Paul Bernard Fisher (born 19 December 1954) is an English educationalist, who served as headmaster of

Loughborough Grammar School Loughborough Grammar School is a 10–18 Private schools in the United Kingdom, private boys' school in the town of Loughborough, Leicestershire, England, founded in 1495 with money left in the will of Thomas Burton (merchant), Thomas Burton. To ...

between 1998 and 2016, and who previously 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 of three or more days scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officially adju ...

for

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, former county in South East England, now mainly within Greater London. Its boundaries largely followed three rivers: the River Thames, Thames in the south, the River Lea, Le ...

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Shropshire, Staffordshire, and the West Midlands (county), West ...

and

Oxford University The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...

. As a cricketer, he was very much a specialist

wicket-keeper In cricket, the wicket-keeper is the Cricket player, player on the fielding (cricket), fielding side who stands behind the wicket, ready to stop Delivery (cricket), deliveries that pass the batsman, and take a Caught, catch, Stumped, stump the ...

, with 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 ...

in single figures in both forms of the game. Fisher was born in

Edmonton Edmonton is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Alberta. It is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Central Alberta ...

. and was educated at

St Ignatius' College St Ignatius College is a Catholic Church, Catholic Voluntary aided school, voluntary aided secondary school for boys aged 11–18 in Enfield, London, England, founded by the Society of Jesus in 1894 and completely moved to its present site by 1 ...

and

Christ Church, Oxford Christ Church (, the temple or house, ''wikt:aedes, ædes'', of Christ, and thus sometimes known as "The House") is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1546 by Henry V ...

, where he read '' Literae Humaniores''. In August 1973, aged 18, he kept wicket for Middlesex Young Cricketers against Buckinghamshire Young Amateurs at Hoovers Sports Ground, Wembley; the Middlesex side also included a 16-year-old

Mike Gatting Michael William Gatting (born 6 June 1957) is an English former cricketer, who played first-class cricket for Middlesex (1975–1998; captain 1983–1997) and for England from 1977 to 1995, captaining the national side in twenty-three Test ma ...

. Early the following year, Fisher made his first-class debut, for Oxford against

Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire to the north, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire to the south-east, Warw ...

at The University Parks, taking a catch to dismiss opposition keeper Roger Tolchard and scoring 14 and 15. He played six further games for Oxford that season, ending 1974 with 13 catches. He also played for Essex Second XI. In 1975, Fisher continued to play for Oxford, hitting his highest score of 42 against

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Staffordshire and Leicestershire to the north, Northamptonshire to the east, Ox ...

in June. Fisher played in the University Matches of 1975 1976, 1977 and 1978, finishing on the winning side in 1976 (all the other matches were drawn). Fisher made his List A debut for the Combined Universities) in 1975 away against Warwickshire; he played eight further List A matches for the Combined Unis, who never made it out of the group stages. Fisher made his debut in

county cricket Inter-county cricket matches have been played since the early 18th century, involving teams that are representative of the historic counties of England and Wales. Two county championship competitions have existed since the late 19th century at ...

in August 1979, playing for Middlesex against Worcestershire at Lord's; he would only play two further matches for Middlesex; a first-class match against Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge and a List A match against Hampshire at Dean Park For the 1980 season, he moved to Worcestershire, with whom he remained the following year as well, but he never managed to hold down a regular spot as keeper in the face of strong competition from David Humphries. He made his county debut for Worcestershire on 6 August 1980 against Gloucestershire, taking 5 catches in Glouc's first innings. He made three List A appearances for Worcestershire in 1980. The last game of his career was for Worcestershire against the

Australians Australians, colloquially known as Aussies, are the citizenship, citizens, nationality, nationals and individuals associated with the country of Australia. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or ethno-cultural. For most Aust ...

Worcester Worcester may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Worcester, England, a city and the county town of Worcestershire in England ** Worcester (UK Parliament constituency), an area represented by a Member of Parliament * Worcester Park, London, Engl ...

in late August 1981; Fisher bowed out quietly with just one dismissal, that of Australian captain Kim Hughes. Fisher worked as a teacher at

Marlborough College Marlborough College is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school (English private boarding school) for pupils aged 13 to 18 in Marlborough, Wiltshire, England. It was founded as Marlborough School in 1843 by the Dean of Manchester, George ...

and

Prior Park College Prior Park College is a co-educational public school for both boarding and day pupils in Bath, south-west England. Its main building, Prior Park, stands on a hill overlooking the city and is a Grade I listed building. The adjoining Prior P ...

before coming Headmaster of

Mount St Mary's College Mount St Mary's College is a Private schools in the United Kingdom, private, co-educational, day and boarding school situated at Spinkhill, Derbyshire, England. It was founded in 1842 by the Society of Jesus (better known as the Jesuits), and h ...

and from 1998 to 2016

. Fisher recently completed the

London Marathon The London Marathon (also known as the TCS London Marathon for sponsorship reasons) is an annual marathon held in London, England. Founded by athletes Chris Brasher and John Disley in 1981, it is typically held in April, although it moved to Oct ...

in 4 hrs 30 mins along with a team from the University Match in aid of

multiple sclerosis Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune disease resulting in damage to myelinthe insulating covers of nerve cellsin the brain and spinal cord. As a demyelinating disease, MS disrupts the nervous system's ability to Action potential, transmit ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fisher, Paul 1954 births Living people English cricketers Middlesex cricketers Worcestershire cricketers Oxford University cricketers People educated at St Ignatius' College, Enfield Alumni of Christ Church, Oxford British Universities cricketers Wicket-keepers 20th-century English sportsmen