Stanley James Cray (29 May 1921 – 10 October 2008) 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. Cray was a right-handed

batsman In cricket, batting is the act or skill of hitting the cricket ball, ball with a cricket bat, bat to score runs (cricket), runs and prevent the dismissal (cricket), loss of one's wicket. Any player who is currently batting is, since Septembe ...

and known to fellow players as Chick. He was born in

Stratford, Essex Stratford is a town and district of West Ham, East London, England, in the London Borough of Newham. Part of the Lower Lea Valley, it is northeast of Charing Cross, and includes Maryland, London, Maryland and East Village, London, East Village ...

Career

Cray made his first-class debut for

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

against

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 ...

in the 1938

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 ...

. He became a regular in the Essex team in 1939, but the start of the

Second World War 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 ...

abruptly ended his first-class career with Essex in its tracks. Serving in the war, Cray served in the

British Raj The British Raj ( ; from Hindustani language, Hindustani , 'reign', 'rule' or 'government') was the colonial rule of the British The Crown, Crown on the Indian subcontinent, * * lasting from 1858 to 1947. * * It is also called Crown rule ...

, while stationed there he played two first-class matches for a Services XI against an Indian XI and a Bengal Governor's XI, both in 1944. Following the war, Cray returned to Essex, where he played first-class cricket once more from 1946 to 1950. As well as his appearances for Essex and a Services XI, he also played a single first-class match for a combined Essex and

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 ...

team against a combined

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 ...

and

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

team in 1947. Cray was a member of the Essex team which tied with Northamptonshire in 1947, a match in which he scored a century in the Essex first-innings. In total he made 99 first-class appearances for the county, scoring 4,062 runs at 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 ...

of 24.46, with sixteen half centuries, seven

centuries A century is a period of 100 years or 10 decades. Centuries are numbered ordinally in English and many other languages. The word ''century'' comes from the Latin ''centum'', meaning ''one hundred''. ''Century'' is sometimes abbreviated as c. A ...

and a high score of 163. His highest first-class score came against

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated ''Notts.'') is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. The county is bordered by South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. Th ...

in 1950. Cray passed 1,000 runs for a season twice, in 1947 and 1949. Following the 1950 season, Cray coached in South Africa when out of the blue he received a phonecall informing him his services were no longer required by Essex. Following his release he played

Minor Counties Championship The NCCA 3 Day Championship or National County Championship is a season-long competition in England and Wales that is contested by the members of the National Counties Cricket Association (NCCA), the so-called national counties (previously ca ...

cricket for

Devon Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west ...

on two occasions, firstly in 1954 against the Surrey Second XI and secondly against

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire ( ; abbreviated ''Oxon'') is a ceremonial county in South East England. The county is bordered by Northamptonshire and Warwickshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the east, Berkshire to the south, and Wiltshire and Glouceste ...

in 1957. While in Devon he was the professional at Paignton Cricket Club. He retired fully from playing and coaching in 1961, following problems with a hand injury he had sustained in a car accident. He had a number of jobs outside of cricket, including as a postman and a kitchen assistant.

Death

One of the last living cricketers to have played first-class cricket before the war, Cray died in

Torquay Torquay ( ) is a seaside town in Devon, England, part of the unitary authority area of Torbay. It lies south of the county town of Exeter and east-north-east of Plymouth, on the north of Tor Bay, adjoining the neighbouring town of Paignt ...

, Devon on 10 October 2008.

References

External links

Chick Cray
at

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

Chick Cray
at CricketArchive {{DEFAULTSORT:Cray, Chick 1921 births 2008 deaths People from Stratford, London Cricketers from the London Borough of Newham English cricketers Essex cricketers Devon cricketers English cricket coaches 20th-century English sportsmen