William Farrand Oates (11 June 1929 – 15 May 2001) was an English

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 officia ...

er, who played for

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other English counties, functions have ...

in 1956, and for

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...

from 1959 to 1965.

Life

Oates was born in Aston,

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire a ...

, Yorkshire, England. He played his early cricket with the local Aston Hall club, where his father was president as well being President of the Sheffield League. Oates also played with Sheffield United and headed the Yorkshire 2nd XI averages in 1956. Oates played three matches for Yorkshire in 1956, including one against the touring

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, but failed to cement a first team place. Oates moved to Derbyshire in the 1959 season where he played five matches in the season. In the 1960 season he played seven matches with no significant performances. In the 1961 season he scored over 1200 runs and made his best score of 148 not out against Sussex. In the 1962 season he made 1100 runs and scored 101 against

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 scored well in the 1963 and in the

1964 Events January * January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved. * January 5 - In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patriarc ...

season achieved his best bowling performance of 6 for 47 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 th ...

. In 1965 he was much less successful, and he left Derbyshire at the end of the season. Oates was a right-handed batsman, and played 214 innings in 124 first-class matches in the middle-order, scoring 4,588 runs at an average of 22.94 and making two centuries. He was an off-break bowler and took 13 first-class wickets at an average of 44.38, and a best performance of six for 47 with a mixture of right-arm medium pace and offbreaks, In all matches, he took 54 catches.William Oates at Cricket Archive
/ref> Oates also played in 5 one-day matches, scoring 50 runs at 10.00. In 1965, and after leaving Derbyshire, Oates became a professional at Golcar C.C. and from 1966 to 1968 with Paddock C.C. when they twice won the Sykes Cup. He assisted Elland C.C. in 1969 and 1970, also leading the Huddersfield League representative side. He returned to play for Aston Hall C.C. in the 1970s. Oates emigrated to Canada after his retirement from the game, dying there at the age of 71.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Oates, William Oates, William Oates, William English cricketers Derbyshire cricketers Yorkshire cricketers Cricketers from Sheffield