Stewart Cathie Griffith, (16 June 1914 – 7 April 1993), known as Billy Griffith, 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 and cricket administrator. He played in three Test matches for

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

in 1948 and 1949. He 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

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

(1934–1936),

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 ...

(1934),

Marylebone Cricket Club The Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) is a cricket club founded in 1787 and based since 1814 at Lord's, Lord's Cricket Ground, which it owns, in St John's Wood, London, England. The club was the governing body of cricket from 1788 to 1989 and retain ...

(MCC) (1935–1953),

Sussex Sussex (Help:IPA/English, /ˈsʌsɪks/; from the Old English ''Sūþseaxe''; lit. 'South Saxons'; 'Sussex') is an area within South East England that was historically a kingdom of Sussex, kingdom and, later, a Historic counties of England, ...

(1937–1954) and

(1948–1949).

Life and career

Griffith was born in

Wandsworth Wandsworth Town () is a district of south London, within the London Borough of Wandsworth southwest of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. Toponymy Wandsworth takes its name ...

, London, and educated at

Dulwich College Dulwich College is a 2-18 private, day and boarding school for boys in Dulwich, London, England. As a public school, it began as the College of God's Gift, founded in 1619 by Elizabethan actor Edward Alleyn, with the original purpose of ...

and

Pembroke College, Cambridge Pembroke College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England. The college is the third-oldest college of the university and has over 700 students and fellows. It is one of the university's larger colleges, with buildings from ...

. He scored over 1,200 runs during four years in the 1st XI at Dulwich, despite being in the shadow of Hugh Bartlett, and he became a capable

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 won his

blue Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RYB color model, RYB colour model (traditional colour theory), as well as in the RGB color model, RGB (additive) colour model. It lies between Violet (color), violet and cyan on the optical spe ...

in his second year at Cambridge. He toured Australia and

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

with the MCC under Errol Holmes's captaincy in 1935–36. He lost his Cambridge place to Paul Gibb in 1937. After graduating from Cambridge, he returned to Dulwich as cricket master and he became the first choice wicket-keeper for Sussex in 1939. He was commissioned into the

Officers' Training Corps The University Officers' Training Corps (UOTC), also known as the Officers' Training Corps (OTC), are British Army reserve units, under the command of the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, which recruit exclusively from universities and focus on ...

in 1938, and transferred to the

Royal Army Service Corps The Royal Army Service Corps (RASC) was a corps of the British Army responsible for land, coastal and lake transport, air despatch, barracks administration, the Army Fire Service, staffing headquarters' units, supply of food, water, fuel and do ...

in 1939. He later served in the Glider Pilot Regiment with Hugh Bartlett. As second-in-command he carried the commander of the

6th Airborne Division The 6th Airborne Division was an airborne infantry Infantry, or infantryman are a type of soldier who specialize in ground combat, typically fighting dismounted. Historically the term was used to describe foot soldiers, i.e. those who m ...

, Major-General Richard "Windy" Gale (coincidentally, he was also from Wandsworth), into

Normandy Normandy (; or ) is a geographical and cultural region in northwestern Europe, roughly coextensive with the historical Duchy of Normandy. Normandy comprises Normandy (administrative region), mainland Normandy (a part of France) and insular N ...

during

Operation Overlord Operation Overlord was the codename for the Battle of Normandy, the Allies of World War II, Allied operation that launched the successful liberation of German-occupied Western Front (World War II), Western Europe during World War II. The ope ...

, crash landing after being caught in a storm. He took part in the

Battle of Arnhem The Battle of Arnhem was fought during the Second World War, as part of the Allies of World War II, Allied Operation Market Garden. It took place around the Netherlands, Dutch city of Arnhem and vicinity from 17 to 26 September 1944. The Alli ...

and won the Distinguished Flying Cross. He remained in the Territorial Army (TA) after the war, reaching the rank of lieutenant colonel. He was appointed captain-secretary of Sussex in 1946. Although he relinquished the captaincy after one year, his wicket-keeping form earned him selection for the MCC tour of the West Indies in 1947–48. On his Test debut he was used as a makeshift opener as three senior batsmen were ill, and made 140 in six hours. It made him the only England player to make his maiden first-class century on his Test debut. He toured South Africa (under F.G. Mann) in 1948–49 and played in the final two Tests, the only wicket-keeper to be preferred to

Godfrey Evans Thomas Godfrey Evans (18 August 1920 – 3 May 1999) was an English cricketer who played for Kent and England. Described by ''Wisden'' as 'arguably the best wicket-keeper the game has ever seen', Evans collected 219 dismissals in 91 Test matc ...

between 1946 and 1959 when he was available to play. On his return, he retired from playing cricket full time to take up an appointment as the cricket correspondent of ''

The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British Sunday newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of N ...

