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Tommy Mitchell

Thomas Mitchell
Personal information
Full name Thomas Bignall Mitchell
Born (1902-09-04)4 September 1902
Cresswell, Derbyshire, England
Died 27 January 1996(1996-01-27) (aged 93)
Hickleton, Doncaster, England
Nickname Tommy
Batting style Right-hand bat
Bowling style Leg break googly
International information
National side
Test debut 10 February 1933 v Australia
Last Test 29 June 1935 v South Africa
Domestic team information
Years Team
19281939 Derbyshire
Career statistics
Competition Tests First-class
Matches 5 328
Runs scored 20 2431
Batting average 5.00 7.97
100s/50s -/- 0/1
Top score 9 57
Balls bowled 894 62741
Wickets 8 1483
Bowling average 62.25 20.59
5 wickets in innings 0 118
10 wickets in match 0 30
Best bowling 2/49 10/64
Catches/stumpings 1/- 133/-
Source: [1], 19 April 2010

Thomas Bignall Mitchell (often Tom Mitchell or Tommy Mitchell; 4 September 1902 – 27 January 1996) was an English cricketer who played for Derbyshire between 1928 and 1939.

A leg spin bowler, he was the most successful slow bowler in the history of a county better known for its pace bowling strength. His bowling was an important factor in Derbyshire's most successful period in the County Championship during the 1930s. Along with Bill Copson, Leslie Townsend and the brothers Pope, he formed an attack sufficiently strong during the dreadful summer of 1936 to, aided by some quirks in the weather, displace Yorkshire from their perennial position atop the Championship table.

Mitchell was born at Creswell, Bolsover, Derbyshire and was a faceworker in the coal mines. He was first spotted by Derbyshire during the General Strike of 1926 and began playing for Derbyshire in the 1928 season but was disappointing. However in the 1929 season he took 100 wickets and was deadly whenever the pitches took sufficient spin. In the 1930 season, he did even better, and though expensive in the 1931 and 1932 seasons, his ability to spin the ball on dry pitches more than any other leg-spinner in county cricket saw him taken on the Ashes tour (in preference to the likes of Tich Freeman) when business prevented Walter Robins touring. He played in the Fourth Test as a replacement for Bill Voce who was injured, and despite dismissing Bill Woodfull in both innings he was never able to establish himself for England. Indeed, he was so expensive when called upon in 1934 that he took no wicket and conceded 117 runs, and the following year, when he was very disappointing on a leatherjacket-infested Lord's wicket that should have helped him, he is quoted as having said "You couldn't captain a team of bloody lead soldiers" to his captain Bob Wyatt. Indeed, Mitchell's tactlessness towards administrators made him quite unpopular with them and may have prejudiced his chances of doing well in representative cricket.


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