Thomas Mitchell (cricketer)
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 England (ENG) |
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| Batting style | Right-hand bat | |
| Bowling type | Leg break googly | |
| 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/- |
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Test debut: 10 February 1933 |
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Thomas Bignall Mitchell (often Tom Mitchell or Tommy Mitchell; born September 4, 1902, Creswell, Derbyshire, England; died January 27, 1996, Hickleton, Doncaster, Yorkshire, England) was a leg spin bowler for Derbyshire and easily 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's long history 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 first spotted by Derbyshire during the 1926 General Strike when he was a faceworker in the coal mines. he began playing for the county in 1928 but was disappointing, yet in the following year he took 100 wickets and was deadly whenever the pitches took sufficient spin. In 1930, he did even better, and though expensive in 1931 and 1932, 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.
However, for Derbyshire Mitchell went from strength to strength in the dry summers of 1933 and 1934, at times bowling with sensational skill, as when he dismissed Worcestershire for 48 on a good pitch in 1934. He was close to the top of the averages in those two seasons, but from 1935 appeared to sacrifice length to gain more spin and often suffered heavy punishment. Still, he could be deadly on his best days, as when he took all ten wickets in an innings against Leicestershire for 64 runs at Leicester in 1935 or when he took 7 for 26 against Gloucestershire on a blameless pitch at Derby a year later. Mitchell set a record for Derbyshire with 168 wickets in 1935 but Derbyshire's Championship win of 1936 was considerably less successful and at times very expensive even when conditions favoured bowlers (e.g. against Kent at Burton-on-Trent and Warwickshire at Edgbaston). Still, on Mitchell's good days Derbyshire's bowling that season could compare with almost any county side in history, and the following two seasons still saw him as one of the best spin bowlers in England.
In 1939, however, Mitchell did not do much work because Derbyshire's pace attack was so consistently effective and he failed to take 100 wickets for the first time in 11 seasons. Moreover, when he refused to rejoin the team after World War II, the Derbyshire committee declined to give Mitchell the benefit he was due to receive in 1940. He did, though, continue to baffle batsmen for Hickleton Main well into his fifties.
At his best a master of flight and variety, Mitchell was capable of many more balls that the typical leg break and googly bowler. Often he would vary his leg-breaks with off-breaks made by turning the wrist in the opposite direction to that of a conventional leg-break or googly, and his top-spinner also brought him many wickets. However, Mitchell, unlike such bowlers as Tich Freeman, was erratic and, especially in his later years, he could have days where he was heaven for batsmen wishing for quick runs. He was never much of a batsman, but was a capable field at cover-point.
When he died, Mitchell was the oldest surviving English Test cricketer and was surrounded by great-grandchildren, seemingly contented in a way not seen in his days as a player.
