Geoffrey Howard (cricketer)
Cecil Geoffrey Howard (14 February 1909 – 8 November 2002) was an English cricketer and cricket administrator.
Geoffrey Howard was born in Hampstead Garden Suburb, a grandson of Sir Ebenezer Howard, a founder of the Garden City Movement, who taught him a respect for people and a love for cricket. He was educated at the University College School. He is also related to the dancer and TV personality Una Stubbs.[1]
As a right-handed batsman and a wicket-keeper, he represented Middlesex in three first-class matches in 1930, whilst on annual leave from the bank for which he worked. He played for the Private Banks XI in 1926-36 and for the RAF during the Second World War, when he once made a century before lunch.[2]
He earned himself a place in cricket history as an enlightened administrator and a popular tour manager. He was Secretary of Lancashire (1949–1965) and Surrey (1965–1975) and managed three Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) touring teams in Australia and the Indian sub-continent. The 1954-55 MCC tour of Australia was the focal point of his rich and varied life, with England winning a series in Australia for the first time since Bodyline in 1932-33. The MCC 'A' tour of Pakistan in 1955-56 was marred by an incident, when several of the England cricketers doused the umpire Idris Baig with a bucket of water and as a result a major controversy broke out.[3] The background included Baig telling the tour manager Howard: “You must understand … that a lot of the crowd come to watch me umpire” and that same day reportedly giving three dubious LBWs against England, and turning down a certain one of their own. It took a sincere apology by MCC president, Field Marshal Alexander of Tunis to his former military colleague and counterpart at the Pakistani board, Iskander Mirza, to prevent the tour being called off.[4][3]
He stayed active in retirement and was President of Surrey in 1989. He collaborated with the author Stephen Chalke on the award winning At the Heart of English Cricket in 2001,[5] which won the Cricket Society Jubilee Prize in 2002. He died in Minchinhampton, aged 93.
References
- "Una Stubbs". Who Do You Think You Are?. Series 10. Episode 1. 24 July 2013. BBC Television. Retrieved 24 July 2013.
- p25, E.W. Murphy, Official Souvenir Programme, Australian Tour of the M.C.C. Team, 1954-55, New South Wales Cricket Association, 1954
- Williamson, Martin (5 November 2005). "The umpire and bucket controversy". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 28 August 2017.
- Bull, Andy (12 July 2016). "From 'torturing' an umpire to spot-fixing, England v Pakistan: a difficult rivalry". The Guardian. Retrieved 28 August 2017.
- At the Heart of English Cricket: The Life and Memories of Geoffrey Howard (2001, ISBN 0-95311-964-5)
External links
- Geoffrey Howard at ESPNcricinfo
- Geoffrey Howard at CricketArchive (subscription required)