Norman "Buddy" Oldfield (5 May 1911 – 19 April 1996) was an English
cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...
er and
umpire who played in one
Test in 1939 and later umpired in two others.
Between 1935 and 1939 he played
first-class cricket for
Lancashire, before the
Second World War interrupted and ended a promising start to his Test career. Oldfield changed clubs and played for
Northamptonshire between 1948 and 1954.
Career
Lancashire
Oldfield joined the Lancashire staff in 1929, but had to wait until 1935 before he could make his debut. His performance prompted
Neville Cardus, a cricket journalist, to compare Oldfield's strokeplay to that of
Johnny Tyldesley.
[ Retrieved on 18 December 2008.] Oldfield shared in a 271 run partnership with
Eddie Paynter
Edward Paynter (5 November 1901 – 5 February 1979) was an English cricketer: an attacking batsman and excellent fielder. His Test batting average of 59.23 is the seventh highest of all time, and second only to Herbert Sutcliffe amongst Englis ...
when Paynter scored 322 in five hours in 1937 (the innings is the third highest individual score for Lancashire). Oldfield again successfully paired up with Paynter in 1938 when they set a record of 306 for the third wicket; this record stood until 1990 when it was bettered by
Michael Atherton and
Neil Fairbrother.
On 19 August 1939, Oldfield made his Test debut, aged 28, against the
West Indies. He made scores of 80 and 19 in what was his only Test match. A few days after the match ended, the Second World War broke out and he did not play first-class cricket until 1948,
and curtailing what could have been a long Test career.
[ Retrieved on 18 December 2008.] He holds the record for most runs by an England player who has played only one Test.
Northamptonshire
After the war ended and first-class cricket resumed, the 35-year-old Oldfield could not agree terms with Lancashire and left. In later years, he reflected that it had been a mistake to leave Lancashire.
In the 151 first-class matches he played for Lancashire, Oldfield scored 7,002 runs at an average of 35.72 with 12
centuries.
[ Retrieved on 18 December 2008.]
Oldfield played for two seasons in the
Lancashire League before joining Northamptonshire for the 1948 season. He enjoyed playing against the team that had spurned him, scoring three centuries against Lancashire. In only his second season with Northamptonshire, Oldfield scored 2,192 runs, a record for the team. Oldfield was never given his
cap by Lancashire, but was awarded one by Northamptonshire in 1948 for his productive summer.
[ Retrieved on 18 December 2008.] In 1949/50, Oldfield
toured India with the
Commonwealth XI. Northamptonshire held a benefit year for Oldfield in 1953 which raised 2,728.
Despite his regret about leaving Lancashire, he was more successful for Northamptonshire, scoring 9,321 runs at 38.51 in 159 matches.
After retiring from first-class cricket in 1954, Oldfield became an umpire. He umpired between 1954 and 1965
and stood in two Test matches, one in 1960 and one in 1962. He returned to Old Trafford in 1968 when he became Lancashire's coach, and held the position for five years. He died on 19 April 1996.
References
External links
CricketArchive Stats
{{DEFAULTSORT:Oldfield, Buddy
1911 births
1996 deaths
England Test cricketers
English cricketers
Lancashire cricketers
Northamptonshire cricketers
Commonwealth XI cricketers
English Test cricket umpires
People from Dukinfield
English cricketers of 1919 to 1945
North v South cricketers