Neil Thomas McCorkell (23 March 1912 – 28 February 2013) 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. He was right-handed

batsman In cricket, batting is the act or skill of hitting the cricket ball, ball with a cricket bat, bat to score runs (cricket), runs and prevent the dismissal (cricket), loss of one's wicket. Any player who is currently batting is, since Septembe ...

who fielded as a

wicket-keeper The wicket-keeper in the sport of cricket is the player on the fielding side who stands behind the wicket or stumps being watchful of the batsman and ready to take a catch, stump the batsman out and run out a batsman when occasion arises. ...

. He was born at

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 ...

, Hampshire. Debuting for Hampshire County Cricket Club in 1932, McCorkell played

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 officia ...

for Hampshire in two periods, from 1932 to 1939, then after

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 opposing ...

from 1946 to 1951. Statistically he ended his first-class career as Hampshire's most successful wicket-keeper in first-class cricket, with 677 dismissals, although

Bobby Parks Bobby Ray Parks Sr. (November 26, 1961 – March 30, 2013) was an American professional basketball player from Grand Junction, Tennessee. He played for Memphis State University (now the University of Memphis) from 1980-1984 and played inte ...

later overtook that total. Following his retirement he emigrated to South Africa, where he still resided until his death. In 2012, he became the 16th

er to reach 100 years of age.

Early life

McCorkell was born on 23 March 1912, at White Hart Lane (today White Hart Road) in

Old Portsmouth Old Portsmouth is a district of the city of Portsmouth. It is the area covered by the original medieval town of Portsmouth as planned by Jean de Gisors. It is situated in the south west corner of Portsea Island. The area contains many historic b ...

and was educated at the Portsmouth Town School in the 1920s and early 1930s. He learned his early cricket playing for various church teams based in the city, and in a letter written to Hampshire cricket historian Dave Allen in the early 2000s, McCorkell explained how he had "progressed to play for Portsmouth District against Hampshire Club & Ground and was then invited to join the staff as a junior professional at the age of 19 on 1 April 1931." In the decade preceding McCorkell joining

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

, Walter Livsey and

George Brown George Brown may refer to: Arts and entertainment * George Loring Brown (1814–1889), American landscape painter * George Douglas Brown (1869–1902), Scottish novelist * George Williams Brown (1894–1963), Canadian historian and editor * G ...

kept wicket for the county Livsey's playing career ended in 1929, with Brown's career coming to an end by the early 1930s. McCorkell made his first-class debut for Hampshire in the 1932 County Championship against

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

Taunton Taunton () is the county town of Somerset, England, with a 2011 population of 69,570. Its thousand-year history includes a 10th-century monastic foundation, Taunton Castle, which later became a priory. The Normans built a castle owned by the ...

. He established himself as a regular member of the Hampshire starting XI during that season, making 28 first-class appearances. While McCorkell did not stand out with the bat, scoring 499 runs 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 13.86, it was behind the stumps that he showed his talent, so much so that he did well enough to be selected for the end of season

Gentlemen v Players Gentlemen v Players was a long-running series of English first-class cricket matches. Two matches were played in 1806, but the fixture was not played again until 1819. It became an annual event, usually played at least twice each season, exc ...

fixture, with McCorkell representing the Players. In his debut season he claimed 38

catches Catch may refer to: In sports * Catch (game), children's game * Catch (baseball), a maneuver in baseball * Catch (cricket), a mode of dismissal in cricket * Catch or reception (gridiron football) * Catch, part of a rowing stroke In music * Cat ...

and made 33 stumpings. He gained his Hampshire

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at the end of this season. County ground taunton churches

Pre-war career

Having cemented his place as Hampshire's first choice wicket-keeper, McCorkell made 33 first-class appearances during the 1933 season, scoring 739 runs at an average of 18.94, with a high score of 57, one of two fifties he made in that season. He was again reliable behind the stumps too, taking 46 catches and making 10 stumpings. He featured in 29 first-class matches in the 1934 season, though failed to improve on his previous seasons batting, scoring 490 runs at an average of 14.00, with a high score of exactly fifty, while behind the stumps he was steadily reliable, taking 50 catches and making 14 stumpings. In 1935, he featured in 29 first-class matches, which included 59 batting innings. It was during this season that he established himself with the bat, passing a thousand runs during the season with a tally of 1,319 at an average of 24.42. He recorded his first century midway through this season against

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 ...

with a score of 150 at the

County Ground, Southampton The County Ground in Southampton, England was a cricket and football ground. It was the home of Hampshire County Cricket Club from the 1885 English cricket season until the 2000 English cricket season. The ground also served as the home ground ...

