Roger William Tolchard (born 15 June 1946) is an English 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 four

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) ...

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

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 ...

in the late 1970s.

Life and career

Tolchard was a

wicket-keeper In cricket, the wicket-keeper is the Cricket player, player on the fielding (cricket), fielding side who stands behind the wicket, ready to stop Delivery (cricket), deliveries that pass the batsman, and take a Caught, catch, Stumped, stump the ...

. Educated at

Malvern College Malvern College is a Private schools in the United Kingdom, fee-charging coeducational boarding school, boarding and day school in Malvern, Worcestershire, Malvern, Worcestershire, England. It is a public school (United Kingdom), public school ...

, he played for

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 ...

for his entire professional career, from 1965 to 1983. He was selected for the England team for their 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 ...

in 1976–77, and played in four Tests, although as a specialist

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 ...

not a wicket-keeper ( Alan Knott was the established wicket-keeper). He scored an important 67 in his 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 ...

, but only managed 62 in total in six further innings. He was also selected for the 1978–79 tour of

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 ...

. He kept wicket in a One Day International in

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

, although it was rained off after 7.2 overs. He was forced to return home injured with a fractured cheekbone before the remainder of the one day matches. He captained Leicestershire for the last three years of his career, from 1981 to 1983, leading them to second place 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 the 1982 season. After retiring as a professional player, he returned to Malvern College where he coached cricket and rackets from 1984 to 2006. His brother

Jeff Jeff is a masculine name, often a short form (hypocorism) of the English given name Jefferson or Jeffrey, which comes from a medieval variant of Geoffrey. Music * DJ Jazzy Jeff, American DJ/turntablist record producer Jeffrey Allen Townes ...

also played for Leicestershire, and his nephew Roger Twose played for

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

. England international lawn bowlers Sam and Sophie Tolchard are his nephew and niece. Tolchard was one of ten members of Leicestershire's first County Championship winning team in 1975 to have a road in Leicester named after him by the city council.

Chris Balderstone John Christopher Balderstone (16 November 1940 – 6 March 2000) was an English professional in cricket and football, and one of the last sportsmen to combine both sports over a prolonged period. He played football as a midfielder for Huddersfie ...

, Peter Booth, Brian Davison, Barry Dudleston, Ken Higgs, David Humphries,

Ray Illingworth Raymond Illingworth Commander of the Order of the British Empire, CBE (8 June 1932 – 25 December 2021) was an English cricketer, cricket commentator and administrator. , he was one of only nine players to have taken 2,000 wickets and made 20, ...

, Norman McVicker, and John Steele were the others. Jack Birkenshaw,

Graham McKenzie Graham Douglas McKenzie (born 24 June 1941) – commonly known as "Garth", after the comic strip hero – is an Australian cricketer who played for Western Australia (1960–74), Leicestershire (1969–75), Transvaal (1979–80) and Australi ...

and Mick Norman missed out as there were already roads using their surnames.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Tolchard, Roger 1946 births Living people England Test cricketers England One Day International cricketers English cricketers Leicestershire cricketers Leicestershire cricket captains People educated at Malvern College Cricketers from Torquay Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers Devon cricketers D. H. Robins' XI cricketers T. N. Pearce's XI cricketers Wicket-keepers Marylebone Cricket Club President's XI cricketers 20th-century English sportsmen