David Graham Clark (27 January 1919 – 8 October 2013) 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, cricket administrator and British Army officer. Clark was born in Barming in

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 ...

. 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 five years, appearing for

Kent County Cricket Club Kent County Cricket Club is one of the eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Kent. A club representing the county was first founded in 1842 but Ken ...

. He was Kent's captain for the last three years of his career before retiring at the end of the 1951 season. He was President of MCC in 1977–78. During

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 ...

he served with the

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

, receiving a commission as an officer in 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 ...

(RASC) on 16 March 1940. He was then a parachute instructor at Ringway during the formation of the British Army's

airborne forces Airborne forces are ground combat units carried by aircraft and airdropped into battle zones, typically by parachute drop. Parachute-qualified infantry and support personnel serving in airborne units are also known as paratroopers. The main ...

, and was subsequently attached to the 2nd Battalion of the Parachute Regiment, with whom he fought in North Africa, Sicily and Italy. During the attack on Sicily his glider landed in the sea and he swam to shore with three other survivors. He was then posted to HQ 1st Airborne Division and ended up at the bridge in Arnhem during Operation Market Garden with 2 Para, where he was eventually taken prisoner. A modest man, he never mentioned his wartime service. He is likely to be best remembered for chairing the committee set up by the MCC in 1965 to "examine the future of county cricket in the widest possible terms and if thought fit to recommend alterations in the structure and playing conditions of the County Championship". The first-class counties rejected most of the recommendations made in the so-called "Clark Report", including those for reducing 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 ...

to sixteen games and introducing a new one-day league, also of sixteen games. However, before many years had passed changes not dissimilar to these would be introduced. According to

Mike Turner Michael Ray Turner (born January 11, 1960) is an American politician serving as the United States House of Representatives, U.S. representative from since 2013. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he was previous ...

, a member of the Clark committee: "We started the ball rolling. The Clark Report was a great stimulus for fresh thinking." Clark was the tour manager of the 1970-71 English Ashes tour of Australia. The England fast bowler

John Snow John Snow (15 March 1813 – 16 June 1858) was an English physician and a leader in the development of anaesthesia and medical hygiene. He is considered one of the founders of modern epidemiology and early germ theory, in part because of hi ...

wrote that the tour "emphasised the gulf between players and administrators" and "I was sick of the biased attitude and incompetence which was apparent in cricket administration". Clark was described by the England captain

Ray Illingworth Raymond Illingworth Commander of the Order of the British Empire, CBE (8 June 1932 – 25 December 2021) was an English cricketer, cricket commentator and administrator. , he was one of only nine players to have taken 2,000 wickets and made 20, ...

as "an amiable, but somewhat ineffectual man" and there were soon divisions between him and the players.

had bowled over 50 eight-ball overs in the First Test and was rested for the state match against Western Australia, but Clark insisted that he practice in the nets with the others. Snow bowled a couple of desultory overs and Clark berated him for five minutes after which Snow told him "that as far as my good conduct money was concerned he could swallow it" and went walkabout until the next day.

smoothed things over, but after the Second Test Clark criticized both captains for cautious play, England for their short-pitched bowling and indicated that he would prefer to see Australia win 3-1 than see four more draws.

only discovered this when he was asked for a comment by a journalist in the morning and the rest of the team when they read the newspapers at the airport. As a result, Illingworth effectively took over the running of the tour with the support of the players and Clark's influence declined. Clark's only ally was the vice-captain

Colin Cowdrey Michael Colin Cowdrey, Baron Cowdrey of Tonbridge, (24 December 1932 – 4 December 2000) was an English cricketer who played for Kent County Cricket Club from 1950 to 1976, and in 114 Test matches for England from 1954 to 1975. He was born i ...

, also from Kent, who became isolated as a result. In the final Test at Sydney, Clark tried to push Illingworth back onto the field when he took the team off because of the crowd throwing beer cans after the Snow–Jenner incident. A furious Illingworth said he would not return until the playing area had been cleared and the crowd had calmed down and objected to Clark constantly siding with the Australians against his own team. When the team returned to England, Illingworth said that "all hell would break loose" if anyone was denied his good conduct bonus, but this did not happen. However,

Geoffrey Boycott Sir Geoffrey Boycott (born 21 October 1940) is a former Test cricketer, who played cricket for Yorkshire and England. In a prolific and sometimes controversial playing career from 1962 to 1986, Boycott established himself as one of England's m ...

and

had to report to

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 ...

for a dressing down by the MCC Secretary

Billy Griffith Stewart Cathie Griffith, (16 June 1914 – 7 April 1993), known as Billy Griffith, was an English cricketer and cricket administrator. He played in three Test matches for England in 1948 and 1949. He played first-class cricket for Cambridg ...

for their behaviour.Snow, p. 136.

Notes

References

* Snow, John A. (1976): ''Cricket Rebel: An Autobiography''. Hamlyn. .

External links

1st British Airborne Division officers
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Clark, David 1919 births 2013 deaths Kent cricketers Kent cricket captains English cricketers Military personnel from Kent World War II prisoners of war held by Germany Operation Market Garden English cricket administrators Presidents of the Marylebone Cricket Club British Army personnel of World War II British Parachute Regiment officers British World War II prisoners of war Royal Army Service Corps officers People from Barming 20th-century English businesspeople Cricketers from Kent