Leonard John Coldwell (10 January 1933 – 6 August 1996) 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, who played in seven

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

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 ...

from 1962 to 1964. Coldwell was a right-arm fast-medium bowler who was, for a few years in the early to mid-1960s, half of a respected and feared new-ball partnership in English

county cricket Inter-county cricket matches have been played since the early 18th century, involving teams that are representative of the historic counties of England and Wales. Two county championship competitions have existed since the late 19th century at ...

. With his bowling partner Jack Flavell, Coldwell was the attacking force behind the unprecedented success of

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 ...

which brought the county its first successes in 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 1964 and 1965. In 1961, Coldwell took 140 wickets and finished sixth in the national averages; the following year, his best, he took 152 wickets and was fourth.

Life and career

Born in

Newton Abbot Newton Abbot is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish on the River Teign in the Teignbridge, Teignbridge District of Devon, England. Its population was 24,029 in 2011, and was estimated at 26,655 in 2019. It grew rapidly in ...

, Coldwell was a Devonian who played

Minor Counties The National Counties, known as the Minor Counties before 2020, are the cricketing counties of England and Wales that do not have first-class status. The game is administered by the National Counties Cricket Association (NCCA), which comes unde ...

cricket before being signed by Worcestershire in 1955. Coldwell bowled mainly in-swingers and varied both pace and line depending on the stance of the batsman. Inclined to be expensive in his early years, and one of a pack of medium to fast-medium bowlers competing to be Flavell's new-ball partner at Worcester, he came to the fore in 1960 when his rivals, Aldridge and Pearson, were accused of having suspect bowling actions. In 1961, Flavell and Coldwell bowled Worcestershire to fourth in the Championship, and Flavell was picked for Tests. In 1962, when Flavell was injured for part of the season, Coldwell bowled more than 1,100 overs and was himself picked for two Tests, and the county finished second, its highest ever position at that time. In his first Test match against

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

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 ...

, Coldwell took the wicket of Imtiaz Ahmed in his first over and finished with three wickets for 25 runs in the first innings, following that up with six for 85 in the second innings. His haul of 9 for 110 was his best Test return. Despite this, he was replaced by

Brian Statham John Brian Statham, (17 June 1930 – 10 June 2000) was an English professional cricketer from Gorton, in Manchester, who played for Lancashire County Cricket Club from 1950 to 1968 and for England from 1951 to 1965.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 ...

's bowling averages for the season. He toured

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and New Zealand in 1962–63, but was less successful there, playing in three Tests but taking only five wickets. In 1963, Coldwell was injured early in the season, and took only 21 wickets. Returned to fitness in 1964, Coldwell took 98 wickets at 15.48 each and was second in the national averages as Worcestershire won the Championship for the first time; he also played in the first two Tests against

, playing alongside Flavell in a Test match for the only time in the first match at

Trent Bridge Trent Bridge Cricket Ground is a cricket ground mostly used for Test cricket, Test, One-day cricket, One-Day International and county cricket located in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England, just across the River Trent from the city of Nott ...

. He took only four wickets in the two Tests, and was dropped. He never played Test cricket again. Coldwell was an important part of the Worcestershire side that retained the Championship in 1965. But he was increasingly affected by hip and knee injuries, and his wicket tally declined across the later 1960s, and he retired during the 1969 season, returning to Devon. Coldwell was not much of a batsman: in 15 years of

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 ...

, he failed to reach 40 runs in an innings. Coldwell died in

Teignmouth Teignmouth ( ) is a seaside town, fishing port and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the English county of Devon. It is on the north bank of the estuary mouth of the River Teign, about south of Exeter. The town had a population of 14 ...

, Devon in August 1996, at the age of 63.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Coldwell, Len 1933 births 1996 deaths England Test cricketers English cricketers Worcestershire cricketers Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers Devon cricketers Cricketers who have taken five wickets on Test debut Sportspeople from Newton Abbot Cricketers from Devon 20th-century English sportsmen