''. After two years in this role, he was appointed by the MCC in 1952 as one of two assistant secretaries to Ronnie Aird at

Lord's Lord's Cricket Ground, commonly known as Lord's, is a cricket List of Test cricket grounds, venue in St John's Wood, Westminster. Named after its founder, Thomas Lord, it is owned by Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and is the home of Middlesex C ...

. He succeeded Aird as the Secretary of the MCC in 1962, and he oversaw the abolition of amateur status, the introduction of one-day cricket, the creation of the

Test and County Cricket Board The Test and County Cricket Board (TCCB) was the sports governing body, governing body for Test cricket, Test and county cricket in Great Britain between 1968 and 1996. The TCCB was established in 1968 to replace the functions of the Board of Con ...

, the Cricket Council, and the "

D'Oliveira Affair The D'Oliveira affair was a prolonged political and sporting controversy relating to the scheduled 1968–69 tour of South Africa by the England cricket team, who were officially representing the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC). The point of cont ...

". His busy schedule in 1962–63 prevented him from managing the MCC tour of Australia in 1962–63, except for one month when he flew out to relieve the

Duke of Norfolk Duke of Norfolk is a title in the peerage of England. The premier non-royal peer, the Duke of Norfolk is additionally the premier duke and earl in the English peerage. The seat of the Duke of Norfolk is Arundel Castle in Sussex, although the t ...

. Aware of

M.J.K. Smith Michael John Knight Smith , better known as M. J. K. Smith or Mike Smith, (born 30 June 1933) is an English double international, in cricket and in rugby union. He was captain of Oxford University Cricket Club (1956), Warwickshire ...

's natural caution on the MCC tour of Australia in 1965–66, Griffith was given extraordinary powers granting him overall control of cricket while managing the tour. He did not resort to these powers as he preferred more diplomatic means, but he urged attacking cricket in the tour games, notably against

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

. Smith asked him when he should declare, Griffith said "Now!" and the MCC won by nine runs in the last minute. The deadpan Smith observed "that's the last time I take the ruddy manager's advice on a declaration".p132, E.W. Swanton, ''Swanton in Australia with MCC 1946–1975'', Fontana, 1977 He retired in 1974, and he later served as Chairman of the Friends of Arundel Castle Cricket Club. His son, Mike Griffith, also captained Sussex. Billy Griffith died in

Felpham Felpham (, sometimes pronounced locally as ''Felf-fm'' or ''Fel-thm'') is a village and civil parish in the Arun District of West Sussex, England. Although sometimes considered part of the urban area of greater Bognor Regis, it is a village and ...

, West Sussex, following a long illness in 1993, aged 78.

References

External links

1st British Airborne Division officers 1939−1945
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Griffith, Billy 1914 births 1993 deaths British Army personnel of World War II Commanders of the Order of the British Empire English cricket administrators English cricketers England Test cricketers Cricketers who made a century on Test debut Glider Pilot Regiment officers People educated at Dulwich College Alumni of Pembroke College, Cambridge Recipients of the Distinguished Flying Cross (United Kingdom) Royal Army Service Corps officers Secretaries of the Marylebone Cricket Club Sussex cricketers Surrey cricketers Cambridge University cricketers Sussex cricket captains Free Foresters cricketers North v South cricketers Gentlemen cricketers Presidents of the Marylebone Cricket Club Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers Gentlemen of England cricketers English cricketers of 1919 to 1945 20th-century English sportsmen People from Wandsworth Cricketers from the London Borough of Wandsworth H. D. G. Leveson Gower's XI cricketers Officers' Training Corps officers People from Felpham 20th-century English businesspeople Wicket-keepers Military personnel from the London Borough of Wandsworth Cricketers from West Sussex