View source for Tom Cartwright

{{Short description|English cricketer (1935–2007)}}
{{EngvarB|date=August 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2023}}
{{More footnotes needed|date=April 2011}}
{{Infobox cricketer
|                name = Tom Cartwright
|               image = 
|             country = England
|            fullname = Thomas William Cartwright
|            nickname = Nail
|          birth_date = {{Birth date|1935|7|22|df=yes}}
|         birth_place = [[Alderman's Green]], [[Coventry]], England
|          death_date = {{Death date and age|2007|4|30|1935|7|22|df=yes}}
|         death_place = [[Neath]], [[Glamorgan]], Wales
|              height = 
|             batting = Right-handed
|             bowling = Right-hand medium
|              family =
|       international = true
|       testdebutdate = 23 July
|       testdebutyear = 1964
|    testdebutagainst = Australia
|             testcap = 424
|        lasttestdate = 5 August
|        lasttestyear = 1965
|     lasttestagainst = South Africa
|               club3 = [[Glamorgan County Cricket Club|Glamorgan]]
|               year3 = 1977
|               club2 = [[Somerset County Cricket Club|Somerset]]
|               year2 = 1970–1976
|               club1 = [[Warwickshire County Cricket Club|Warwickshire]]
|               year1 = {{nowrap|1952–1969}}
|             columns = 3
|             column1 = [[Test cricket|Test]]
|            matches1 = 5
|               runs1 = 26
|            bat avg1 = 5.20
|           100s/50s1 = 0/0
|          top score1 = 9
|         deliveries1 = 1,611
|            wickets1 = 15
|           bowl avg1 = 36.26
|            fivefor1 = 1
|             tenfor1 = 0
|       best bowling1 = 6/94
|  catches/stumpings1 = 2/–
|             column2 = [[First-class cricket|FC]]
|            matches2 = 479
|               runs2 = 13,710
|            bat avg2 = 21.32
|           100s/50s2 = 7/66
|          top score2 = 210
|         deliveries2 = 84,837
|            wickets2 = 1,536
|           bowl avg2 = 19.11
|            fivefor2 = 94
|             tenfor2 = 18
|       best bowling2 = 8/39
|  catches/stumpings2 = 331/–
|             column3 = [[List A cricket|LA]]
|            matches3 = 144
|               runs3 = 1,254
|            bat avg3 = 14.41
|           100s/50s3 = 0/1
|          top score3 = 61
|         deliveries3 = 7,491
|            wickets3 = 172
|           bowl avg3 = 20.23
|            fivefor3 = 0
|             tenfor3 = 0
|       best bowling3 = 4/7
|  catches/stumpings3 = 52/–
|                date = 25 January 2009
|              source = https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/1/1232/1232.html CricketArchive
}}

'''Thomas William Cartwright''' {{post-nominals|country=GBR|MBE}} (22 July 1935<ref name="Cap">{{cite book |title=If The Cap Fits |last=Bateman |first=Colin |year=1993 |publisher=Tony Williams Publications |isbn=1-869833-21-X |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/ifcapfits0000unse }}</ref> – 30 April 2007) was an English [[cricket]]er. Playing largely for [[Somerset CCC|Somerset]] and [[Warwickshire CCC|Warwickshire]], he took over 1,600 wickets as a medium-pace bowler, though he began his career as a top-order batsman, and was capable enough with the bat to score seven hundreds including a double-century. He played in five [[Test cricket|Tests]] for [[England cricket team|England]] in 1964 and 1965. His withdrawal from the 1968–69 tour to South Africa led to his replacement in the touring team by [[Basil D'Oliveira]], whose inclusion precipitated the sporting isolation of South Africa until [[apartheid]] was abolished.

Cricket writer, Colin Bateman, stated, "Cartwright was an exceptional bowler whose talents could not find a niche in the England side, much to the discredit of the selectors. His high, flowing action off a few steady paces produced unerring accuracy and nip for his rich assortment of seam and swing deliveries, but England looked usually for a first change bowler with extra pace".<ref name="Cap"/> He became a coach in later life at [[Millfield School]], and later for Wales, as well as a manager at Glamorgan, with whom he had concluded his player career in 1977. He died there in 2007 of a heart attack.

