Douglas John Insole (18 April 1926 – 5 August 2017) Obituary

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was an English

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 str ...

er, who played for

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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 Grea ...

and in nine Test matches for

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, five of them on the 1956–57 tour of South Africa, where he was vice-captain to Peter May. After retiring from playing, he was prominent in cricket administration, and served as chairman of the England selectors and as President of the

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(MCC).

Life and career

Insole was born in Clapton,

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, attended the Monoux School, Walthamstow, and lived most of his adult life at

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. He was cricket captain of

whilst a history student at St Catharine's College and went on to captain Essex for many years. He scored 20,113 first-class runs for Essex, the ninth highest aggregate for the club. He played as 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. ...

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, and as a bowler. He was one of the

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in 1956. He was President of the

(MCC) for the twelve months, beginning on 1 October 2006. For his many services to cricket, Insole was appointed a

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in 1979. Insole was chairman of selectors for

in the 1960s, and in 1968, he was criticized for presiding over the non-selection of

Basil D'Oliveira Basil Lewis D'Oliveira CBE OIS (4 October 1931 – 19 November 2011) was an England international cricketer of South African Cape Coloured background, whose potential selection by England for the scheduled 1968–69 tour of apartheid-era South ...

for a tour to South Africa. Only later did it become generally known that the selectors had been pressurised into omitting D'Oliveira because he was a ' coloured' South African and his inclusion in a team to visit the country, then under

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, was thought to be undiplomatic. Also during Insole's time

Geoffrey Boycott Sir Geoffrey Boycott (born 21 October 1940) is a former Test cricketer, who played cricket for Yorkshire and England. In a prolific and sometimes controversial playing career from 1962 to 1986, Boycott established himself as one of England's m ...

was dropped, in 1967 after having scored 246 not out. Boycott admitted to still feeling aggrieved about this over 40 years later, while commenting on the third Test between

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and England at Napier on 24 March 2008 and again during the ''

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'' commentary of England against the

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on 7 June 2012, where he said that Insole "should have spelt his name with an A!" Again on 9 August 2014 during the 4th Test against India at Old Trafford, Insole's name was mentioned and Boycott reiterated his thoughts on how Insole's name should be spelt. Insole was a first team footballer for the amateur Corinthian-Casuals F.C., and played in the 1956 FA Amateur Cup final, before they lost to Bishop Auckland in a replay. He managed the 1978–79 by David Liverman and 1982–83 Ashes tours to Australia, and for nine years to 2006 was chair of the European Cricket Council. Insole died on 5 August 2017, aged 91. His death was announced by Essex County Cricket Club the following day.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Insole, Doug 1926 births 2017 deaths Corinthian-Casuals F.C. players English cricketers England Test cricketers Alumni of St Catharine's College, Cambridge Cambridge University cricketers Wisden Cricketers of the Year Presidents of the Marylebone Cricket Club Essex cricketers Essex cricket captains People educated at Sir George Monoux College England cricket team selectors Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers Gentlemen cricketers North v South cricketers Free Foresters cricketers Gentlemen of England cricketers Cricketers from Greater London Association footballers not categorized by position H. D. G. Leveson Gower's XI cricketers English footballers 20th-century British businesspeople