Douglas Norman Frank Slade (born 24 August 1940) is a former English cricketer who played for

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a county in the West Midlands of England. The area that is now Worcestershire was absorbed into the unified Kingdom of England in 927, at which time it was constituted as a county (see His ...

and

Shropshire Shropshire (; alternatively Salop; abbreviated in print only as Shrops; demonym Salopian ) is a landlocked historic county in the West Midlands region of England. It is bordered by Wales to the west and the English counties of Cheshire to th ...

. Slade scored 5275 runs in

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 ...

at an average of 18.06 and took 502 wickets at 23.47 with his slow left-arm bowling in a career with Worcestershire that lasted from 1958 until 1971. Slade came to prominence in his first season by taking 52 wickets at 17.11. In 1960 he took 97 wickets at 19.83, including 7 for 47 and 4 for 32 against

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, historic county in South East England, southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the Ceremonial counties of ...

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

. Also a useful batsman in the lower order, Slade appeared to have a chance of a significant career. However, the arrival of another left-arm spinner,

Norman Gifford Norman Gifford (born 30 March 1940) is a retired English cricketer, who played primarily as a left-arm spinner. Gifford played county cricket for Worcestershire, and Warwickshire County Cricket Clubs, and represented England in fifteen Test ...

, in the Worcestershire team in 1960 began to restrict Slade's opportunities. He played only twice in 1961 and when he did make the First Eleven, he found himself frequently used as the sixth bowler. The registration of

Basil D'Oliveira Basil Lewis D'Oliveira CBE OIS (4 October 1931 – 19 November 2011) was an England international cricketer of South African Cape Coloured background, whose potential selection by England for the scheduled 1968–69 tour of apartheid-era South ...

in 1964 further restricted Slade's prospects. After taking 71 wickets in 1963, he became a bit player in the county team. However, he toured Pakistan with the Commonwealth XI in 1963-64, playing in all three matches against

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

and taking more wickets than any other Commonwealth XI bowler. He was an important member of Worcestershire's

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

-winning sides of 1964 and 1965, though in each season he played only a handful of games. He made 634 runs in 1969, scoring 125 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 ...

Grace Road Grace Road, known for sponsorship reasons as the Uptonsteel County Ground, Grace Road, is a cricket ground in Leicester, England. It is the home ground and administrative base of Leicestershire County Cricket Club. History Leicestershire ...

after going in at number three as nightwatchman. Slade left New Road after the 1971 season and played with considerable success for

between 1973 and 1978 and in the Birmingham League. He appeared in Shropshire's first (and of 2020 only) Minor Counties Championship win, against

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands Cou ...

London Road, Shrewsbury London Road is a cricket ground in Shrewsbury, Shropshire. The first recorded match on the ground was in 1914, when Shrewsbury Cricket Club played Wem. Shropshire played their first Minor Counties Championship match at the ground against the ...

in August of 1973 when he sustained a broken thumb on his bowling hand during first innings but returned to bat in the second when he was bowled out for two; however he ended play having achieved 16 overs (including 15 maidens) and taken four wickets for one run. He went on to captain Shropshire in 1977-78, and in the same period played at club level for West Bromwich Dartmouth. He later served on the Worcestershire committee. He worked as a salesman selling central reservation barriers for motorways, and also helped to run the family farm.

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Slade, Doug 1940 births Living people Commonwealth XI cricketers D. H. Robins' XI cricketers English cricketers Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers Minor Counties cricketers Shropshire cricketers Sportspeople from Redditch Worcestershire cricketers Young England cricketers Cricketers from Worcestershire