John Gordon Dewes (11 October 1926 – 12 May 2015) was an 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 str ...

er, who played for

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III of England, Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world' ...

and

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a historic county in southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the ceremonial county of Greater London, with small sections in neighbour ...

, and was chosen for five Test matches between 1948 and 1950.

Life and career

Dewes was a protégé of E. J. H. Nash, the British Evangelical Anglican clergyman (along with fellow cricketer

David Sheppard David Stuart Sheppard, Baron Sheppard of Liverpool (6 March 1929 – 5 March 2005) was a Church of England Bishop of Liverpool who played cricket for Sussex and England in his youth. Sheppard remains the only ordained minister to have played T ...

). In 1945, he was one of three relative unknowns from public schools included in the

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

side for the third Victory Test against Australia at Lord's (it was his first-class debut). The others were

Donald Carr Donald Bryce Carr OBE (28 December 1926 – 12 June 2016) was an English cricketer who played for Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the so ...

from

Repton School Repton School is a 13–18 co-educational, independent, day and boarding school in the English public school tradition, in Repton, Derbyshire, England. Sir John Port of Etwall, on his death in 1557, left funds to create a grammar school whi ...

and the

Etonian Eton College () is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1440 by Henry VI of England, Henry VI under the name ''Kynge's College of Our Ladye of Eton besyde Windesore'',Nevill, p. 3 ff. i ...

, Luke White. Dewes had left

Aldenham School Aldenham School is a co-educational independent school for pupils aged eleven to eighteen, located between Elstree and the village of Aldenham in Hertfordshire, England. There is also a preparatory school for pupils from the ages of five to ele ...

the previous year. In the event, the three contributed little, and did not figure again in the other Victory matches. Dewes did

National Service National service is the system of voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act 1939. The ...

in the Royal Navy, then went up to St John's College, Cambridge, in 1947. At Cambridge he won

Blue Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RYB colour model (traditional colour theory), as well as in the RGB (additive) colour model. It lies between violet and cyan on the spectrum of visible light. The eye perceives blue when ...

s for both cricket and

hockey Hockey is a term used to denote a family of various types of both summer and winter team sports which originated on either an outdoor field, sheet of ice, or dry floor such as in a gymnasium. While these sports vary in specific rules, numbers o ...

. His cricket Test debut came against Donald Bradman's formidable side in 1948, when he struggled to make runs against the opening attack of

Ray Lindwall Raymond Russell Lindwall (3 October 1921 – 23 June 1996) was a cricketer who represented Australia in 61 Tests from 1946 to 1960. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest fast bowlers of all time. He also played top-flight rugby league ...

and

Keith Miller Keith Ross Miller (28 November 1919 – 11 October 2004) was an Australian Test cricketer and a Royal Australian Air Force pilot during World War II. Miller is widely regarded as Australia's greatest ever all-rounder. His ability, irreverent m ...

. The next season, he shared a record unbeaten stand of 429 with

Hubert Doggart George Hubert Graham Doggart (18 July 1925 – 16 February 2018) was an English sports administrator, first-class cricketer and schoolmaster. Background Doggart was born into a sporting family at Earl's Court, London, the elder son of t ...

for Cambridge against

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and Grea ...

and, in 1950, added 343 for the first wicket with

in the Cambridge total of 594-4 declared against the touring

West Indians A West Indian is a native or inhabitant of the West Indies (the Antilles and the Lucayan Archipelago). For more than 100 years the words ''West Indian'' specifically described natives of the West Indies, but by 1661 Europeans had begun to use ...

. The 1950 season was Dewes' peak, and he scored 2,432 runs in the full season at an average of 59.31, with nine centuries. He played two Test matches against the West Indies that summer and, in the first of them, made 67 in an unsuccessful rearguard action against the spin of Sonny Ramadhin and

Alf Valentine Alfred Louis Valentine (28 April 1930 – 11 May 2004) was a West Indian cricketer in the 1950s and 1960s. He is most famous for his performance in the West Indies' 1950 tour of England, which was immortalised in the ''Victory Calypso''. The 19 ...

. He was also picked for the tour to Australia of 1950-51 and played two Tests there. But in all Tests he reached double figures on just three occasions, and only once passed 50. After this tour, he became a teacher and was never able to play more than a few matches each season, although as late as 1955 he made 644 runs in seven matches. His final first-class match was in 1957. He was a master at

Tonbridge School (God Giveth the Increase) , established = , closed = , type = Public schoolIndependent day and boarding , religion = , president = , head_label ...

and

Rugby School Rugby School is a public school (English independent boarding school for pupils aged 13–18) in Rugby, Warwickshire, England. Founded in 1567 as a free grammar school for local boys, it is one of the oldest independent schools in Britain. ...

and was headmaster of

Barker College , motto_translation = Seek Honour above Rewards , location = Hornsby, Sydney , country = Australia , coordinates = , pushpin_map = Australia Sydney , pushpin_image ...

, Sydney, from 1958 to 1963. He then returned to England as a housemaster and head of careers at

Dulwich College Dulwich College is a 2–19 Independent school (United Kingdom), independent, Day school, day and boarding school for Single-sex education, boys in Dulwich, London, England. As a Public school (United Kingdom), public school, it began as the Col ...

until his retirement in 1987. Among his pupils was

Nigel Farage Nigel Paul Farage (; born 3 April 1964) is a British broadcaster and former politician who was Leader of the UK Independence Party (UKIP) from 2006 to 2009 and 2010 to 2016 and Leader of the Brexit Party (renamed Reform UK in 2021) from 2 ...

who paid tribute in his autobiography to the advice he received. His son, Anthony ('Jim'), played first-class cricket as a batsman for Cambridge University in 1978 and 1979.Anthony Dewes at Cricket Archive
/ref> Dewes died on 12 May 2015 at the age of 88.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dewes, John 1926 births 2015 deaths England Test cricketers English cricketers Cambridge University cricketers Middlesex cricketers Combined Services cricketers Australian headmasters Gentlemen cricketers Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers People educated at Aldenham School Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge H. D. G. Leveson Gower's XI cricketers L. E. G. Ames' XI cricketers 20th-century Royal Navy personnel