Mary Beatrice Duggan (7 November 1925 – 10 March 1973) 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 as an

all-rounder An all-rounder is a cricketer who regularly performs well at both batting and bowling. Although all bowlers must bat and quite a handful of batsmen do bowl occasionally, most players are skilled in only one of the two disciplines and are cons ...

. She appeared in 17 Test matches 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 ...

between 1949 and 1963, and captained the side from 1957 onwards. Most of her domestic career was spent with

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 ...

Life and career

Duggan was the youngest of three children of Mary Heath (''née'' Gattey) and Norman Duggan, a

physician A physician, medical practitioner (British English), medical doctor, or simply doctor is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through the Medical education, study, Med ...

and

surgeon In medicine, a surgeon is a medical doctor who performs surgery. Even though there are different traditions in different times and places, a modern surgeon is a licensed physician and received the same medical training as physicians before spec ...

. She attended the Alice Ottley School,

Worcester Worcester may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Worcester, England, a city and the county town of Worcestershire in England ** Worcester (UK Parliament constituency), an area represented by a Member of Parliament * Worcester Park, London, Engl ...

and Royal High School,

Bath Bath may refer to: * Bathing, immersion in a fluid ** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body ** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe * Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities Plac ...

, before training as a

physical education Physical education is an academic subject taught in schools worldwide, encompassing Primary education, primary, Secondary education, secondary, and sometimes tertiary education. It is often referred to as Phys. Ed. or PE, and in the United Stat ...

teacher at Dartford College of Physical Education. A right-handed batter, Duggan scored 652 runs in Tests at an average of 24.14, and in her last game hit an unbeaten century against Australia at

the Oval The Oval, currently named for sponsorship reasons as the Kia Oval, is an international cricket ground in Kennington, located in the borough of Lambeth, in south London. The Oval has been the home ground of Surrey County Cricket Club sinc ...

(the first there by a woman at Test match level). She was also an effective bowler, and bowled both medium pace and

left-arm orthodox spin Left-arm orthodox spin or left-arm off spin, also known as slow left-arm orthodox spin bowling, is a type of spin bowling in cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven ...

. Her tally of 77 Test wickets, taken at an average of just 13.49, remains an all-time record. In February 1958, she took a remarkable 7 wickets for 6 runs in the first

innings An innings is one of the divisions of a cricket match during which one team takes its turn to bat. Innings also means the period in which an individual player bats (acts as either striker or nonstriker). In cricket and rounders, "innings" is ...

of the second Test against

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

, played at the St Kilda Cricket Ground,

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

. Until 1995 these were the best figures in women's Test history, and , have been surpassed only twice. In 1957, she took over the England captaincy from

Molly Hide Mary Edith "Molly" Hide (24 October 1913 – September 10, 1995) was an English cricketer who played as a right-handed batter and right-arm medium bowler. She appeared in 15 Test matches for England between 1934 and 1954. She was one of the ...

. In addition to her hundred in her final match, she took 7 for 72, and was instrumental in England winning the match and the series. In 1962, Duggan and Ruth Westbrook became the first women to be awarded the MCC's advanced coaching certificate. At the time of her death, she was president of the

Women's Cricket Association The Women's Cricket Association (WCA) was responsible for the running of women's cricket in England between 1926 and 1998. It was founded by a group of enthusiasts following a cricket holiday in Malvern. Forty-nine games were arranged in that fir ...

, and for 10 years had been vice-principal of Dartford College of Education. Amongst the students she taught there was her successor as England captain, Rachael Heyhoe Flint, who picked out Duggan as being one of the institution's "first-class lecturers". Duggan was a

first cousin A cousin is a relative who is the child of a parent's sibling; this is more specifically referred to as a first cousin. A parent of a first cousin is an aunt or uncle. More generally, in the lineal kinship, kinship system used in the English-s ...

of England cricketer and cricket commentator Jonathan Agnew.

Test centuries

References

External links

* * 1925 births 1973 deaths Cricketers from Worcester, England English women cricketers England women Test cricketers People educated at The Alice Ottley School People educated at the Royal High School, Bath Yorkshire women cricketers Middlesex women cricketers {{England-cricket-bio-stub

Life and career

Test centuries

See also

References

External links