Lives in Cricket No 3 - George Duckworth

Westhoughton roots, he had refused several offers to disport his talents with other counties. He was also a prolific run scorer in second eleven cricket, and he had a first-class average of 23.64, with a top score of 174 against Oxford University for the Minor Counties in 1934. A proficiently neat and patiently undemonstrative wicket-keeper, he stumped 77 and caught 255, in total, 332, in his 153 first-class games. He died, aged 77, in 1979 and was, of course, buried in Westhoughton. It was a typically good-natured decision by his Warrington opposite number, who was not to know that Bill Farrimond, who prospered as a batsman in these years, would only enjoy two more summers of county cricket, before the outbreak of war. As for George Duckworth, he played a little for Cheshire in Minor Counties cricket, Lancashire having willingly granted him permit so to do. This was in 1939, when he played eight games. He kept up his standards, with ten catches and three stumpings, giving him thirteen more victims. One of his two grandsons, Hugh de Prez, sustained that aspect of the family tradition. Another family member to offer kindly and prompt assistance in the making of this monograph, he played eighteen matches for Cheshire between 1970 and 1989, taking 36 wickets an average of 24. During the 1939-45 War, George Duckworth was one of many famous players who augmented the Bradford League, a competition that contrived to maintain itself in stable order during the hostilities. He played chiefly for Ecclesfield, among the likes of Eddie Paynter, Learie Constantine, George Pope, Wilf Barber and Winston Place. Collections were usually donated to the Red Cross, while it was not unusual for teams to include two or three first-class cricketers for the entertainment of a war-weary populace. George Duckworth’s main wartime contribution, however, was in the organisation of Lady Kemsley’s Daily Dispatch War Fund XI. There were several such outfits up and down the country, playing on Sunday afternoons and bringing some relief to war-torn areas, as well as raising money for war charities. His heavy involvement in the arranging and running of this exhibition team was marked by a much valued family heirloom, a silver salver bearing the inscription, ‘To George Duckworth Esq. In appreciation of his efforts to raise £2,000 towards the Daily Dispatch Forces Comfort Fund in the seasons 1940-41.’ The Cricket 42