Paul Rupert Downton (born 4 April 1957) is the current Director of Cricket at

Kent County Cricket Club Kent County Cricket Club is one of the eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Kent. A club representing the county was first founded in 1842 but Ke ...

. He had previously been the managing director of the

England and Wales Cricket Board The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) is the Sports governing body, national governing body of cricket in England and Wales. It was formed on 1 January 1997 as a single governing body to combine the roles formerly fulfilled by the Test and ...

between February 2014 and April 2015. He is a former English professional

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 who played in 30

Test matches Test match in some sports refers to a sporting contest between national representative teams and may refer to: * Test cricket * Test match (indoor cricket) * Test match (rugby union) * Test match (rugby league) * Test match (association football) ...

and 28

One Day International A One Day International (ODI) is a form of limited overs cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of overs, currently 50, with the game lasting up to 9 hours. The Cricket World C ...

s for the

England cricket team The England cricket team represents England and Wales in international cricket. Since 1997, it has been governed by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), having been previously governed by Marylebone Cricket Club (the MCC) since 1903. Engla ...

between 1977 and 1989. He was 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. Th ...

who played for

from 1977 to 1979 and for

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, historic county in South East England, southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the Ceremonial counties of ...

between 1980 and 1991.

Life and cricket career

Downton was born at Farnborough in metropolitan

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 ...

in 1957. He attended

Sevenoaks Prep School Sevenoaks Prep School is a co-educational, day preparatory school for 385 pupils aged 2–13 in Sevenoaks in south-east England. The school is situated on the Sackville estate, on grounds bordering the park of Knole House. It was founded in 19 ...

Sevenoaks School Sevenoaks School is a highly selective coeducational independent school in Sevenoaks, Kent, England. It is the second oldest non-denominational school in the United Kingdom, dating back to 1432, only behind Oswestry (1407). Over 1,000 day pupils ...

and the

University of Exeter The University of Exeter is a public university , public research university in Exeter, Devon, England, United Kingdom. Its predecessor institutions, St Luke's College, Exeter School of Science, Exeter School of Art, and the Camborne School of Min ...

. He obtained a law degree, a coaching certificate and earned international honours at youth level in both cricket and

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

. His father,

George George may refer to: People * George (given name) * George (surname) * George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George * George Washington, First President of the United States * George W. Bush, 43rd Presiden ...

, had played briefly for Kent in the post-war period and Downton's early

county cricket Inter-county cricket matches are known to have been played since the early 18th century, involving teams that are representative of the historic counties of England and Wales. Since the late 19th century, there have been two county championship ...

career was with the same county. Kent shared the 1977 County Championship and won the competition outright in 1978 but Downton became frustrated deputising for

Alan Knott Alan Philip Eric Knott (born 9 April 1946) is a former cricketer who represented England at international level in both Tests and One-Day Internationals (ODI). Knott is widely regarded as one of the most eccentric characters in cricket and as o ...

in the 1979 season and moved to Middlesex in 1980. On arrival, he has been described by a teammate there as "an intelligent, dapper individual ... who did not immediately seem to fit with the rather cruder, laddish Londoners in the team". On his first-class debut with Middlesex, the captain,

Mike Brearley John Michael Brearley (born 28 April 1942) is a retired English first-class cricketer who captained Cambridge University, Middlesex, and England. He captained the international side in 31 of his 39 Test matches, winning 18 and losing only 4. ...

, chose to use Downton as an opener, and the two registered an opening partnership of 160. Downton tasted

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 ...

for the first time in the

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greater A ...

that winter. He was dropped after the first Test against Australia in the summer of 1981 and had to wait until the summer of 1984 for further such honours, when he was picked at home to bolster

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 ...

's batting options against the West Indies. Though England lost the match, in his first Test back in the team he made his first Test half-century when acting as a stand-in opening batsman following an injury to Andy Lloyd. It began an uninterrupted twenty-three match run in the national team. During this time Downton helped England to a series win in India in 1984-5, and to regain

the Ashes The Ashes is a Test cricket series played between England and Australia. The term originated in a satirical obituary published in a British newspaper, ''The Sporting Times'', immediately after Australia's 1882 victory at The Oval, its first Te ...

against

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

in 1985. His highest Test score of 74 came in England's unlikely triumph at Delhi in the former series. However he was also, along with

David Gower David Ivon Gower (born 1 April 1957) is an English cricket commentator and former cricketer who was captain of the England cricket team during the 1980s. Described as one of the most stylish left-handed batsmen of his era, Gower played 117 Te ...

