Edwin George Witherden (1 May 1922 – 6 May 2019), known as Ted Witherden, was an English

cricketer 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 ...

who 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 officiall ...

for

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 ...

from 1951 to 1955.Ted Witherden
CricketArchive. Retrieved 7 August 2020. He later went on to be one of the most successful batsmen to play 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 ...

, playing for

Norfolk County Cricket Club Norfolk County Cricket Club is one of twenty minor county cricket clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Norfolk. The team is currently a member of the Minor Counties Champion ...

between 1956 and 1962. In later life he was a successful groundsman and cricket coach in

Bishop's Stortford Bishop's Stortford is a historic market town in Hertfordshire, England, just west of the M11 motorway on the county boundary with Essex, north-east of central London, and by rail from Liverpool Street station. Stortford had an estimated po ...

Early life and war service

Witherden was born at

Goudhurst Goudhurst is a village and civil parish in the borough of Tunbridge Wells in Kent, England. It lies in the Weald, around south of Maidstone, on the crossroads of the A262 and B2079. The parish consists of three wards: Goudhurst, Kilndown and ...

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 ...

, the son of a policeman. He played for Sandwich Town Cricket Club before the war and had an unsuccessful trial with Kent in 1938 at the age of 16.Deaths in 2019, ''Kent County Cricket Club Annual 2020'', p.220–222. Canterbury:

. During

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 opposin ...

Witherden served with the

Royal East Kent Regiment The Buffs (Royal East Kent Regiment), formerly the 3rd Regiment of Foot, was a line infantry regiment of the British Army traditionally raised in the English county of Kent and garrisoned at Canterbury. It had a history dating back to 1572 and ...

(the Buffs), enlisting in 1940 and serving on the home front until 1943. He transferred to the 3rd battalion,

Northern Rhodesia Regiment The Northern Rhodesia Regiment (NRR) was a multi-battalion British colonial regiment raised from the protectorate of Northern Rhodesia. It was formed in 1933 from elements of the Northern Rhodesia Police, which had been formed during Company r ...

Kenya ) , national_anthem = "Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...

and was promoted to the rank of

Sergeant Sergeant (abbreviated to Sgt. and capitalized when used as a named person's title) is a rank in many uniformed organizations, principally military and policing forces. The alternative spelling, ''serjeant'', is used in The Rifles and other uni ...

, serving in

Madagascar Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...

and

Abyssinia The Ethiopian Empire (), also formerly known by the exonym Abyssinia, or just simply known as Ethiopia (; Amharic and Tigrinya: ኢትዮጵያ , , Oromo: Itoophiyaa, Somali: Itoobiya, Afar: ''Itiyoophiyaa''), was an empire that historica ...

. The regiment was sent to India in 1944 and Witherden saw active service as part of the

22nd (East Africa) Infantry Brigade The 22nd (East Africa) Infantry Brigade was a brigade sized formation of the British Army, which was founded on 19 September 1939 in British East Africa. The brigade was initially called the 2nd (East Africa) Infantry Brigade, but was redesignat ...

in the

Arakan Arakan ( or ) is a historic coastal region in Southeast Asia. Its borders faced the Bay of Bengal to its west, the Indian subcontinent to its north and Burma proper to its east. The Arakan Mountains isolated the region and made it accessi ...

area during the Burma campaign. He ended the war with the rank of Company Sergeant Major.

Cricket

A second trial with Kent in 1947 saw Witherden judged to be a "fair" player but one who, at the age of 26, was considered to be "too old". He was playing for

Leigh Leigh may refer to: Places In England Pronounced : * Leigh, Greater Manchester, Borough of Wigan ** Leigh (UK Parliament constituency) * Leigh-on-Sea, Essex Pronounced : * Leigh, Dorset * Leigh, Gloucestershire * Leigh, Kent * Leigh, Staf ...

Cricket Club in

and working on the ground staff at

Tonbridge School (God Giveth the Increase) , established = , closed = , type = Public schoolIndependent day and boarding , religion = , president = , head_label ...

when he played his first matches for Kent Second XI in 1950.Ted Witherden
Obituaries, Beyond the Boundaries, issue 25,

Professional Cricketers Association The Professional Cricketers' Association is the representative body of past and present first-class cricketers in England and Wales, founded in 1967 by former England fast bowler Fred Rumsey (when it was known as the Cricketers' Association). In t ...

, 2019. Retrieved 7 August 2020. In three matches he took 19 wickets with his off-spin at a

bowling average In cricket, a player's bowling average is the number of runs they have conceded per wicket taken. The lower the bowling average is, the better the bowler is performing. It is one of a number of statistics used to compare bowlers, commonly use ...

of 13.52 and, despite his age, was taken on to the Kent staff for the 1951 season. He played as a professional for Kent from 1951 to 1955, but never established a firm place in the side. Good bowling performances for the Kent Club and Ground and Second XI sides saw Witherden make his first-class debut in 1951 against a Minor Counties XI, taking five wickets on debut for a cost of 32 runs (5/32) in the second innings. He played once more for the First XI during the season, but impressed for the Second XI, recording a

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is ...

