Patrick Ian Pocock (born 24 September 1946) is a Welsh former

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 25 Test matches and one

One Day International One Day International (ODI) is a format of cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of fifty overs, with the game lasting up to 7 hours. The World Cup, generally held every four yea ...

for the

England cricket team The England men's cricket team represents cricket in England, England and cricket in Wales, Wales in international cricket. Since 1997, it has been governed by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), having been previously governed by Maryleb ...

between 1968 and 1985. The cricket correspondent Colin Bateman opined, "The selectors never really trusted Pat Pocock, although he was one of the most authentic spin bowlers of his generation. Pocock's action was textbook high; he spun the ball, varied his angles, and had a sweet loop."

Life and career

Pocock loved playing cricket, and had plenty of theories and experiments if the opposing batsmen got on top. His entire

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 ...

career was spent with Surrey County Cricket Club, and he got his first taste of the vagaries of international selection, when he replaced Fred Titmus, who had lost four toes in a boating accident, on the 1967–68 tour to the

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. He then took 6 for 79 against

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in the first Test at Old Trafford,

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, in 1968, and was then immediately dropped and replaced by Derek Underwood. Pocock was not selected again in the series, and appeared only sporadically thereafter. His next two home Tests were against the West Indies in 1976, but his final recall was some eight years and 86 Tests later; only Derek Shackleton (103 Tests) and Les Jackson (96 Tests) had previously missed more matches between Test appearances. Pocock finished his Test career on a happy note, under the

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of David Gower, and in a successful partnership with Phil Edmonds on England's 1984–85 tour of

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. Pocock is also known for having taken seven wickets in eleven balls for Surrey against

Sussex Sussex (Help:IPA/English, /ˈsʌsɪks/; from the Old English ''Sūþseaxe''; lit. 'South Saxons'; 'Sussex') is an area within South East England that was historically a kingdom of Sussex, kingdom and, later, a Historic counties of England, ...

in 1972. He captained Surrey in his final season in 1986, having made his debut for them in 1964. He finished with 1,607 first-class wickets at 26.53, with best bowling figures of 9 for 57.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pocock, Pat 1946 births Living people England Test cricketers England One Day International cricketers Welsh cricketers Presidents of Surrey County Cricket Club Surrey cricket captains Surrey cricketers International Cavaliers cricketers Cricketers from Bangor, Gwynedd Cricketers from Gwynedd Cricketers from Reigate Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers Marylebone Cricket Club Under-25s cricketers Marylebone Cricket Club President's XI cricketers Marylebone Cricket Club Touring Team cricketers