Keith James Wheatley (born 20 January 1946) is a former English first-class

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 striki ...

er. Wheatley was born at

Guildford Guildford () is a town in west Surrey, around southwest of central London. As of the 2011 census, the town has a population of about 77,000 and is the seat of the wider Borough of Guildford, which had around inhabitants in . The name "Guildf ...

in January 1946. He was educated at

Lord Wandsworth College Lord Wandsworth College (LWC) is a co-educational independent school in Long Sutton, Hampshire, England, for day and boarding pupils between the ages of 11–18, which occupies a 1,200 acre campus and is known for its charitable foundation. It is ...

, where he played for the college cricket team. Wheatley made his debut 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 ...

for

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...

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 ...

during the 1965 Bournemouth Cricket Week. He established himself in the Hampshire side in 1966, making 23 appearances. As an

all-rounder An all-rounder is a cricketer who regularly performs well at both batting and bowling. Although all bowlers must bat and quite a handful of batsmen do bowl occasionally, most players are skilled in only one of the two disciplines and are consi ...

, he took 31 wickets in 1966 at an

average In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7, ...

of 28.80; as a consequence of the

Test and County Cricket Board The Test and County Cricket Board (TCCB) was the governing body for Test and county cricket in Great Britain between 1968 and 1996. The TCCB was established in 1968 to replace the functions of the Board of Control for Test Matches (established in ...

introducing a 65 overs limit to the first innings of some matches, Wheatley did not bowl in the first innings of any restricted matches in 1966. With the bat in this season, he scored 441 runs at a batting average of 18.37. The following season he made twenty first-class appearances, though was less effective with his

off break Off spin is a type of finger spin bowling in cricket. A bowler who uses this technique is called an off spinner. Off spinners are right-handed spin bowlers who use their fingers to spin the ball. Their normal delivery is an off break, which spi ...

bowling, taking 11 wickets at an average of 34.09. However, he did find more success with the bat, scoring 532 runs and recording two half centuries. It was in 1967 that Wheatley made his debut in List A one-day cricket, against

Glamorgan , HQ = Cardiff , Government = Glamorgan County Council (1889–1974) , Origin= , Code = GLA , CodeName = Chapman code , Replace = * West Glamorgan * Mid Glamorgan * South Glamorgan , Motto ...

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

in the Gillette Cup. In 1968, his appearances in first-class cricket amounted to eleven, with 7 wickets; four of these came in a single innings against Glamorgan, when he took his career best figures of 4 for 1. In 1969, he made nine first-class appearances and made his highest score with the bat, an unbeaten 79 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 ...

at Maidstone. His final season for Hampshire came in 1970, when he made fourteen first-class appearances. In these, he scored 538 runs, with two half centuries, at an average of 25.61, which was to be his highest season average. With the ball, he took 15 wickets at an average of 16.86, which was also his career best season average. In all, Wheatley made 79 first-class appearances for Hampshire. In these, he scored 1,781 runs at an average of 18.55, with six half centuries. With the ball, he took 69 wickets at an average of 28.31. In one-day cricket, he made ten appearances though he did not bowl; his returns as a batsman in one-day cricket amounted to just 53 runs at an average of 5.30. Outside of cricket, Wheatley was president of Farnham Golf Club and would organise cricket matches between its members and the Southern Professional Cricketers Golf Society, which was made up of past and present cricketers. He later succeeded Mike Barnard as organiser of the annual reunion of past Hampshire players.

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wheatley, Keith 1946 births Living people Cricketers from Guildford People educated at Lord Wandsworth College English cricketers Hampshire cricketers