==Life and career==
Cartwright was born in [[Alderman's Green]], [[Coventry]], in a miner's cottage with no running water. He was the last of four children, with three older sisters. His [[Methodist]] father worked in the [[Riley (motorcar)|Riley]] car factory; his mother's father was a coal miner. He inherited strong socialist views from his parents, and a strong sense of personal integrity. He was educated at [[Foxford Community School|Foxford School]], a secondary school in Coventry, and captained his school and the Coventry's schools teams in football and cricket. He took trials as a right-winger at [[Aston Villa F.C.|Aston Villa]], but began working at the [[Rootes Group|Rootes]] car factory.

He joined [[Warwickshire County Cricket Club|Warwickshire]] in 1952, aged 17. He began his cricket career as a [[batsman]], preferring to open the batting, became an [[all-rounder]], batting further down the order, and ended as a [[Bowler (cricket)|bowler]]. He was very successful in first-class cricket, playing for Warwickshire from 1952 to 1969, for [[Somerset County Cricket Club|Somerset]] from 1970 to 1976, and for [[Glamorgan County Cricket Club|Glamorgan]] in 1977.

He made his first-class debut in Warwickshire's last [[county championship]] match of the 1952 season, against [[Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club|Nottinghamshire]], scoring 82 and 22 not out. This remains the highest county score by a player aged under 17½. He did [[National Service]] from 1953 to 1955 in the [[Royal Artillery]] at [[Shoeburyness]]. In 1955, he played for the Army against the Navy at [[Lord's]], and for the [[Combined Services]] against [[Lancashire County Cricket Club|Lancashire]], scoring three half-centuries in the two matches.

He scored seven first-class centuries, including 210 against [[Middlesex County Cricket Club|Middlesex]] in 1962. He took 100 wickets in eight seasons, and passed 1,000 runs in three seasons. He achieving the all-rounder's "double" in 1962, taking 106 wickets and making 1176 runs. In 1965, he took 100 wickets at an average of 13.85. He won the [[Friends Provident Trophy|Gillette Cup]] with Warwickshire in 1966 and 1968.

He made his Test debut in the Fourth Test against [[Australia national cricket team|Australia]] at [[Old Trafford (cricket ground)|Old Trafford]] in July 1964, when [[Australian national cricket captains|Australian captain]] [[Bob Simpson (cricketer)|Bob Simpson]] reached a [[List of Test cricket triple centuries|triple century]].<ref>[http://www.cricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/1960S/1964/AUS_IN_ENG/AUS_ENG_T4_23-28JUL1964.html Cricinfo.com]</ref> Both teams scored over 600 in their first innings and the match was drawn. Cartwright took 2–118 in 77 overs, including 32 maidens. He continued in the Fifth Test at [[the Oval]], taking 3–110 in 62 overs, including 23 maidens.<ref>[http://www.cricinfo.com/link_to_database/ARCHIVE/1960S/1964/AUS_IN_ENG/AUS_ENG_T5_13-18AUG1964.html Cricinfo.com]</ref> He toured in the winter of 1964/65, but broke a [[metatarsal]] bone and was unable to play until the Fourth Test against [[South Africa national cricket team|South Africa]] at [[Johannesburg]].<ref>[http://www.cricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/1960S/1964-65/ENG_IN_RSA/ENG_RSA_T4_22-27JAN1965.html Cricinfo.com]</ref> He was selected for the First Test against [[New Zealand cricket team|New Zealand]] at [[Edgbaston Cricket Ground|Edgbaston]] the following summer,<ref>[http://www.cricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/1960S/1965/NZ_IN_ENG/NZ_ENG_T1_27MAY-01JUN1965.html Cricinfo.com]</ref> but was then injured again and missed the next few matches. He achieved his best Test bowling figures (6–94) in his final Test appearance, when he returned for the Second Test against South Africa at [[Trent Bridge]] later in 1965.<ref>[http://www.cricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/1960S/1965/RSA_IN_ENG/RSA_ENG_T2_05-09AUG1965.html Cricinfo.com]</ref> He broke his right thumb attempting to take a catch off his own bowling in the first innings, and he was unable to bowl in the second innings. He never played Test cricket again.

