Roy Gilbert Stevens (6 February 1933 – 6 October 1992) 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 and

Royal Marines The Royal Marines provide the United Kingdom's amphibious warfare, amphibious special operations capable commando force, one of the :Fighting Arms of the Royal Navy, five fighting arms of the Royal Navy, a Company (military unit), company str ...

officer who became a prominent cricket administrator after leaving the forces. Stevens was born in

Walmer Walmer is a town in the district of Dover, Kent, in England. Located on the coast, the parish of Walmer is south-east of Sandwich, Kent. The town's coastline and castle are popular amongst tourists. It has a population of 6,693 (2001), incre ...

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 ...

and died at

Ipswich Ipswich () is a port town and Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in Suffolk, England. It is the county town, and largest in Suffolk, followed by Lowestoft and Bury St Edmunds, and the third-largest population centre in East Anglia, ...

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 ...

Cricketer

As a Royal Marine, Stevens played cricket as a left-handed lower-order batsman and bowler for the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

, first representing the team in non-first-class inter-services matches in 1952. His only first-class appearance was for the

Combined Services The Combined Services cricket team represents the British Armed Forces. The team played at first-class level in England for more than forty years in the mid-twentieth century. Their first first-class match was against Gentlemen of England at Lo ...

in 1962, against

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

. In the first innings he scored 29 runs before being dismissed by Noel Ferguson and in the second-innings he scored 9 runs before being dismissed by Archie McQuilken. With the ball he took the wicket of Thomas McCloy in the Irish first innings and in the second he took the wicket of Archie McQuilken, the two wickets coming at a combined cost of 47 runs. In August 1962 he played two

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 ...

matches for

Devon Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west ...

, both against the Somerset Second XI.

Career

In his 1952 appearance for the Royal Navy, Stevens is recorded by

Wisden Cricketers' Almanack ''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'', or simply ''Wisden'', colloquially the Bible of Cricket, is a cricket reference book published annually in the United Kingdom. The description "Bible of cricket" (or variations thereof) has been applied to ''Wi ...

as a lance-corporal in the Royal Marines. In 1955, he was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the marines. He was promoted to full lieutenant in 1957. There was a further promotion to the rank of local captain in 1963, and he became a full captain in 1965. He retired from the marines at his own request with the rank of captain in 1973. After he left the Royal Marines in 1973, Stevens became secretary of

Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...

between 1975 and 1979 and moved on to the same role at

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, ...

from 1980 to 1983. In its obituary of him in the 1993 edition, Wisden wrote: "He cut a slightly old-fashioned figure at a time when clubs were starting to appoint marketing-oriented men rather than ex-officers as administrators."

References

External links

Roy Stevens
at

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Roy Stevens
at CricketArchive {{DEFAULTSORT:Stevens, Roy 1933 births 1992 deaths People from Walmer Royal Marines officers English cricketers Combined Services cricketers Devon cricketers English cricket administrators Cricketers from Kent Military personnel from Kent 20th-century Royal Marines personnel 20th-century English sportsmen