Dudley Owen-Thomas
{{short description|English cricketer and lawyer}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2016}}
{{Use British English|date=February 2016}}
{{Infobox cricketer
| name = Dudley Owen-Thomas
| image =
| country = England
| fullname = Dudley Richard Owen-Thomas
| heightft =
| heightinch =
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1948|9|20|df=yes}}
| birth_place = Mombasa, Kenya
| death_date =
| death_place =
| batting = Right-handed
| bowling = Right-arm off-spin
| role =
| family =
| club1 = Cambridge University
| year1 = 1969–1972
| club2 = Surrey
| year2 = 1970–1975
| columns = 2
| column1 = FC
| matches1 = 112
| runs1 = 4891
| bat avg1 = 29.11
| 100s/50s1 = 8/24
| top score1 = 182*
| deliveries1 = 1717
| wickets1 = 20
| bowl avg1 = 39.90
| fivefor1 = 0
| tenfor1 = 0
| best bowling1 = 3/20
| catches/stumpings1 = 48/–
| column2 = List A
| matches2 = 73
| runs2 = 1179
| bat avg2 = 21.83
| 100s/50s2 = 0/3
| top score2 = 66
| deliveries2 = –
| wickets2 = –
| bowl avg2 = –
| fivefor2 = –
| tenfor2 = –
| best bowling2 = –
| catches/stumpings2 = 25/–
| date = 27 October
| year = 2015
| source = http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/player/18388.html Cricinfo
}}
Dudley Richard Owen-Thomas (born 20 September 1948) is an English lawyer and former first-class cricketer.
Education and cricket career
Born in Mombasa, Kenya, Owen-Thomas went to school at King's College School, Wimbledon. He captained the First XI in 1967, scoring 815 runs at an average of 58.21, taking 48 wickets at 12.91, and leading them through their 16-match season undefeated.Wisden 1968, p. 791. He was one of the outstanding schools cricketers in 1967, winning the award for the best all-rounder in schools cricket{{cite web| url = http://www.cricketsociety.org/awards/wetherell-award-winners/| title = Wetherell Awards| publisher = Cricket Society| accessdate = 30 July 2019}} and leading the batting for Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) Schools in two matches at Lord's.Wisden 1968, pp. 354–55. He played his first matches for Surrey Second XI in 1967. He spent the summer of 1968 with Surrey Second XI, playing in all 20 of their matches, scoring 658 runs at 22.68 and helping them to the title.Wisden 1969, pp. 731, 740.
He went up to Emmanuel College, Cambridge, and made his first-class debut for Cambridge University in 1969. In his sixth match, coming to the wicket at 31 for 3 after Cambridge University had followed on against Middlesex, he scored 182 not out in five and a half hours out of a team total of 322 all out.Wisden 1970, pp. 752–53.{{cite web | url = https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/30/30124.html| title = Cambridge University v Middlesex 1969| publisher = CricketArchive| accessdate = 27 October 2015}} In his next innings he made 101 against Warwickshire.{{cite web | url = https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/30/30162.html| title = Warwickshire v Cambridge University 1969| publisher = CricketArchive| accessdate = 27 October 2015}} His batting did not progress in 1970, but he had his best season as a bowler, taking 13 wickets for Cambridge at an average of 39.76, but thereafter he played purely as a batsman.{{cite web | url = https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/6/6371/f_Bowling_by_Season.html | title = Bowling in each season by Dudley Owen-Thomas| publisher = CricketArchive| accessdate = 27 October 2015}} He made his first-class debut for Surrey after the university season ended, top-scoring with 73 in his first innings.Wisden 1971, p. 528.