of 76.83 during the season. A single First XI appearance in 1952 followed, although he scored 844 runs and took 66 wickets for the Second XI, and ahead of the 1953 season it was announced that he would be acting as an assistant coach as well as being retained as a professional. Three centuries for the Second XI saw Witherden called into the Kent side in July 1953. He enjoyed a purple patch, scoring both of his first-class centuries in a fortnight. At

Blackheath Blackheath may refer to: Places England *Blackheath, London, England ** Blackheath railway station **Hundred of Blackheath, Kent, an ancient hundred in the north west of the county of Kent, England *Blackheath, Surrey, England ** Hundred of Blackh ...

he scored 26 not out in a Kent first innings total of 63 against

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

, who were beginning to dominate county cricket, and then made 125 not out in five hours in the second innings, his first first-class century, almost single-handedly preventing defeat.Obituaries in 2019, ''Wisden'', 2020.
Available online
Retrieved 7 August 2020.) In the following match, Witherden made 8 and 51 against

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avon an ...

Maidstone Maidstone is the largest Town status in the United Kingdom, town in Kent, England, of which it is the county town. Maidstone is historically important and lies 32 miles (51 km) east-south-east of London. The River Medway runs through the c ...

, and the following day scored 100, his only other first-class century, in three hours in an innings victory over

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a county in the West Midlands of England. The area that is now Worcestershire was absorbed into the unified Kingdom of England in 927, at which time it was constituted as a county (see His ...

on the same ground. The remainder of the 1953 season saw only two more double-figure scores for Witherden as he played in nine Kent matches. Two half-centuries at the start of the 1954 season showed more promise, but in 22 appearances for Kent he only made one other score of 50, scoring 72 against

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 ...

at Blackheath. The following season he made only six appearances for the First XI, although he again scored well for the Second XI. In total he made 40 first-class appearances for Kent, scoring 1,380 runs and taking nine wickets. After 1955 he left Kent and joined the minor county

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

, where he played as their professional for seven seasons, replacing

Cecil Boswell Cecil Stanley Reginald Boswell (19 January 1910 – 15 August 1985) was an English cricketer. He played for Essex County Cricket Club between 1932 and 1936

.Hounsome K (2015) ''A Game Well Played: a history of cricket in Norfolk'', p.212. Norwich: Hounsome. He was highly successful in his first five seasons, and was the leading run-scorer in the

in 1958, scoring 808 runs at a

of 44.88, in 1959 (1,031 runs at 79.30 with three centuries)Hounsome, p.214. and in 1960 (855 runs at 53.43). He was also one of the leading Minor Counties bowlers in 1956.''Wisden'' 1957, pp.708–9. His 1959 performance was the first time a Norfolk batsman had scored 1,000 runs in the Minor Counties Championship and remains one of only 13 times the feat has been achieved and is the eighth highest season's aggregate in the competition's history. In his seven seasons with Norfolk, Witherden played 76 Minor County matches, scoring 4,794 runs at an average of 45.65, with 13 centuries, and taking 104 wickets at 21.15.Hounsome, p.218. He was awarded a

benefit season A benefit season is a method of financially rewarding professional cricketers that is used by English county cricket teams to compensate long serving players. The system originated in the 19th century to help out professional cricketers who were ...

in 1961, but suffered an injury to his right hand. This required an operation in 1962, meaning that he missed half of Norfolk's matches.

Family and later life

Witherden was released by Norfolk with a year to run on his contract in order to take up the post of head groundsman at

Bishop's Stortford College Bishop's Stortford College is a independent day and boarding school in the English public school tradition for more than 1,200 pupils aged 4–18, situated in a campus on the edge of the market town of Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire, Englan ...

in 1963. He remained in the post until he retired in 1986 with his son, Nigel, following him to become a groundsman at the college. Witherden also coached the college cricket team and continued to play cricket for Bishop's Stortford Cricket Club.Top Field Renamed 'The Witherden Field'

, 11 December 2019. Retrieved 7 August 2020.Witherden, Edward (Ted) G
Obituaries, OS News, p.14, October 2019. Retrieved 7 August 2020. Nigel played briefly for Norfolk and two of Witherden's granddaughters have played Twenty20 cricket for the

Hertfordshire Women cricket team The Hertfordshire Women's cricket team is the women's representative cricket team for the English historic county of Hertfordshire. They play their home games at various grounds across the county, including Knebworth Park, Knebworth and Londo ...

. Ted Witherden died at

Stoke Mandeville Stoke Mandeville is a village and civil parish in the Vale of Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire, England. It is located three miles (4.9 km) from Aylesbury and 3.4 miles (5.5 km) from the market town of Wendover. Although a separate civil p ...

in May 2019 at the age of 97.Edwin Witherden

CricInfo ESPN cricinfo (formerly known as Cricinfo or CricInfo) is a sports news website exclusively for the game of cricket. The site features news, articles, live coverage of cricket matches (including liveblogs and scorecards), and ''StatsGuru'', a d ...

. Retrieved 7 August 2020. The main cricket field at Bishop's Stortford College was renamed the Witherden Field in December 2019, in honour of both Ted and Nigel.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Witherden, Ted 1922 births 2019 deaths English cricketers Kent cricketers Norfolk cricketers People from Goudhurst British Army personnel of World War II Buffs (Royal East Kent Regiment) soldiers Military personnel from Kent Cricketers from Kent