Nicholas Edward Julian Pocock (born 15 December 1951) is an English former first-class

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 county cricket for

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, ...

between 1976 and 1984, making over a hundred appearances in both first-class and

one-day cricket Limited overs cricket, also known as white ball cricket, is a version of the sport of cricket in which a match is generally completed within one day. There are a number of formats, including List A cricket (8-hour games), Twenty20 cricket (3-h ...

. He served as Hampshire

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

from 1980 and 1984, having succeeded Bob Stephenson. He later served as president of Hampshire and sat on the committee of the

Marylebone Cricket Club The Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) is a cricket club founded in 1787 and based since 1814 at Lord's, Lord's Cricket Ground, which it owns, in St John's Wood, London, England. The club was the governing body of cricket from 1788 to 1989 and retain ...

Cricket career

Pocock was born in Venezuela at

Maracaibo Maracaibo ( , ; ) is a city and municipality in northwestern Venezuela, on the western shore of the strait that connects Lake Maracaibo to the Gulf of Venezuela. It is the largest city in Venezuela and is List of cities in Venezuela by population ...

in December 1951. He was educated in England at Shrewsbury School. He began his association with

in 1973, playing for their second eleven. Two years then elapsed before his next appearance for the second eleven in 1975, with Pocock making his first eleven debut in 1976, in a first-class match 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 ...

against

Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire to the north, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire to the south-east, Warw ...

Bournemouth Bournemouth ( ) is a coastal resort town in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole unitary authority area, in the ceremonial county of Dorset, England. At the 2021 census, the built-up area had a population of 196,455, making it the largest ...

, in which he top-scored in Hampshire's first innings with 68. He made two further first-class appearances that season in the County Championship, while in the 1977 County Championship he made seven appearances, scoring 265 runs. it was in 1977 that Pocock made his debut in List A one-day cricket, making five one-day appearances. His first match the following season came in a first-class fixture against the touring Pakistanis, with Pocock featuring in the Hampshire side following injuries and the unavailability of regular players. He featured in a further four first-class matches in 1978, three of which were in the

, and later in the season in the final five matches of the John Player League, filling in for Barry Richards following his sudden departure from Hampshire. Following Richards' departure, Pocock began to appear from regularly for Hampshire in the 1979 season, making twelve first-class and fourteen one-day appearances. Against

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 the 1979 County Championship, he recorded his maiden

century 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. ...

with an unbeaten 143, with him scoring 393 first-class runs in 1979. Against

Oxford University The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...

that season, he equalled the Hampshire first-class record of five outfield catches in an innings when he was fielding at slip. Although by no means a certainty in the Hampshire side, despite his increased playing opportunities in 1979, it came as a surprise when he was chosen to

Hampshire for the 1980 season following Bob Stephenson's relinquishment of the captaincy. He inherited a Hampshire side which was a stark contrast to their successful team of the early 1970s, ultimately finishing last in the 1980 County Championship. In his inaugural season as captain, he made 24 first-class appearances, scoring 874 runs at an

average In colloquial, ordinary language, an average is a single number or value that best represents a set of data. The type of average taken as most typically representative of a list of numbers is the arithmetic mean the sum of the numbers divided by ...

of 23.62, while in one-day cricket he made 21 appearances, scoring 298 runs at an average of 18.62. He remained as Hampshire captain until the 1984 season, helping lead them to third place finishes in both the 1982 and 1983 County Championship's. While playing

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

in Portsmouth in mid-July 1984, Pocock made his intention to resign the Hampshire captaincy known to Mark Nicholas, who he recommended to replace him. His decision to resign the captaincy was based around his intentions to devote more time to his fledgling business interests. After resigning the captaincy, he did not play for Hampshire again, with a thumb injury ruling him out for the remainder the season. From his debut in 1976, Pocock made 127 appearances in first-class cricket for Hampshire. In these, he scored 3,790 runs at an average of 23.10, making two centuries and eighteen half centuries; his highest score of 164 came against Lancashire in 1982. In one-day cricket, he made 1,346 runs at an average of 21.36, making three half centuries and with a top-score of 73 not out. As a slip fielder, he took 124 catches in first-class cricket, with his reflexes off the bowling of

Malcolm Marshall Malcolm Denzil Marshall (18 April 1958 – 4 November 1999) was a Barbadian cricketer. Primarily a fast bowler, Marshall is widely regarded as one of the greatest and one of the most accomplished fast bowlers of the modern era in Test cricket ...

being noted.

Post-cricket career

Following the end of his cricket career, Pocock worked for HSBC Insurance Brokers for over 10 years alongside former Hampshire cricketer Colin Ingleby-Mackenzie. In 1992, he helped set up Sporting Index where he was employed as its marketing director. He later became vice chairman of Hedgehog Risk Solutions, a company specialising in providing bespoke insurance and financing solutions for corporations with sports related exposure. Pocock succeeded Ingleby-Mackenzie as Hampshire president following his death in 2006, and in 2013 he was elected to the committee of the

. In November 2020, he was elected the new president of the Cricketer Cup, succeeding Tony Winlaw.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pocock, Nick 1951 births Living people Sportspeople from Maracaibo People educated at Shrewsbury School English cricketers Hampshire cricketers Hampshire cricket captains English cricket administrators 20th-century English sportsmen