Tom Dollery

Template:Infobox Historic Cricketer Horace Edgar "Tom" Dollery, born October 15, 1914 and died January 20, 1987, was a cricketer who played for England and Warwickshire.

Born at Reading, Berkshire and playing Minor County cricket for Berkshire at the age of 15, Dollery joined Warwickshire in 1934 and was a mainstay of the team until retirement in 1955. His forceful middle order batting earned him more than 1,000 runs in 15 consecutive first-class seasons from 1935 to 1955.

Dollery's principal claim to fame, though, was as one of the first professional captains in English first-class cricket and certainly the first successful one. Appointed joint Warwickshire captain in 1948, he took sole charge the following year and retained the post for seven seasons. In 1951 he led the county to their first County Championship title since 1911, and only their second ever.

Wisden reported that Dollery's influence as captain was fundamental to the success. It wrote: "He possessed that rare gift of being a born leader of men both on and off the field. He united his team in a cheerful confidence and behind it all he was a shrewd tactician, particularly in the field, where he exploited the weaknesses of the opposition."

An entertaining man, Dollery's drollery made for fun company, as Jack Fingleton affirmed, recalling a dressing-room drink in Birmingham in 1953.

Dollery's career in Test matches was less successful. He played for England four times between 1947 and 1950, but scored only 72 runs in seven innings.

He was one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year in 1952.

References

• Tom Dollery at Cricketarchive.com