Roger William Tolchard (born 15 June 1946) is an English former

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 four

Tests Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film), ...

and one

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 ...

for

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 ...

in the late 1970s.

Life and career

Tolchard 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 ...

. Educated at

Malvern College Malvern College is an Independent school (United Kingdom), independent coeducational day and boarding school in Malvern, Worcestershire, Malvern, Worcestershire, England. It is a public school (United Kingdom), public school in the British sen ...

, he played for

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 ...

for his entire professional career, from 1965 to 1983. He was selected for the England team for their tour of

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

in 1976–77, and played in four Tests, although as a specialist

batsman In cricket, batting is the act or skill of hitting the ball with a bat to score runs and prevent the loss of one's wicket. Any player who is currently batting is, since September 2021, officially referred to as a batter (historically, the ...

not a wicket-keeper (

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 ...

was the established wicket-keeper). He scored an important 67 in his first

innings An innings is one of the divisions of a cricket match during which one team takes its turn to bat. Innings also means the period in which an individual player bats (acts as either striker or nonstriker). Innings, in cricket, and rounders, is bot ...

, but only managed 62 in total in six further innings. He was also selected for the 1978–79 tour of

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 ...

. He kept wicket in a One Day International in

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

, although it was rained off after 7.2 overs. He was forced to return home injured with a fractured cheekbone before the remainder of the one day matches. He captained Leicestershire for the last three years of his career, from 1981 to 1983, leading them to second place in 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 ...

in the 1982 season. After retiring as a professional player, he returned to Malvern College where he coached cricket and

rackets Racket may refer to: * Racket (crime), a systematised element of organized crime ** Protection racket, a scheme whereby a group provides protection to businesses or other groups through violence outside the sanction of the law * Racket (sports equ ...

from 1984 to 2006. His brother

Jeff Jeff is a masculine name, often a short form (hypocorism) of the English given name Jefferson or Jeffrey, which comes from a medieval variant of Geoffrey. Music * DJ Jazzy Jeff, American DJ/turntablist record producer Jeffrey Allen Townes * ...

also played for Leicestershire, and his nephew

Roger Twose Roger Graham Twose (born 17 April 1968) is an English-born former cricketer, who played 16 Test matches and 87 One Day Internationals for New Zealand in the mid-1990s. In February 2021, Twose was appointed as the director of New Zealand Cric ...

played for

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. England international lawn bowlers Sam and Sophie Tolchard are his nephew and niece. Tolchard was one of ten members of Leicestershire's first County Championship winning team in 1975 to have a road in Leicester named after him by the city council.

Chris Balderstone John Christopher Balderstone (16 November 1940 – 6 March 2000) was an English professional in cricket and association football, football, and one of the last sportsmen to combine both sports over a prolonged period. He played football as a mi ...

, Peter Booth, Brian Davison,

Barry Dudleston Barry Dudleston (born 16 July 1945) is a former first-class cricketer and umpire. He was a right-handed batsman and occasional wicketkeeper who played cricket for Rhodesia, Gloucestershire and Leicestershire. By the end of his career of 295 firs ...

Ken Higgs Kenneth Higgs (14 January 1937 – 7 September 2016) was an English fast-medium bowler, who was most successful as the opening partner to Brian Statham with Lancashire in the 1960s. He later played with success for Leicestershire. Cricket wr ...

David Humphries David John Humphries (6 August 1953 – 15 July 2020) was an English cricketer. He was born in Alveley, Shropshire, and educated at Bridgnorth Olbury Wells School and Wulfrun College, Wolverhampton.Published under Association of Cricket Stati ...

Ray Illingworth Raymond Illingworth CBE (8 June 1932 – 25 December 2021) was an English cricketer, cricket commentator and administrator. , he was one of only nine players to have taken 2,000 wickets and made 20,000 runs in first-class cricket.Arnold, Peter ...

Norman McVicker Norman Michael McVicker (4 November 1940 – 19 November 2008) was an English cricketer. Having failed to establish himself with either Lancashire or Derbyshire, where he had trialled, McVicker initially played county cricket at minor cou ...

, and John Steele were the others.

Jack Birkenshaw Jack Birkenshaw, (born 13 November 1940) was an English cricketer, who later stood as an umpire and worked as a coach. Cricket commentator, Colin Bateman, stated "Jack Birkenshaw was the epitome of a good all-round county cricketer: a probing ...

Graham McKenzie Graham Douglas McKenzie (born 24 June 1941) – commonly known as "Garth", after the comic strip hero – is an Australian cricketer who played for Western Australia (1960–74), Leicestershire (1969–75), Transvaal (1979–80) and Austral ...

and Mick Norman missed out as there were already roads using their surnames.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Tolchard, Roger 1946 births Living people England Test cricketers England One Day International cricketers English cricketers Leicestershire cricketers Leicestershire cricket captains People educated at Malvern College Sportspeople from Torquay Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers Devon cricketers D. H. Robins' XI cricketers T. N. Pearce's XI cricketers Wicket-keepers Marylebone Cricket Club President's XI cricketers Cricketers from Devon