Thomas Cuthbert Longfield (12 May 1906 – 21 December 1981) 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. He played

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 ...

for several teams including

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

Kent County Cricket Club Kent County Cricket Club is one of the eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Kent. A club representing the county was first founded in 1842 but Ken ...

and

Bengal Bengal ( ) is a Historical geography, historical geographical, ethnolinguistic and cultural term referring to a region in the Eastern South Asia, eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. The region of Benga ...

. Longfield was born at High Halstow in Kent and educated at

Aldenham School Aldenham School is a co-educational private boarding and day school for pupils aged eleven to eighteen, located between Elstree and the village of Aldenham in Hertfordshire, England. There is also a preparatory school for pupils from the ag ...

where he played in the cricket XI.Longfield, Thomas Cuthbert
Obituaries in 1981, ''

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 ...

'', 1982. Retrieved 25 October 2018. He went to

and won cricket Blues in 1927 and 1928, making a total of 25 first-class appearances for the University side. He made his Kent debut in the 1927 University vacation and went on to play a total of 40 times for the county First XI, playing his last county match in 1939.Tom Longfield
CricketArchive. Retrieved 25 October 2018. After leaving Cambridge, Longfield worked for

Andrew Yule and Company Andrew Yule & Co. Ltd. is an Indian central public sector undertaking under the ownership of the Ministry of Heavy Industries, Government of India. It is currently headquartered in Kolkata (formerly Calcutta), and has offices in the main Ind ...

Calcutta Kolkata, also known as Calcutta (List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern ba ...

in India, the city where his father had worked for

Royal Insurance Royal Insurance Holdings plc was a large insurance business originating in Liverpool but based in London from the early 20th century. It merged with Sun Alliance in 1996 to form the Royal & Sun Alliance Insurance Group. History Formation and e ...

.Return to roots
''

The Telegraph (Calcutta) ''The Telegraph'' is an Indian English daily newspaper founded and continuously published in Kolkata since 7 July 1982. It is published by the ABP Group and competes with the Middle-market newspaper '' The Times of India''. The newspaper is ...

'', 3 January 2009. Retrieved 25 October 2018.Basu R (2012
Ted loses toss on Test-eve
''

'', 5 December 2012. Retrieved 25 October 2018. He was able to play for Kent only when he returned to England on leave. He played for a variety of teams whilst in India, including the

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and Bengal. He captained Bengal to their first

Ranji Trophy The Ranji Trophy is a premier domestic first-class cricket championship played in India and organized annually by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). The teams representing regional and state cricket associations participate. BCCI ...

win in 1938/39,Dutta RP (2008
Half-century hurrah at home - Ted Dexter and wife return to roots for 50-year marriage celebrations
''

'', 30 December 2008. Retrieved 25 October 2018.Mukherji R (2015) ''Eden Gardens Legend & Romance'', pp.106–107. Kolkata Today.
Available online
Retrieved 25 October 2018.)Chakrabaty S (2012
Kolkata’s favourite son-in-law returns
''

Indian Express ''The Indian Express'' is an English-language India, Indian daily newspaper founded in 1932 by P. Varadarajulu Naidu. It is headquartered in Noida, owned by the Indian Express Limited, ''Indian Express Group''. It was later taken over by Ramnat ...

'', 4 December 2012. Retrieved 25 October 2018. and took a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three Wick ...

for the side in 1936/37 against

Bihar Bihar ( ) is a states and union territories of India, state in Eastern India. It is the list of states and union territories of India by population, second largest state by population, the List of states and union territories of India by are ...

.First-Class Hat-Trick in India by Player

Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians The Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians (ACS) was founded in England in 1973 for the purpose of researching and collating information about the history and statistics of cricket. Originally called the Association of Cricket Stati ...

. Retrieved 25 October 2018. He was involved with the

Calcutta Cricket Club Calcutta Cricket and Football Club is an Indian multi-sports club based in Kolkata, West Bengal. Founded in 1792 as a cricket institution, the club later expanded to include football and rugby sections following its merger with the Calcutta Foo ...

and went on to become president whilst living in India, captaining the team for a timeMitra A (2011
A death in London - The distinct flavour of Calcutta's fading colonial phase
''

'', 20 June 2011. Retrieved 25 October 2018. and was President of the club three times.History

Calcutta Cricket and Football Club Calcutta Cricket and Football Club is an Indian multi-sports club based in Kolkata, West Bengal. Founded in 1792 as a cricket institution, the club later expanded to include football and rugby sections following its merger with the Calcutta Fo ...

. Retrieved 25 October 2018.Past Presidents

. Retrieved 25 October 2018. He was a major influence in the

Cricket Association of Bengal The Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) is the governing body for cricket in the Indian state of West Bengal. It owns the Eden Gardens stadium in Kolkata, where its headquarters are located. CAB is a full member of the Board of Control for Cr ...

.Mukherji ''op. cit.'', pp.27–28. In his ''

Wisden ''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 ...

'' obituary, Longfield was described as having been "an orthodox, old-fashioned medium-pace bowler" who "possessed a beautiful action, kept a good length, and could move the ball both ways". He was third in the Cambridge

bowling average In cricket, a player's bowling average is the number of runs they have conceded per wicket taken. The lower the bowling average is, the better the bowler is performing. It is one of a number of statistics used to compare bowlers, commonly use ...

s in 1927 taking 46 wickets, followed by 44 in 1928, although for Kent he was "curiously ineffective" as a bowler. As a batsman he scored two centuries for Cambridge, the only first-class hundreds he scored, and was described as "a good stroke-player who could score quickly, mostly in front of the wicket" who went on to play "some useful innings" for Kent. He was second in the Cambridge

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is ...

s in 1927. Longfield's daughter Susan, who was born in Calcutta whilst Longfield worked in India and was a successful model, married Ted Dexter in 1959. He later captained 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 ...

. His brother, Geoffrey Longfield, played two first-class matches for the RAF. Longfield died at

Ealing Ealing () is a district in west London (sub-region), west London, England, west of Charing Cross in the London Borough of Ealing. It is the administrative centre of the borough and is identified as a major metropolitan centre in the London Pl ...

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in 1981 aged 75.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Longfield, Tom 1906 births 1981 deaths English cricketers Bengal cricketers Cambridge University cricketers Europeans cricketers Kent cricketers Gentlemen cricketers Free Foresters cricketers Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers H. D. G. Leveson Gower's XI cricketers People from Medway Viceroy's XI cricketers Cricketers from Kent British people in colonial India 20th-century English sportsmen

See also

References

External links