Norman Vaughan Hurry Riches (9 June 1883 – 6 November 1975) was a Welsh

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

Glamorgan , HQ = Cardiff , Government = Glamorgan County Council (1889–1974) , Origin= , Code = GLA , CodeName = Chapman code , Replace = * West Glamorgan * Mid Glamorgan * South Glamorgan , Motto ...

from 1921 to 1934.

Early life and education

Riches, Norman Vaughan Hurry (1883-1975) 1900 Atheltics

The son of C. H. Riches of

Tredegarville Tredegarville was the name given to an upper class area of streets and villas in Cardiff, Wales, developed during the second half of the 19th century. The area is now part of Roath. History and description Tredegarville consisted of the paralle ...

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...

, Norman Riches joined

Abingdon School Abingdon School is a day and boarding independent school for boys in Abingdon-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, England. The twentieth oldest independent British school, it celebrated its 750th anniversary in 2006. The school was described as "highly ...

from Chard School in 1900. He was a first team member of the football and athletics team and played cricket for the Old Abingdonians.

Career

Riches worked as a dentist. A quick-footed, attacking batsman who was a shrewd judge of a quick run, he played cricket as an

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for

from 1901, initially as wicket-keeper. His first major innings was against Monmouth at Swansea when he scored 183 in 1904. Apart from two matches for Welsh teams against the touring South Africans in 1912, he played no first-class cricket until Glamorgan's initial season in the County Championship in 1921, when he captained the team, turning 38 during the season. His obituary in ''

Wisden ''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 ...

'' expressed the opinion that he had "the natural ability, the technique and the temperament" to have become a

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player, but had lacked the opportunity.''

'' 1976, pp. 1101–2. Riches was Glamorgan's only batsman of genuine class in their early years. He was an expert at placing his shots between the fieldsmen, and was particularly adept at the lofted shot with just enough power to clear the close field and produce two runs. He continued to represent Glamorgan until 1934, and was captain again in 1929. He scored nine first-class

centuries A century is a period of 100 years. Centuries are numbered ordinally in English and many other languages. The word ''century'' comes from the Latin ''centum'', meaning ''one hundred''. ''Century'' is sometimes abbreviated as c. A centennial or ...

and in 1921 was the first Glamorgan batsman to pass a thousand runs in first-class cricket. He was vice-chairman, trustee and patron of the club from 1934 to 1950. Riches also played for

Cardiff Cricket Club Cardiff Cricket Club is a cricket club based in Whitchurch, Cardiff, Wales. It was established in 1819 and forms the cricket section of Cardiff Athletic Club with its headquarters at Cardiff Arms Park. The first team plays in the South Wales ...

from 1934 to 1947. He was a fine fieldsman in the covers or the deep and a competent first-class

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 ...

, although he was reluctant to keep wicket for fear of damaging his hands, which he relied on in his profession. In 1923 he played for the Gentlemen in the Gentlemen v Players match on 4 July. In 1926 he played for

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

against

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdo ...

, scoring 239 not out. As of late 2018 this remains the highest first-class score made in Ireland.

References

External links

Norman Riches at Cricket Archive
{{DEFAULTSORT:Riches, Norman 1883 births 1975 deaths People educated at Abingdon School Welsh dentists Welsh cricketers Glamorgan cricketers Glamorgan cricket captains Minor Counties cricketers Gentlemen cricketers Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers Wales cricketers South Wales cricketers 20th-century dentists Wicket-keepers

Early life and education

Career

See also

References

External links