In 1971 Owen-Thomas was secretary of the Cambridge University Cricket Club, and scored 747 runs at 49.80, "hitting the ball with the full sweep of the bat".Wisden 1972, p. 774-75. In the second match of the season he made 108 not out against Leicestershire, adding 175 for the third wicket with his captain, Majid Khan, to take Cambridge to a seven-wicket victory.Wisden 1972, p. 778. In the match against Oxford University he scored 146 in just under four hours to enable Khan to declare; the match ended in a draw with Oxford nine wickets down.Wisden 1972, p. 352-53. In 1972, once again secretary to Khan, he made 373 runs at 41.44,Wisden 1973, p. 766–67. and in his last match, against Oxford, he scored 114 in a match when nobody else passed 51, and helped Cambridge to an innings victory, their first victory in the series since 1958 after 11 of the previous 12 matches had been drawn.Wisden 1973, p. 346-47.{{cite web | url = https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/32/32581.html| title = Oxford University v Cambridge University 1972| publisher = CricketArchive| accessdate = 27 October 2015}} In 10 matches for Surrey later that season he scored two centuries, and he finished the first-class season with 962 runs at 35.62.{{cite web | url = https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/6/6371/f_Batting_by_Season.html | title = Batting in each season by Dudley Owen-Thomas| publisher = CricketArchive| accessdate = 27 October 2015}} He was named the Cricket Writers' Club Young Cricketer of the Year for 1972.{{cite news| work=Cricinfo | first=Martin |last=Williamson |accessdate=27 October 2015| title=Unfulfilled potential|url=http://www.espncricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/312635.html |date=27 September 2007}}
He had a sound season with Surrey in 1973, making 751 runs at 30.04, but after that his form declined. He was notably omitted from the East Africa team (which included Kenya the country of his birth) selected to play in the inaugural Cricket World Cup in 1975. Despite his experience in first-class cricket he was overlooked likely as selectors supposedly made a point of picking players that were currently living and playing in East Africa.{{cite web |url=https://glamorgancricketarchives.com/2021/11/17/east-africa-in-wales-1975/ |first=Dave |last=Battersby |title=East Africa in Wales: 1975 |website=Glamorgan Cricket Archives |date=17 November 2021 |access-date=27 December 2023 }}
Owen-Thomas retired from first-class cricket after the 1975 season.Wisden 1976, p. 554. He continued to play club cricket and other matches, appearing several times for Lavinia, Duchess of Norfolk's XI in the 1980s.{{cite web | url = https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/6/6371/Miscellaneous_Matches.html| title = Miscellaneous matches played by Dudley Owen-Thomas| publisher = CricketArchive| accessdate = 27 October 2015}} In the 1976–77 season, Owen-Thomas was a member of the MCC team that was the first international cricket team to tour Bangladesh.
Later life
Owen-Thomas qualified as a solicitor in 1979, and started his own practice in London in 1987, but was struck off in 2008 for breaches of the Solicitors' Accounts Rules.{{cite web|title=9943-2008 - Dudley Richard Owen-Thomas|url=http://www.solicitorstribunal.org.uk/judgment-search-results#judgment-list|website=Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal|accessdate=21 February 2017}} He was on the committee of Surrey County Cricket Club on occasions from 1994.{{cite news |last1=Steen |first1=Rob |title=New chairman calms unrest |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/cricket-new-chairman-calms-unrest-1372484.html |access-date=22 July 2024 |work=The Independent |date=25 April 1994}}
In 2006, Owen-Thomas was diagnosed with prostate cancer, which he survived after a prostatectomy.{{cite news| work=Professional Cricketers' Association|accessdate=27 October 2015| title=The PCA and The Prostate Cancer Charity say don't get caught out by prostate cancer|url=http://www.thepca.co.uk/4873.html|date=15 July 2010}}
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- [http://www.espncricinfo.com/england/content/player/18388.html Dudley Owen-Thomas] at Cricinfo
- [https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/6/6371/6371.html Dudley Owen-Thomas] at CricketArchive
{{DEFAULTSORT:Owen-Thomas, Dudley}}
Category:Cambridge University cricketers
Category:People educated at King's College School, London
Category:Alumni of Emmanuel College, Cambridge
Category:Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers
Category:Oxford and Cambridge Universities cricketers