George Cox (23 August 1911 – 30 March 1985) was an English

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 ...

er who played for

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 was also a footballer who played for

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

and

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea. The area faces Wandsworth ...

Career

Born in

Warnham Warnham is a village and civil parish in the Horsham district of West Sussex, England. The village is centred north-northwest of Horsham, from London, to the west of the A24 road. Other named settlements within the parish include the hamlets of ...

, as a cricketer Cox was primarily an attacking right-handed batsman, also an occasional right-arm medium-pace bowler and in his youth a fine cover fielder. Cox played for Sussex and had a first-class career which started in 1931. He went on to play 455 first-class matches, making 22949 runs at an average of 32.92, that included 50 centuries, with a highest score of 234 not out. Cox also 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 ...

for

, whom he joined in November 1933. Cox stayed at

Highbury Highbury is a district in North London and part of the London Borough of Islington in Greater London that was owned by Ranulf brother of Ilger and included all the areas north and east of Canonbury and Holloway Roads. The manor house was situ ...

for the following three years, where he played predominantly in the

Football Combination The Football Combination was a football competition for the reserve teams of English Football League clubs from Southern England, the Midlands and Wales; other clubs from the Midlands and those from the North playing in the Central League (it is n ...

. In the Combination, Cox scored 53 times in 75 games for the Gunners. He played seven times for the first team, scoring once for the club. In the summer of 1936, Cox moved to

for a transfer fee of £150. After a sole season with Fulham, Cox then journeyed to

Luton Town Luton Town Football Club () is a professional association football club based in the town of Luton, Bedfordshire, England, that competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1885, it is nicknam ...

. It was at the Hatters that his footballing career ended. He was a cricket coach at Sussex from 1960 to 1964.

Personal life

He was generally known as George Cox junior in order to distinguish him from his father George Cox senior, who was also a successful player for the same county. He was a notably witty conversationalist and letter writer. Cox died on 30 March 1985 in

Burgess Hill Burgess Hill is a town and civil parish in West Sussex, England, close to the border with East Sussex, on the edge of the South Downs National Park, south of London, north of Brighton and Hove, and northeast of the county town, Chichester. It ...

, Sussex.

References

External links

*
''This Cox is a Pippin''
by

A. A. Thomson Arthur Alexander Thomson, (7 April 1894 at Harrogate, Yorkshire – 2 June 1968 near Lord's in London) was an English writer best known for his books on cricket, for which he used the byline A. A. Thomson. He wrote nearly 60 books in all, inclu ...

, 1961
Obituary
from ''

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 ...

'', 1986 edition 1911 births 1985 deaths English cricketers People from Warnham Sussex cricketers English cricket coaches English men's footballers Men's association football forwards Arsenal F.C. players Fulham F.C. players English Football League players Royal Air Force cricketers H. D. G. Leveson Gower's XI cricketers North v South cricketers L. C. Stevens' XI cricketers Cricketers from West Sussex {{England-cricket-bio-1910s-stub