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Doug Wright (cricketer)

Doug Wright
DVP Wright.jpg
Personal information
Full name Douglas Vivian Parson Wright
Born (1914-08-21)21 August 1914
Sidcup, Kent, England
Died 13 November 1998(1998-11-13) (aged 84)
Canterbury, Kent, England
Batting style Right-handed
Bowling style Right arm leg break
Right arm medium
International information
National side
Test debut (cap 302) 10 June 1938 v Australia
Last Test 28 March 1951 v New Zealand
Domestic team information
Years Team
1932–1957 Kent
Career statistics
Competition Test First-class
Matches 34 497
Runs scored 289 5,903
Batting average 11.11 12.34
100s/50s –/– 0/16
Top score 45 84 not out
Balls bowled 8,135 92,918
Wickets 108 2,056
Bowling average 39.11 23.98
5 wickets in innings 6 150
10 wickets in match 1 42
Best bowling 7/105 9/47
Catches/stumpings 10/– 182/–
Source: CricInfo, 10 March 2017

Douglas Vivian Parson Wright (21 August 1914, Sidcup, KentCanterbury, Kent 13 November 1998), better known as Doug Wright, was an English cricketer. A leg-spinner for Kent and England from 1932 to 1957 he took a record seven hat-tricks in first class cricket. He played for Kent for 19 seasons and was their first professional captain from late 1953 to 1956. Don Bradman said he was the best leg-spinner to tour Australia since Sydney Barnes, and Keith Miller thought he was the best leg-spinner he had seen apart from Bill O'Reilly. He toured Australia in 1946-47 and 1950-51, but was dogged by ill-luck and was considered to be the "unluckiest bowler in the world".

Cutting a leg-break is always dangerous, and cutting Wright is a form of suicide. Why a bowler of his skill failed to get more test-match wickets always mystified me; there was of course the marked tendency to bowl no-balls, but he sent down so many good ones, and worried and beat the batsmen so often, that he should have had better results...he seemed always likely to get wickets. It is one of the toughest problems of captaincy to know when to remove a man like that from the firing-line.

His early career was restricted by the monopoly of Tich Freeman on Kent's bowling honours, but after Freeman's powers declined in 1936, Wright took his place. He did the hat-trick twice in 1937, and was picked to play for England in 1938. He bowled well on a dusty wicket at Headingley, although his figures were hurt by fielding errors, and that winter went to South Africa.


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