Allan Lamb Allan Joseph Lamb (born 20 June 1954) is a South African-born former English cricketer, who played for the first-class teams of Western Province and Northamptonshire. Making his Test debut in 1982, he was a fixture in the Test and One-Day Intern ...

and

Ian Botham Ian Terence Botham, Baron Botham, (born 24 November 1955) is an English cricket commentator, member of the House of Lords, a former cricketer who has been chairman of Durham County Cricket Club since 2017 and charity fundraiser. Hailed as one ...

, one of only four England cricketers ever present during the "

Blackwash The Wisden Trophy was awarded to the winner of the Test cricket series played between England cricket team, England and the West Indies cricket team, West Indies. It was first awarded in 1963 to commemorate the hundredth edition of Wisden Crick ...

" series defeats against the

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeast A ...

and 1985-6. He was on the winning side against the West Indies when recalled to the England team for the 1987

Cricket World Cup The Cricket World Cup (officially known as ICC Men's Cricket World Cup) is the international championship of One Day International (ODI) cricket. The event is organised by the sport's governing body, the International Cricket Council (ICC), e ...

, but England lost in the final to Australia. He played for England for the last time in 1988. A trustworthy, affable and resourceful team member, Downton played a starring role in Middlesex's successes in the 1980s; they won the

County Championship The County Championship (referred to as the LV= Insurance County Championship for sponsorship reasons) is the domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales and is organised by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). It bec ...

on four occasions from 1980-90. He also shared a number of succeses with Middlesex in one-day tournaments, including the

1980 Gillette Cup The 1980 Gillette Cup was an English limited overs county cricket tournament held between 2 July and 6 September 1980. It was the eighteenth and final Gillette Cup before it was renamed as the NatWest Trophy in 1981. Middlesex won the tournamen ...

, the

NatWest Trophy The Friends Provident Trophy was a one-day cricket competition in the United Kingdom. It was one of the four tournaments in which the eighteen first-class cricket, first-class counties competed each season. They were joined by teams from Scott ...

(sharing a crucial stand of 87 in the final with

Clive Radley Clive Thornton Radley (born 13 May 1944) is an English former cricketer, who played eight Test cricket, Test matches and four One Day Internationals for England cricket team, England. He was selected as one of the five Wisden Cricketers of the ...

) and

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Australian ...

, the

Benson & Hedges Cup The Benson & Hedges Cup was a one-day cricket competition for first-class counties in England and Wales that was held from 1972 to 2002, one of cricket's longest sponsorship deals. It was the third major one-day competition established in Englan ...

1983 The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to Internet protocol suite, TCP/IP is officially completed (this is consid ...

and

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal ente ...

and the Refuge Assurance Cup in 1990 (where he won the

man of the match In team sport, a player of the match or man of the match or woman of the match award is often given to the most outstanding player in a particular match. This can be a player from either team, although the player is generally chosen from the winn ...

in the final). The cricket journalist and Downton's former Middlesex teammate

Simon Hughes Sir Simon Henry Ward Hughes (born 17 May 1951) is a former British politician. He is now the Chancellor of London South Bank University, an External Adviser to The Open University, and UK Strategic Adviser to Talgo. Hughes was Deputy Leader ...

has described Downton as "gracious, encouraging, unfailingly polite, a diplomat. The kind of chap ... who would offer the bailiffs a glass of sherry if they turned up unannounced." Hughes argues that Downton's calm personality, even when dealing with a difficult colleague, was a significant factor in Downton's success as a player and stand-in captain at Middlesex while Brearley was absent playing for England.

Post cricket career

Downton's cricket career ended in 1991 when he failed to recover from a freak eye injury. A bail lodged in his eye when he was standing up to the stumps during a Sunday League match at Basingstoke in 1990. After retiring from cricket, he became a

stockbroker A stockbroker is a regulated broker, broker-dealer, or registered investment adviser (in the United States) who may provide financial advisory and investment management services and execute transactions such as the purchase or sale of stocks an ...

with James Capel and Cazenove & Co, having been "partly immersed in the City" by the time of his accident. On 16 October 2013, Downton was appointed to the position of Managing Director of the

with effect from 1 February 2014. He replaced Hugh Morris who resigned to become chief executive and managing director of

Glamorgan County Cricket Club Glamorgan County Cricket Club ( cy, Criced Morgannwg) is one of eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Glamorgan ( cy, Morgannwg). Founded in 1888, ...

. He left the role on 8 April 2015. Kent announced his appointment as Director of Cricket on 18 January 2018.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Downton, Paul 1957 births Kent cricketers Living people Directors of Cricket England Test cricketers English cricketers of 1969 to 2000 England One Day International cricketers English cricketers Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers Middlesex cricketers Alumni of the University of Exeter People educated at Sevenoaks School People from Farnborough, London Stockbrokers Test and County Cricket Board XI cricketers Wicket-keepers Young England cricketers