Ladislaus Frederick "Laddie" Outschoorn (26 September 1918 – 9 January 1994) was a

Ceylon Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

ese

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, a right-handed batsman and occasional right-arm medium-pace bowler who played for

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a county in the West Midlands of England. The area that is now Worcestershire was absorbed into the unified Kingdom of England in 927, at which time it was constituted as a county (see His ...

in the years after the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

Life and career

Outschoorn was born in

Colombo Colombo ( ; si, කොළඹ, translit=Koḷam̆ba, ; ta, கொழும்பு, translit=Koḻumpu, ) is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. According to the Brookings Institution, Colombo me ...

. While working in

Malaya Malaya refers to a number of historical and current political entities related to what is currently Peninsular Malaysia in Southeast Asia: Political entities * British Malaya (1826–1957), a loose collection of the British colony of the Straits ...

, he played two matches for the

Straits Settlements The Straits Settlements were a group of British territories located in Southeast Asia. Headquartered in Singapore for more than a century, it was originally established in 1826 as part of the territories controlled by the British East India Comp ...

against the

Federated Malay States )Under God's Protection , capital = Kuala Lumpur1 , religion = Islam , legislature = Federal Legislative Council , type_house1 = State level , common_languages = , title_leader = Monarch , leader1 ...

in 1939 and 1940. He was taken prisoner by the Japanese in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, and went to England afterwards for rehabilitation.''

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 ...

'' 1995, p. 1392. He made his first-class debut in July 1946 for Worcestershire against

Combined Services The Combined Services cricket team represents the British Armed Forces. The team played at first-class level in England for more than forty years in the mid-twentieth century. Their first first-class match was against Gentlemen of England at Lo ...

at New Road, scoring 3 and 9. His career proper began in 1947, when he played 21 times for the county, although

averaging 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, ...

a mediocre 23.39 with a top score of only 66. He improved markedly the following summer, passing 1,000 runs for the first time, hitting his first century, exactly 100 not out against

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...

, and gaining 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 ...

. He also took his first wickets in 1948, when he took three in a match against

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 ...

in May; his victims (

George Emmett George Malcolm Emmett (2 December 1912 – 18 December 1976) was an English cricketer, who played first-class cricket for Gloucestershire County Cricket Club. He also played one Test cricket, Test match for English cricket team, England in 1948. ...

Tom Goddard Thomas William John Goddard (1 October 1900 – 22 May 1966) was an English cricketer and the fifth-highest wicket taker in first-class cricket. Biography Born 1 October 1900 in Gloucester, Goddard joined Gloucestershire in 1922 as a fast bow ...

and Charlie Barnett) were all

Test cricket Test cricket is a form of first-class cricket played at international level between teams representing full member countries of the International Cricket Council (ICC). A match consists of four innings (two per team) and is scheduled to last fo ...

ers. Outschoorn was a champion close fielder in slip or gully; in 1949 he took 55 catches, more than any other fieldsman in England. Although he never surpassed the 12 wickets he claimed in 1948, his batting continued to improve, and he passed 1,000 runs in seven of the next eight seasons, helped in 1949 by his career-best score of 215 not out against

Northamptonshire Northamptonshire (; abbreviated Northants.) is a county in the East Midlands of England. In 2015, it had a population of 723,000. The county is administered by two unitary authorities: North Northamptonshire and West Northamptonshire. It is ...

. His best year was probably 1951, when he made 1,761 runs at 35.93 (his best season's average) including four centuries, as well as taking 43 catches. Outschoorn's batting declined in the late 1950s, although he rallied himself for his last season, 1959, when he made 1,271 first-class runs. He had an eccentric style of batting, " ockingback to cut at almost anything, half-volleys even, or umpingout of the crease to make full-tosses of good length balls". Unusually for a cricketer of the period, he exercised with weights every morning.

Stephen Chalke Stephen Chalke (born 5 June 1948) is an English author and publisher, particularly of books on cricket and cricketers. Chalke was born in Salisbury, Wiltshire. He has two undergraduate degrees – one in Drama, English and Philosophy, the othe ...

, ''Runs in the Memory'', Fairfield Books, Bath, 1998, p. 104. Only five of Outschoorn's 346 first-class games were for a team other than Worcestershire, all for a Commonwealth XI against an England XI at the end-of-season

Hastings Hastings () is a large seaside town and borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England, east to the county town of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to the north-west ...

Festival. His last first-class innings, in September 1959, was for the Commonwealth XI: he made 58 before being dismissed by John Mortimore. He played for Worcestershire's second team on several occasions in 1960. He was appointed national coach of Ceylon in 1966. He died in

Westminster Westminster is an area of Central London, part of the wider City of Westminster. The area, which extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street, has many visitor attractions and historic landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, Bu ...

at the age of 75.

References

External links

*
Obituaries in 1994
from ''

'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Outschoorn, Laddie 1918 births 1994 deaths Burgher people English cricketers Commonwealth XI cricketers Cricketers from Colombo People from British Ceylon Ceylonese prisoners of war in World War II Sri Lankan cricketers Sri Lankan cricket coaches Straits Settlements cricketers Worcestershire cricketers English people of Sri Lankan descent