. He recorded two further centuries in that season, in addition to making four half centuries. He took 40 catches and made 19 stumpings, further establishing himself as Hampshire's first choice wicket-keeper, with both his keeping and batting skills. The following season he once again passed 1,000 runs, scoring 1,350 at an average of exactly 27 in 32 first-class matches. He made just a single century in this season, with a score of 114 against Glamorgan at Dean Park, Bournemouth. Again solid behind the stumps, McCorkell claimed 51 catches and 15 stumpings. He also appeared for a second and final time for the Players against the Gentlemen at Lord's in 1936. Bhupendra Singh Patiala

McCorkell played in 30 first-class matches for Hampshire in the 1937 season, having his most productive since his debut in 1932, passing a thousand runs with 1,506 runs at an average of 27.88. He scored two centuries and ten half centuries in this season, as well as taking 50 catches and 18 stumpings. His performances in this season earned him a call up to teammate

Lionel Tennyson Lionel Hallam Tennyson, 3rd Baron Tennyson (7 November 1889 – 6 June 1951) was known principally as a first-class cricketer who captained Hampshire and England. The grandson of the poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson and the son of the Governor-Gener ...

's touring team to

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in the winter of 1937. He played ten first-class matches on the tour against a selection of personal XIs of

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s, provincial/regional teams and one match against

itself. The tour was uneventful for McCorkell, with him scoring 241 runs and recording just a single half century, while taking 16 catches and making 5 stumpings. This was to be his only overseas tour. McCorkell made 33 first-class appearances in 1938, once again passing a thousand runs for the season for the fourth season in a row. His batting statistics were similar to those of the 1937 English season, with 1,586 runs at an average of 27.82, with a single century score of 136 and seven half centuries. He also took 44 catches and made 12 stumpings. In 1939, the final season before first-class cricket was cancelled due to

, he made 27 first-class appearances, and once again passed a thousands runs for the season, making 1,030. Despite passing this landmark for the fifth straight season, his batting was not quite as successful as it had been in previous seasons, averaging 22.39. He recorded a single century and four half centuries during this season, as well as taking 30 catches and making 11 stumpings. Including the 1939 season and the preceding four seasons before it, McCorkell had scored 6,791 runs at an average 26. A reliable glovesman, he also made 502 dismissals from behind the stumps (catches and stumpings combined) during this period. Despite his consistent performances for Hampshire he was unable to force his way into 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 ...

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squad during this decade, due in large part to the presence of

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 ...

wicket-keeper

Les Ames Leslie Ethelbert George Ames (3 December 1905 – 27 February 1990) was a wicket-keeper and batsman for the England cricket team and Kent County Cricket Club. In his obituary, ''Wisden'' described him as the greatest wicket-keeper-batsman of ...

, who was considered a superior batsman.

World War II and later career

During World War II, McCorkell was a firefighter at

Vickers Vickers was a British engineering company that existed from 1828 until 1999. It was formed in Sheffield as a steel foundry by Edward Vickers and his father-in-law, and soon became famous for casting church bells. The company went public i ...

factory in Newbury, Berkshire. Following the end of the war in 1945, McCorkell resumed his career in county cricket with Hampshire when first-class cricket resumed in 1946 after a six-season break. Resuming his wicket-keeping duties, McCorkell appeared in 24 first-class matches in that season, scoring 641 runs at an average of 15.26. This was his worst with the bat since 1934, one in which he made no centuries and recorded just a single half century. This record vastly improved in the 28 first-class appearances he made in the following season, scoring 1,665 runs at an average of 40.60, with a high score of 103 not out, one of two centuries he made that season, in addition to fifteen half centuries he also made. This season was to be the most successful of his career. In the 1948 season, McCorkell broke his finger and only played 14 matches in total, scoring 754 runs. The following year Neil scored 1,871 runs the highest season aggregate of his career. McCorkell retired from first-class cricket in 1951 and subsequently emigrated to South Africa with his family, wife Ethel and two sons Dennis and Ray. He took a position as cricket coach at

Parktown Boys' High School Parktown Boys' High School is a public English medium high school for boys situated in Parktown, a suburb of Johannesburg in the Gauteng province of South Africa. It is one of the oldest schools in Johannesburg. Parktown Boys' sister school is ...

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Dem ...

, where he worked for thirty years. The McCorkell Oval is named after him. He was up to the time of his death Hampshire's oldest surviving player. On 23 March 2012, McCorkell celebrated his 100th birthday at his

Uvongo Uvongo is a seaside resort in the KwaZulu-Natal South Coast at the mouth of the Vungu River in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Uvongo is the largest upmarket residential area on the lower South Coast. The Vungu River has a waterfall that flows into ...

home, becoming the second Hampshire cricketer after Edward English to reach the landmark, and the thirteenth county cricketer to do so. McCorkell died on 28 February 2013, three weeks before his 101st birthday.

Statistics

McCorkell went on to play 396

first-class matches 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 ...

, scoring 16,106 runs at an average of 25.60, including 17 centuries. He scored a thousand runs in a season on nine occasions, and scored 203 against Gloucester in 1951, his last season. As wicketkeeper, he took 532 catches and 185 stumpings.Neil McCorkell, Cricket Archive
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Notes

References