Worcestershire mourn former president

By Paul Bolton

Worcestershire are mourning their former seamer George Chesterton, who was president of the county from 1990 to 1993. Chesterton, who played 72 first-class matches between 1949 and 1966, has died aged 90. A product of Malvern College, he made his first-class debut for the Free Foresters against Oxford University in The Parks in 1948.

He was a regular in the Oxford side the following year and won a Blue in the 1949 Varsity Match before making his Worcestershire debut later that summer. Chesterton was capped by Worcestershire in 1950 when he took 38 first-class wickets including six wicket hauls against Lancashire and Somerset.

His county career ended after the 1957 season but Chesterton continued to play regularly for the MCC on their annual trip to Ireland and recorded his career-best bowling figures of 7 for 14 in the fixture at College Park in Dublin in 1956.

Chesterton ended his first-class career with 263 wickets at an average of 22.78 but he averaged only 8.79 with the bat in 102 innings with a highest score of 43. He remained an active member of the Worcestershire Old Players Association having served as county president for three years.

Chesterton, who taught at Malvern College and became deputy head master, wrote a book with Alan Duff on coaching young people entitled ‘Your Book of Cricket.’ He was also co-author with Hubert Doggart of ‘Oxford and Cambridge Cricketers.’

He founded the Chesterton Cup, an annual competition involving schools from the Midlands with the final at New Road.


Date: 05/11/2012 22:01:00 by Paul Bolton
In: Worcestershire | Today |