Famous Cricketers No 50 - Reg Simpson

As a player Simpson made 366 appearances for Nottinghamshire scoring 23088 runs at an average of 37.26 with forty eight hundreds. He also took fifty wickets with his off-breaks at 41.46. It must have come as a surprise to him to be no-balled for throwing by Hugo Yarnold in the match against Derbyshire in 1960 but at the time a purge of doubtful actions was taking place. As a batsman he was tall and upright, stylish and always seeming to have plenty of time to play his shots. If I may be permitted a personal memory. I only saw him bat on one occasion - a damp July day at Gloucester in 1958. A fellow spectator was John Arlott and in his Cricket Journal he includes a memorable account of Simpson’s innings that day: - “In this apparently unexciting setting, Reggie Simpson played a connoisseur’s innings of 63 not out. Smith and Brown bowled to him at brisk medium pace and, in defence, he seemed to do no more than saunter out to meet the occasional lifting ball, his bat already in position for the ball to hit it and fall back, stunned. Once or twice young Brown ... overpitched to him. Then Simpson leant forward from his tall, relaxed stance and with a smooth pendulum of the bat, drove between cover-point and mid-off for four. Or again, he moved back with the shorter ball and played it wide of cover-point’s left hand to the boundary. All this was done so effortlessly, with such a sweet maturity of timing, as to make this as fine and flawless an innings as Simpson has ever played. ... In the autumn-like gloom, there was a nostalgic, period quality about the innings which made it far more memorable than many run-of-the-mill centuries”. To this I can only add that he brightened up a dull July day immeasurably. Reg Simpson joined the Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club Committee in 1961 and served on it for 35 years, making him the longest serving Committee member ever in the history of the Club. He was President of the Club for two years and is now an Honorary Life Vice-President. He still attends matches regularly at Trent Bridge. He is critical of the current generation of players who, he says, will not listen to advice and wonders how Brian Statham and Freddie Trueman would have reacted to having a bowling coach trying to tell them how to bowl. Away from cricket Simpson became Managing Director of Gunn & Moore. He has been semi-retired since 1987. He was a fine all-round sportsman and excelled at rugby and golf as well as cricket. He maintained his interest in flying, working with the R.A.F. Auxiliary Force and taking youngsters up for flight training. He completed 600 hours of training before he finally called in a day in 1981. Marriage has not been kind to Reg Simpson. His first ended in divorce, his second wife died of cancer and he is separated from the third. He has two daughters, one living in Canada and the other in Radcliffe-on-Trent. Reg Simpson’s final career figures show that he scored 30546 runs at an average of 38.32 with 64 centuries. Only two Notts batsmen in history, George Gunn and Joe Hardstaff, jun., have made more runs in their careers. If a career average of 40 or more is regarded as a bench-mark for greatness then Simpson falls just short. But figures do not tell the full story and he will always remain a hero to me for that immortal innings at Melbourne in 1950/51 and, sometimes when I close my eyes, I can see again the graceful and effortless strokes that brought sunshine to a dull day at Gloucester more than forty years ago. 5