Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Full name | Guy Longfield Willatt | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Born |
Nottingham, England |
7 May 1918||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Died | 11 June 2003 Derby, England |
(aged 85)||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Batting style | Left-handed batsman | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bowling style | Right arm slow bowler | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Role | Derbyshire captain 1951-1954 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Relations | Jonathan Willatt | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Domestic team information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Years | Team | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
1938-1947 | Cambridge University | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
1939-1948 | Nottinghamshire | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
1948=1950 | Scotland | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
1950–1956 | Derbyshire | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
First-class debut | 25 May 1938 Cambridge University v Essex | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Last First-class | MCC v Ireland | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Career statistics | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Source: [1], 18 February 2010
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Guy Longfield Willatt (7 May 1918 – 11 June 2003) was an English cricketer who played first-class cricket for Cambridge University from 1938 to 1947, for Nottinghamshire from 1939 to 1948, for Scotland from 1948 to 1950 and for Derbyshire from 1950 to 1956. He was captain of Derbyshire from 1951 to 1954 and also played for MCC.
Willatt was born at The Park, Nottingham. He was educated at Repton School and St Catharine's College, Cambridge. He played cricket for Cambridge University, two years before the war and at the same time performed in the second and first team at Nottinghamshire. However his university education was interrupted by the Second World War, when he served as an officer in the Royal Artillery. He still played for Nottinghamshire teams during the war. He resumed his studies at Cambridge and in 1947 was a football blue as well as captaining Cambridge University. He scored 90 in the Varsity Match that year. He continued playing for Nottinghamshire in the years immediately after the war.
On leaving university he moved to Edinburgh, where he taught at Edinburgh Academy and scored for The Grange. While he was in Scotland from 1948 to 1950 he played four times for Scotland.
In 1950 Willatt returned from Scotland to teach at Repton and, like John Eggar and Dick Sale, combined cricket for Derbyshire with his teaching career. He was also released from teaching in the summer term so he could captain the county. He was designated captain in the 1950 season but was hampered by injury and Pat Vaulkhard substituted for him in the role while on the field Willatt was an unpredictable, middle-order batsman during his first season. He took over as captain in the 1951 season and occupied the post for the next three years, in which he played consistently for the team. He scored a century against his former team Nottinghamshire in 1951 and Derbyshire finished eleventh in the County Championship. In 1952, which was his personal best season, Willatt scored 1,624 runs, at an average of 35.3 including two centuries and the club were fourth in the Championship. In the 1953 season Willatt's batting average dropped, and Derbyshire slipped to sixth. Willatt scored centuries against Kent and Sussex in the 1954 season and the club finished third in the county table.