John Brian Mortimore (14 May 1933 – 13 February 2014) 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 in nine Tests for

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 ...

from 1959 to 1964, and captained

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of Gl ...

between 1965 and 1967.

Career

His county colleague and fellow off-spinner, David Allen, spun the ball more than Mortimore, but “Morty” was able to coax county batsmen with cunning and pin-point accuracy, which often led to their downfall. He was sent out as a replacement for Peter May's struggling team in the 1958-59 Ashes series, and topped the batting averages by dint of being out only once in the series, 55 runs (55.00). Unfortunately, at the time England was awash with capable off-spinners who could bat;

Ray Illingworth Raymond Illingworth CBE (8 June 1932 – 25 December 2021) was an English cricketer, cricket commentator and administrator. , he was one of only nine players to have taken 2,000 wickets and made 20,000 runs in first-class cricket.Arnold, Peter ...

, Fred Titmus and Allen all averaged 20–25 with the bat, and 30-32 per wicket with the ball, and this restricted Mortimore's Test appearances. Mortimore toured India in 1963–64, playing three Tests in a notoriously slow-scoring series. In the Fifth Test at Kanpur, on a pitch ''

Wisden ''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 ...

'' described as "defunct", he had match figures of 71–45–67–1. He had the misfortune to be brought into the England side for the Fourth Test against Australia at Old Trafford in 1964, when only 18 wickets fell for 1271 runs. He took no wicket for 122 off 49 overs and never played Test cricket again. Mortimore had a 26-year stint at

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

, and captained the county side for three seasons. He scored more than 15,000 runs and took over 1,800 wickets in his first-class career. He took 100 or more wickets in a season three times, scored 1,000 runs or more in a season five times, and in 1959, 1963 and 1964 he did both in the one season, or “the double”. His highest score came 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 trad ...

at Nottingham in 1963, when he scored 149, “a brilliant maiden Championship century by Mortimore in two hours twenty minutes” , said ''

''; he hit 52 in the second innings of the same match to help Gloucestershire to victory by five wickets, putting on 109 in 40 minutes with Ray White. Mortimore is sometimes remembered for his role in the dramatic conclusion of a televised

1971 Gillette Cup The 1971 Gillette Cup was the ninth Gillette Cup, an English limited overs county cricket tournament. It was held between 15 May and 4 September 1971. The tournament was won by Lancashire County Cricket Club who defeated Kent County Cricket Clu ...

semi-final between

and

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 Lancash ...

at Old Trafford, when he was hit for 24 runs in an over by

David Hughes David Hughes may refer to: Arts *Dave Hughes (born 1970), Australian comedian *Dave Hughes (producer), American television producer and editor *David Hughes (illustrator), British illustrator *David Hughes (Emmerdale), fictional character in the I ...

in fading light as Lancashire emerged victorious. However, two years later Mortimore helped Gloucestershire to win the same tournament, appearing as they beat Sussex in the final. Having played for Gloucestershire since 1950, Mortimore retired after playing two games in the 1975 season, at the age of 42. In his first game, he had played alongside the brothers Tom and

Ken Graveney John Kenneth Richard Graveney (16 December 1924 – 25 October 2015) was an English first-class cricketer from Hexham, Northumberland, who played for and captained Gloucestershire. Graveney was a lower order left-handed batsman and a right-arm f ...

; in his last game he played alongside Ken's son

David David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mortimore, John 1933 births 2014 deaths Cricketers from Bristol England Test cricketers English cricketers Gloucestershire cricket captains Gloucestershire cricketers Combined Services cricketers Commonwealth XI cricketers International Cavaliers cricketers Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers North v South cricketers A. E. R. Gilligan's XI cricketers T. N. Pearce's XI cricketers