Duncan Robert Worsley (born 18 July 1941) is a former cricketer who played

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 ...

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 ...

and

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 ...

from 1960 to 1967.

Oxford career

Born in

Bolton Bolton (, locally ) is a large town in Greater Manchester in North West England, formerly a part of Lancashire. A former mill town, Bolton has been a production centre for textiles since Flemish people, Flemish weavers settled in the area i ...

, Worsley attended

Bolton School Bolton School is an independent day school in Bolton, Greater Manchester. It comprises a co-educational nursery, co-educational infant school (ages 3–7), single sex junior schools (ages 7–11) and single sex senior schools including sixth fo ...

, where he captained the First XI in 1960, making 452 runs at an average of 32.28 and taking 58 wickets at 10.98, and leading the side through an unbeaten season with 14 victories. He made his first-class debut at the end of the season, opening the batting for Lancashire against the touring

South Africans The population of South Africa is about 58.8 million people of diverse origins, cultures, languages, and religions. The South African National Census of 2022 was the most recent census held; the next will be in 2032. In 2011, Statistics Sout ...

, and went up to

St Edmund Hall, Oxford St Edmund Hall (sometimes known as The Hall or informally as Teddy Hall) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. The college claims to be "the oldest surviving academic society to house and educate undergraduates in any university ...

, shortly afterwards. He played for Oxford as an opener for four seasons, and was secretary of the club in 1962, vice-captain in 1963, and captain in 1964. His first century came in the match 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 ...

in 1961, when he made 139 in five and a half hours and added 207 for the fourth wicket with the

Nawab of Pataudi The term Nawab of Pataudi refers to the lineage of rulers of the former princely Pataudi State in Northern India. Pataudi was established in 1804 by the British East India Company, when Faiz Talab Khan, an Afghan Muslim Pashtun of the Barech tri ...

. In 1962, captaining the side temporarily, he made 114 against

Free Foresters Free Foresters Cricket Club is an English amateur cricket club, established in 1856 for players from the Midland counties of England. It is a 'wandering' (or nomadic) club, having no home ground. The Free Foresters were founded by the Rev. Willi ...

. Oxford needed 367 to win, Worsley and Murtuza Baig added 201 for the third wicket in 140 minutes, and the match finished with Oxford nine wickets down and the scores level. Over four seasons he played 51 matches for Oxford, scoring 2554 runs at an average of 26.88.

Lancashire career

After a gap of nearly four years Worsley resumed his county career with Lancashire immediately after Oxford's last match in 1964, opening against

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

and scoring 73 in the first innings, adding 142 for the third wicket with his captain,

Ken Grieves Kenneth James Grieves (27 August 1925 – 3 January 1992) was an Australian first class cricketer who played for Lancashire. A middle order batsman, he made 452 first-class appearances for Lancashire and made a county record 555 catches. He oft ...

. Later in the season he had a run of 10 and 104 (top score) against

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 ...

, 79 (top score) and 0 not out against

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

, 4 and 61 (top score) 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 traditi ...

and 120 (top score) and 0 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 ...

. He finished the season with 1498 runs in all matches at 31.87 and was named as one of England's most promising young players by '' Wisden's'' editor,

Norman Preston Norman Preston, MBE (18 March 1903 – 6 March 1980) was an English cricket journalist. He began his career with the old Pardon's Cricket Reporting Agency in 1933 and served on three overseas tours as Reuters' correspondent. He succeeded his ...

. His form fell away in 1965, but in 1966 he moved down to the middle order, regained form with 843 runs at 29.06, and 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 ...

. John Kay remarked that Worsley "showed signs of becoming an increasingly valuable batsman who ... also bowled off-spinners with promise". He took 19 wickets at 32.10 that year. However, after a mediocre season in 1967 he retired to become a teacher. He had a long career with several clubs in the

Bolton Cricket League The Bolton Cricket League is a cricket league comprising fifteen teams in and around Bolton, Greater Manchester in North West England. The league runs competitions at First Team, Second Team, Under 18, Under 15, Under 13 and Under 11 levels. It exp ...

. He was the first player in the League to score 10,000 runs and take 1000 wickets.Bolton League Cricket Legends – Duncan Worsley
Retrieved 1 October 2014.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Worsley, Duncan 1941 births Living people English cricketers Oxford University cricketers Lancashire cricketers People educated at Bolton School Alumni of St Edmund Hall, Oxford Cricketers from Bolton