Paul William Giles Parker (born 15 January 1956) is an English

schoolmaster The word schoolmaster, or simply master, refers to a male school teacher. This usage survives in British independent schools, both secondary and preparatory, and a few Indian boarding schools (such as The Doon School) that were modelled afte ...

and former cricketer, who played in one

Test match Test match in some sports refers to a sporting contest between national representative teams and may refer to: * Test cricket * Test match (indoor cricket) * Test match (rugby union) * Test match (rugby league) * Test match (association football) ...

in 1981.

Life and career

He was educated at Collyer's School, Horsham, and St Catharine's College, Cambridge, where he was awarded a

Master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

and earned three blues. As a first-class cricketer, he represented

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III of England, Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world' ...

Durham Durham most commonly refers to: *Durham, England, a cathedral city and the county town of County Durham *County Durham, an English county * Durham County, North Carolina, a county in North Carolina, United States *Durham, North Carolina, a city in N ...

and Sussex (whom he captained between 1988 and 1991) in 371 first-class and 341 List A matches between 1976 and 1993. With Sussex he won the Gillette Cup in 1978 and the

NatWest Trophy The Friends Provident Trophy was a one-day cricket competition in the United Kingdom. It was one of the four tournaments in which the eighteen first-class counties competed each season. They were joined by teams from Scotland and Ireland. La ...

in 1986, and was

man of the match In team sport, a player of the match or man of the match or woman of the match award is often given to the most outstanding player in a particular match. This can be a player from either team, although the player is generally chosen from the winn ...

in the final of the former, and top scorer in the final in the latter. He was a stylish middle-order batsman, who was considered unlucky to be limited to a solitary Test at

the Oval The Oval, currently known for sponsorship reasons as the Kia Oval, is an international cricket ground in Kennington, located in the borough of Lambeth, in south London. The Oval has been the home ground of Surrey County Cricket Club since ...

against Australia.Cricinfo.com
/ref> Light and quick on his feet, he was particularly strong against spin, and his quick running between the wickets made him a fast accumulator in the one day game. An outstanding cover fielder, he ranked alongside

Derek Randall Derek William Randall (born 24 February 1951) is an English former cricketer, who played first-class cricket for Nottinghamshire, and Tests and ODIs for England in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Known to cricketing colleagues and fans as "A ...

and

David Gower David Ivon Gower (born 1 April 1957) is an English cricket commentator and former cricketer who was captain of the England cricket team during the 1980s. Described as one of the most stylish left-handed batsmen of his era, Gower played 117 Te ...

as the finest of his day. After four years of captaincy at Sussex, he joined Durham's initial foray into the first-class game. The son of a sports journalist, John Parker, he taught Classics and

Modern Languages A modern language is any human language that is currently in use. The term is used in language education to distinguish between languages which are used for day-to-day communication (such as French and German) and dead classical languages such ...

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

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 ...

, and was the housemaster of Hill Side. His son,

Jamie Jamie is a unisex name. It is a diminutive form of James or, more rarely, other names. It is also given as a name in its own right. People Female * Jamie Anne Allman (born 1977), American actress * Jamie Babbit (born 1970), American film and t ...

, also played first-class cricket.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Parker, Paul 1956 births Living people Cambridge University cricketers Durham cricketers England Test cricketers English cricketers Sussex cricketers Sussex cricket captains People educated at The College of Richard Collyer Alumni of St Catharine's College, Cambridge Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers Oxford and Cambridge Universities cricketers British Universities cricketers KwaZulu-Natal cricketers Test and County Cricket Board XI cricketers