Martin William Charles Olley (27 November 1963 – 28 June 2025) was an English cricketer. Olley 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 ...

who played primarily as a

wicketkeeper In cricket, the wicket-keeper is the player on the fielding side who stands behind the wicket, ready to stop deliveries that pass the batsman, and take a catch, stump the batsman out, or run out a batsman when occasion arises. The wicket-ke ...

. He was born at

Romford Romford is a large List of places in London, town in east London, east London, England, located northeast of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Havering, the town is one of the major Metropolitan centres of London, metropolitan centr ...

, Essex, and educated at

Felsted School Felsted School is a co-educational independent school, independent boarding school, boarding and Day school, day school, situated in Felsted in Essex, England. It is in the British Public school (UK), public school tradition, and was founded i ...

in Essex.

Biography

Olley made his first-class debut for

Northamptonshire Northamptonshire ( ; abbreviated Northants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Leicestershire, Rutland and Lincolnshire to the north, Cambridgeshire to the east, Bedfordshi ...

against

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 ...

in 1983. This was his only major appearance for the county. The following season he made his

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 ...

debut for

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and one of the home counties. It borders Bedfordshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Essex to the east, Greater London to the ...

in 1985 against

Bedfordshire Bedfordshire (; abbreviated ''Beds'') is a Ceremonial County, ceremonial county in the East of England. It is bordered by Northamptonshire to the north, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Hertfordshire to the south and the south-east, and Buckin ...

. He represented the county in Minor Counties Championship matches from 1985 to 1990, playing his final Championship match for the county against

Norfolk Norfolk ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in England, located in East Anglia and officially part of the East of England region. It borders Lincolnshire and The Wash to the north-west, the North Sea to the north and eas ...

. He made his

MCCA Knockout Trophy The National Counties Cricket Association Knockout Cup was started in 1983 as a knockout one-day competition for the National Counties in English cricket. At first it was known as the ''English Industrial Estates Cup'', before being called the ...

debut in 1985 against Bedfordshire. He played in the Trophy for Hertfordshire from 1985 to 1990, with his final match for them coming against Bedfordshire. It was while playing for Hertfordshire that he made his debut in

List A cricket List A cricket is a classification of the limited-overs (one-day) form of the sport of cricket, with games lasting up to eight hours. List A cricket includes One Day International (ODI) matches and various domestic competitions in which the num ...

. This came 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

1985 NatWest Trophy The 1985 NatWest Trophy was the 5th NatWest Trophy. It was an English limited overs county cricket tournament which was held between 3 July and 7 September 1985. The tournament was won by Essex who defeated Nottinghamshire by 1 run in the final ...

. From 1985 to 1989, he represented the county in 5 List A matches, the last of which 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 the

1989 NatWest Trophy The 1989 NatWest Trophy was the 9th NatWest Trophy. It was an English limited overs county cricket tournament which was held between 28 June and 2 September 1989. The tournament was won by Warwickshire who defeated Middlesex by 4 wickets in the ...

. While still playing for Hertfordshire, Olley played 4 first-class matches for

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 ...

in 1988, the last of which came against

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...

. These matches brought a close to his first-class, a career in which he scored 77 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 15.40, with a high score of 27 *. While behind the

stumps In cricket, the stumps are the three vertical posts that support the bails and form the wicket. '' Stumping'' or ''being stumped'' is a method of dismissing a batsman. The umpire ''calling stumps'' means the play is over for the day. Part of ...

he took 12

catches Catch may refer to: In sports * Catch (game), children's game * Catch (baseball), a maneuver in baseball * Catch (cricket), a mode of dismissal in cricket * Catch or reception (gridiron football) * Catch, part of a rowing stroke * Catch wrestlin ...

. Following the end of the 1990 season, he joined

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfor ...

, making his Minor Counties Championship debut against

Suffolk Suffolk ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Norfolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Essex to the south, and Cambridgeshire to the west. Ipswich is the largest settlement and the county ...

. Olley represented the county in Minor Counties Championship matches from 1991 to 1994, playing his final one against

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation ''Staffs''.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It borders Cheshire to the north-west, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, ...

. His MCCA Knockout Trophy debut for the county came in 1991 against

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (), abbreviated ''Lincs'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands and Yorkshire and the Humber regions of England. It is bordered by the East Riding of Yorkshire across the Humber estuary to th ...

. Olley played 3 further Trophy matches for the county from 1991 to 1993, the last of which came against Bedfordshire. Olley also played List A cricket for Cambridgeshire when they were permitted to take part in the domestic one-day tournament featuring the first-class counties. His debut in that format for the county came against

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 ...

in the

1991 NatWest Trophy The 1991 NatWest Trophy was a limited-overs English county cricket tournament, held between 26 June and 7 September 1991. The competition was won by Hampshire who beat Surrey by 4 wickets in the final at Lord's. Format The seventeen first-cl ...

. From 1991 to 1994, he represented the county in 2 further List A matches against

in the

1992 NatWest Trophy The 1992 NatWest Trophy was the 12th NatWest Trophy. It was an English limited overs county cricket tournament which was held between 24 June and 5 September 1992. The tournament was won by Northamptonshire County Cricket Club who defeated Leice ...

and Hampshire in the

1994 NatWest Trophy The 1994 NatWest Trophy was the 14th NatWest Trophy. It was an English limited overs county cricket tournament which was held between 21 June and 3 September 1994. The tournament was won by Worcestershire County Cricket Club who defeated Warwicks ...

. Olley died on 28 June 2025, aged 61.

References

External links

Martin Olley
at

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

Martin Olley
at CricketArchive {{DEFAULTSORT:Olley, Martin 1963 births 2025 deaths People from Romford Cricketers from the London Borough of Havering People educated at Felsted School English cricketers Northamptonshire cricketers Hertfordshire cricketers Middlesex cricketers Cambridgeshire cricketers Wicket-keepers 20th-century English sportsmen