Anthony Mervyn Jorden (28 January 1947 – 20 October 2023) was an English sportsman who played international

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

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 ...

and

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 ...

Education

Jorden attended

Monmouth School Monmouth School was a Public school (United Kingdom), public school (Independent school (United Kingdom), independent boarding school, boarding and day school, day school) for boys in Monmouth, Wales. The school was founded in 1614 with a beques ...

before going up to

Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge Fitzwilliam College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England. The college has origins from 1869, with the foundation of the Non-Collegiate Students Board, a venture intended to offer academically excellent students of all ...

, where he represented the university at both rugby union and

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 ...

Cricket career

Jorden began playing cricket for the Essex Second XI in 1964 and two years later broke into their

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 ...

side for the first time. A right-arm

fast-medium Fast bowling (also referred to as pace bowling) is a type of bowling in cricket, in which the ball is delivered at high speed. The fastest bowlers bowl the ball at over . Practitioners of fast bowling are known as fast bowlers or quicks. Also i ...

bowler, he went on to take a total of 117 first-class wickets for Essex, at an average of 29.92. From 1968 until 1970, he proved to be a capable wicket-taker for

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 ...

as well, with 57 first-class wickets at 31.66. He took a career high 50 wickets in the 1968 season, which he spent playing for both Essex and Cambridge University. It was with Cambridge that he took the only five wicket haul of his career, 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 1969. Jorden dismissed five of the top six Sussex batsmen in the first innings to claim figures of 5-95. He captained the university team in 1969 and 1970. He also played one first-class match for a combined Oxford and Cambridge Universities team. He played

Minor Counties The National Counties, known as the Minor Counties before 2020, are the cricketing counties of England and Wales that do not have first-class status. The game is administered by the National Counties Cricket Association (NCCA), which comes unde ...

and

List A cricket List A cricket is a classification of the limited-overs (one-day) form of the sport of cricket, with games lasting up to eight hours. List A cricket includes One Day International (ODI) matches and various domestic competitions in which the num ...

for

Bedfordshire Bedfordshire (; abbreviated ''Beds'') is a Ceremonial County, ceremonial county in the East of England. It is bordered by Northamptonshire to the north, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Hertfordshire to the south and the south-east, and Buckin ...

from 1975 to 1977.

Rugby career

Just as his first-class cricket career was coming to an end in 1970, Jorden was called up to the

England rugby union team The England national rugby union team represents the Rugby Football Union (RFU) in international rugby union. They compete in the annual Six Nations Championship with France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales. England have won the championshi ...

, who were to play against

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, as a replacement at fullback for

Bob Hiller Robert Hiller (born 14 October 1942) is a former England national rugby union team, England international rugby union player. Hiller was England's first choice Fullback (rugby union), fullback between 1968 and 1972. He made his England debut a ...

. As England's designated kicker, Jorden slotted two conversions and a penalty, but France won the Test 35-13. He didn't play again until the

1973 Five Nations Championship The 1973 Five Nations Championship was the 44th Five Nations Championship, an annual rugby union competition contested by the men's national teams of England, France, Ireland, Scotland and Wales, and the 79th since it began as the Home Nations Cha ...

, where he made three appearances and contributed 15 points with the boot. His next cap came against France in 1974 and he made two further appearances, both in 1975. He ended his Test career with seven caps and 22 points, but no tries. Over the course of his rugby career, he played for the

Barbarians A barbarian is a person or tribe of people that is perceived to be primitive, savage and warlike. Many cultures have referred to other cultures as barbarians, sometimes out of misunderstanding and sometimes out of prejudice. A "barbarian" may ...

, Blackheath,

Bedford Bedford is a market town in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 Census, the population was 106,940. Bedford is the county town of Bedfordshire and seat of the Borough of Bedford local government district. Bedford was founded at a ford (crossin ...

, Eastern Counties and London. Jorden died in October 2023, aged 76.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Jorden, Tony 1947 births 2023 deaths People educated at Monmouth School for Boys Alumni of Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge English rugby union players England international rugby union players Barbarian F.C. players Bedford Blues players Blackheath F.C. players English cricketers Essex cricketers Cambridge University cricketers Cambridge University cricket captains Bedfordshire cricketers Oxford and Cambridge Universities cricketers People from Radlett Cambridge University R.U.F.C. players Rugby union players from Hertfordshire Rugby union fullbacks Cricketers from Hertfordshire Eastern Counties RU players 20th-century English sportsmen