Arthur John William McIntyre (14 May 1918 – 26 December 2009) was an English

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

er. A

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 ...

, he was an integral part of the

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

side that won the

County Championship The County Championship, currently known for sponsorship reasons as the Rothesay County Championship, is the only domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales. Established in 1890, it is organised by the England and Wales Cri ...

in every season from 1952 to 1958 inclusive, and played in three

Tests Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film) ...

for the

English cricket team The England men's cricket team represents cricket in England, England and cricket in Wales, Wales in international cricket. Since 1997, it has been governed by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), having been previously governed by Maryleb ...

, two in 1950 and one in 1955. According to McIntyre's obituary in ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...

'', Peter May wrote: " Godfrey Evans could touch great heights of wicketkeeping but day in, day out, Arthur was the most reliable wicketkeeper of the 1950s... He should have kept many times for England."Obituary
''The Daily Telegraph'' (30 December 2009)

Life and career

He was born in

Kennington Kennington is a district in south London, England. It is mainly within the London Borough of Lambeth, running along the boundary with the London Borough of Southwark, a boundary which can be discerned from the early medieval period between th ...

in London, within a quarter of a mile of

the Oval The Oval, currently named 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 sinc ...

. He was educated at Kennington Road School, and played cricket as wicket-keeper for London Schools alongside Denis Compton. After a short period outside cricket after leaving school, he joined the ground staff at the Oval in 1936, and made his debut in

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 Surrey in 1938, originally as

all-rounder An all-rounder is a cricketer who regularly performs well at both batting and bowling. Although all bowlers must bat and quite a handful of batsmen do bowl occasionally, most players are skilled in only one of the two disciplines and are cons ...

batsman and leg-spinner. In

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, McIntyre served in the British Army in North Africa, and was wounded in the Anzio landings, ending as a sergeant in the APTC. He became friends with the Bedser twins near the end of the war when all three served in Italy. After the war, he successfully filled in for Surrey as an emergency wicket-keeper, and took over the position permanently from Gerald Mobey when he retired in 1946. In addition to his excellent wicket-keeping, he was a strong first-class batsman, and passed 1,000 runs on three occasions, scoring seven centuries. He was kept out of the

England cricket team The England men's cricket team represents cricket in England, England and cricket in Wales, Wales in international cricket. Since 1997, it has been governed by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), having been previously governed by Maryleb ...

by Godfrey Evans. He made his Test debut alongside

David Sheppard David Stuart Sheppard, Baron Sheppard of Liverpool (6 March 1929 – 5 March 2005) was a Church of England bishop who played cricket for Sussex and England in his youth, before serving as Bishop of Liverpool from 1975 to 1997. Sheppard remains ...

and Malcolm Hilton in the fourth Test against the West Indies at

in 1950, when Evans was incapacitated with a broken thumb. He toured Australia and New Zealand with the MCC that winter, and played in the first Test of the 1950-51 Ashes series as a batsman, with Evans keeping wicket. He played his third and last Test in the fourth Test against South Africa at Headingley in 1955, his benefit season, when Evans was again injured. Evans was still not available for the fifth Test, but McIntyre was also not able to play. He was one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year in 1958. In his autobiography, Peter May wrote that McIntyre should have played many times for England (he played in only three Tests and in one of those not as wicket-keeper). May commented on McIntyre's reliability and how he kept superbly to the great Surrey bowling attack of Bedser, Loader, Laker and

Lock Lock(s) or Locked may refer to: Common meanings *Lock and key, a mechanical device used to secure items of importance *Lock (water navigation), a device for boats to transit between different levels of water, as in a canal Arts and entertainme ...

on difficult wickets. McIntyre, said May, made it look easy and was "never acrobatic" (unlike Evans). McIntyre himself said he had the greatest difficulty keeping wicket to Jim Laker who "spun the ball so viciously". He retired from regular

after the 1958 season and became Surrey's coach, a position he held until the end of the 1976 season. He made a few first-class appearances while coach when the usual wicket-keeper was injured or unavailable: six in 1959, two in 1960 and two in 1963. Following the death of Ken Cranston on 9 January 2007, he became England's oldest living former Test cricketer. He died on

Boxing Day Boxing Day, also called as Offering Day is a holiday celebrated after Christmas Day, occurring on the second day of Christmastide (26 December). Boxing Day was once a day to donate gifts to those in need, but it has evolved to become a part ...

, 2009.

References

External links

*
Guardian obituary

Cricinfo, 9 January 2007

Cricketer of the Year 1958, from

Cricinfo ESPNcricinfo (formerly known as Cricinfo or CricInfo) is a Sports journalism, sports news website exclusively for the game of cricket. The site features news, articles, live coverage of cricket matches (including Liveblogging, liveblogs and sco ...

(text taken from the 1958 edition of ''Wisden Cricketers' Almamack'')
Arthur McIntyre dies aged 91
Cricinfo, 26 December 2009 * Smith, Martin (editor). ''The Promise of Endless Summer (Cricket Lives from the Daily Telegraph)''. Aurum (2013). {{DEFAULTSORT:McIntyre, Arthur 1918 births 2009 deaths Military personnel from the London Borough of Lambeth British Army personnel of World War II East of England cricketers England Test cricketers English cricket coaches English cricketers Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers North v South cricketers Royal Army Physical Training Corps soldiers Surrey cricketers Wisden Cricketers of the Year H. D. G. Leveson Gower's XI cricketers Wicket-keepers People from Kennington Cricketers from the London Borough of Lambeth 20th-century English sportsmen