Thomas Neill Pearce

OBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(3 November 1905 – 11 April 1994) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

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

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 ...

official. He was primarily a

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 ...

for

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

and was

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 ...

for nearly 20 years. He also acted as secretary, chairman and president of Essex, and was also a

Test 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), ...

selector 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 ...

Cricket career

Pearce made his first-class debut 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 ...

Leyton Leyton () is a town in east London, England, within the London Borough of Waltham Forest. It borders Walthamstow to the north, Leytonstone to the east, and Stratford to the south, with Clapton, Hackney Wick and Homerton, across the River L ...

in 1929. He opened the batting, however number 6 was to become his usual position in the batting order. His selection was based on his high scoring in club cricket, at a time when Essex relied greatly on

amateur An amateur () is generally considered a person who pursues an avocation independent from their source of income. Amateurs and their pursuits are also described as popular, informal, autodidacticism, self-taught, user-generated, do it yourself, DI ...

s. During his first few years as an Essex player, he worked as a banker, however after two seasons he gave it up and started work in the wine trade. His first season as captain in 1933; a role he shared until 1938 with

Denys Wilcox Denys Wilcox (4 June 1910 – 6 February 1953) was an English cricketer and schoolmaster. Career Wilcox scored more than 1000 runs in his last season at Dulwich College, then went up to Cambridge University. He played three years for the u ...

, saw Essex rise from 13th to 4th 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 ...

. The ''

Wisden Cricketers' Almanack ''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 ...

'' of 1934 reported that "Pearce captained with tactical judgment and enjoyed no little success as a batsman". A change of job ensured that Pearce could remain Essex's full-time captain until 1950, when he retired. His most prolific season was in 1948, when he scored 1,487 runs at an average of 49.56. He also hit his highest score of his career in the same season, an unbeaten 211 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 ...

. Immediately after retiring, Pearce became a Test selector for England. He was also manager of the MCC's tour of India, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) and Pakistan, during the winter of 1961-2. He also selected his own

T. N. Pearce's XI {{Use dmy dates, date=April 2022 T. N. Pearce's XI was a scratch cricket team composed largely of Test and other prominent first-class players. Between 1951 and 1974, T. N. Pearce's XI played an annual first-class match at the end of the English ...

, which played against the touring Test side annually between 1951 and 1976.

Rugby Union career

Pearce was also described as a "top-class" referee, and took charge of 10 international matches.

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Pearce, Tom 1905 births 1994 deaths Officers of the Order of the British Empire Essex cricketers Essex cricket captains English rugby union referees England cricket team selectors People from Stoke Newington Gentlemen cricketers Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers English cricketers of 1919 to 1945 H. D. G. Leveson Gower's XI cricketers North v South cricketers