He was selected for the 1968/9 tour to South Africa, but a shoulder injury caused him to withdraw at the last minute. [[Basil D'Oliveira]] was selected to take his place, and the [[D'Oliveira affair|resulting controversy]] led to South Africa's exclusion from Test cricket for twenty two years.

Cartwright took 8–96 in his final match for Warwickshire in 1969. Worried about his future career, he sought a coaching position at Warwickshire before moving to Somerset to take up a coaching job at [[Millfield School]]. He became coach at Somerset, where he played with a young [[Ian Botham]], helping him to develop his swing bowling.<ref name="Cap"/> He left Somerset after an argument about his fitness in 1976, and played for Glamorgan the following year before finally retiring from playing to concentrate on coaching.

After he retired from professional cricket, he was cricket manager at Glamorgan from 1977 to 1983. He became coach for the [[Welsh Cricket Association]] and then the first Welsh national coach. For this work, he was awarded the [[Order of the British Empire|MBE]] when he retired in 2000. He also became the first cricket coach to join the [[National Coaching Federation]]'s Hall of Fame. He took charge of the development of under-16 cricketers for many years, continuing until 2007.

Aged 70, he played his last game of cricket at [[Broadhalfpenny Down]] in September 2005.{{citation needed|date=August 2017}}

Cartwright suffered a heart attack in March 2007, and died a month later. He was survived by his Welsh wife, Joan Rees, whom he married in 1960, and by their son and daughter. Joan died on 28 March 2017.{{citation needed|date=August 2017}}

A biography, ''Tom Cartwright: The Flame Still Burns'', by [[Stephen Chalke]] was published in April 2007.

==References==

;Footnotes
{{Reflist}}

;References
*{{ESPNcricinfo|id=10679}}
*{{CricketArchive|id=1232}}
*[http://sport.guardian.co.uk/cricket/story/0,,871003,00.html Veteran of apartheid era says do not go], ''[[The Guardian]]'', 9 January 2003
*[http://www.thebears.co.uk/history/alumni/tomcartwright.shtml Tom Cartwright] from Warwickshire County Cricket Club
*[http://content-uk.cricinfo.com/ci/content/story/292885.html England seamer Tom Cartwright dies], [[Cricinfo]], 30 April 2007
*{{cite news|title=Obituary |date=1 May 2007 |url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article1728386.ece |work=The Times |access-date=1 May 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110523081851/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article1728386.ece |archive-date=23 May 2011 }}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20070517153037/http://news.independent.co.uk/people/obituaries/article2499318.ece Obituary], ''[[The Independent]]'', 1 May 2007
*[https://www.theguardian.com/obituaries/story/0,,2069138,00.html Obituary], ''[[The Guardian]]'', 1 May 2007
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20070704192409/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=%2Fnews%2F2007%2F05%2F01%2Fdb0101.xml  Obituary], ''[[The Daily Telegraph]]'', 1 May 2007

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cartwright, Tom}}
[[Category:1935 births]]
[[Category:2007 deaths]]
[[Category:English cricketers]]
[[Category:England Test cricketers]]
[[Category:Glamorgan cricketers]]
[[Category:Members of the Order of the British Empire]]
[[Category:Somerset cricketers]]
[[Category:Warwickshire cricketers]]
[[Category:Combined Services cricketers]]
[[Category:International Cavaliers cricketers]]
[[Category:Cricketers from Coventry]]
[[Category:Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers]]
[[Category:English cricket coaches]]
[[Category:Players cricketers]]
[[Category:20th-century English sportsmen]]