. Ipswich is both on the Great Eastern Main Line r ...

Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include Lowes ...

from 1957 to 1987 where he coached future

England international The England national football team has represented England in international football since the first international match in 1872. It is controlled by The Football Association (FA), the governing body for football in England, which is affiliat ...

Graham Barlow Graham Derek Barlow (born 26 March 1950) is a former cricketer and was a middle-order batsman for Middlesex and, briefly, for England. Early life Educated at the former Ealing Grammar School for Boys (now Ealing, Hammersmith and West London Col ...

when he was a pupil at the school. He played for

in the

Minor Counties Championship The NCCA 3 Day Championship (previously the Minor Counties Cricket Championship) is a season-long competition in England and Wales that is contested by the members of the National Counties Cricket Association (NCCA), the so-called national cou ...

between 1957 and 1963, making 57 appearances for the county and scoring 729 runs in 1959, at that point a record total for the county in a single season.Garnham N (2012
Ex-Suffolk cricketer and coach celebrates 90th birthday
''

East Anglian Daily Times The ''East Anglian Daily Times'' is a British local newspaper for Suffolk and Essex, based in Ipswich. History The newspaper began publication on 13 October 1874, incorporating the ''Ipswich Express'', which had been published since 13 August ...

'', 11 October 2012. Retrieved 18 December 2018.

Personal and later life

As well as cricket, Mayes played

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

semi-professionally for Ramsgate Town between 1947 and 1951 and for

Canterbury City F.C. Canterbury City Football Club is a football club based in Canterbury, Kent, England. They are currently members of the and currently play at Sittingbourne's Woodstock Park ground. Affiliated to the Kent County Football Association, the club r ...

Mayes lived in

Chelmondiston Chelmondiston is a small village and civil parish in Suffolk, England located on the Shotley Peninsula, five miles south-east of Ipswich. The hamlet of Pin Mill lies within the parish on the south bank of the River Orwell. The village comprises ...

in Suffolk after his retirement with his wife Violet. One of their sons,

Brian Brian (sometimes spelled Bryan in English) is a male given name of Irish and Breton origin, as well as a surname of Occitan origin. It is common in the English-speaking world. It is possible that the name is derived from an Old Celtic word meani ...

, also played cricket for Suffolk. Mayes died in Suffolk in July 2013 aged 90.

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mayes, Dicky 1922 births 2013 deaths English cricketers Kent cricketers People from Littlebourne Suffolk cricketers British Army personnel of World War II British Army soldiers