Ralph Oliver Prouton (1 March 1926 – 12 September 2018) was an 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 and

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

er.

Sporting career and life

Prouton was born at

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

in March 1926. He was recommended to

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

by their former

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

Tom Parker. Though he did not feature for Arsenal's first team, he did play 45 times for their 'A' team and twelve times for their reserves between 1949 and 1952, playing as a left-sided wing half. Alongside his football career with Arsenal, in the summer Prouton played

. He 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 ...

in the

1949 County Championship The 1949 County Championship was the 50th officially organised running of the County Championship. The Championship was shared for the first time in its history between Middlesex County Cricket Club and Yorkshire County Cricket Club York ...

. It would be another two years before his next appearance for Hampshire, which came in 1951 against

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

. Prouton was one of a number of candidates to replace Hampshire's recently retired

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 ...

Neil McCorkell Neil Thomas McCorkell (23 March 1912 – 28 February 2013) was an English cricketer. He was right-handed batsman who fielded as a wicket-keeper. He was born at Portsmouth, Hampshire. Debuting for Hampshire County Cricket Club in 1932, McCo ...

. In 1952, he missed only three matches all season, playing in 26. This number reduced in 1953, when he made seventeen appearances, before making just three appearances in 1954. After 1954,

Leo Harrison Leo Harrison (8 June 1922 – 12 October 2016) was an English first-class cricketer who played for Hampshire from 1939 to 1966. Harrison played in 396 first-class matches, 387 of which were for Hampshire. During his career Harrison made 8,85 ...

established himself as first choice wicket-keeper. Prouton made 52 first-class appearances for Hampshire, scoring 982 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 14.44. As wicket-keeper, he took 84 catches and made thirteen

stumping Stumped is a method of dismissing a batsman in cricket, which involves the wicket-keeper putting down the wicket while the batsman is out of his ground. (The batsman leaves his ground when he has moved down the pitch beyond the popping crease ...

s. His highest first-class score of 90 was made against

in 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 ...

in 1953. Having found opportunities at Arsenal lacking, Prouton was signed by Swindon Town in July 1952, with the club signing him during the middle of a

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 ...

match against

Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...

at Portsmouth. He made sixteen first team appearances for Swindon Town during the 1952–53 season, including two appearances in the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

. In the summer of 1953, he signed for Bath City and played for their reserves for a number of seasons. Prouton later taught for many years at

Downside School Downside School is a co-educational Catholic independent boarding and day school in the English public school tradition for pupils aged 11 to 18. It is located between Bath, Frome, Wells and Bruton, and is attached to Downside Abbey. Originall ...

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_ ...

. He maintained an association with

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 ...

by standing as an

umpire An umpire is an official in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The term derives from the Old French nonper, ''non'', "not" and ''per'', ...

minor counties cricket The National Counties, known as the Minor Counties before 2020, are the cricketing counties of England and Wales that do not have first-class status. The game is administered by the National Counties Cricket Association (NCCA), which comes unde ...

, adjudicating in 56 matches in the

Minor Counties Championship The NCCA 3 Day Championship (previously the Minor Counties Cricket Championship) is a season-long competition in England and Wales that is contested by the members of the National Counties Cricket Association (NCCA), the so-called national cou ...

between 1957 and 1969. Prouton died at

Bath Bath may refer to: * Bathing, immersion in a fluid ** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body ** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe * Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities Plac ...

in September 2018.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Prouton, Ralph 1926 births 2018 deaths Cricketers from Southampton Footballers from Southampton English cricketers Hampshire cricketers English men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Swindon Town F.C. players Schoolteachers from Hampshire