David Larter

David Larter (born John David Frederick Larter, 24 April 1940, Inverness, Scotland)^[1] is a former Scottish cricketer, who played in ten Tests for England from 1962 to 1965.

The cricket writer, Colin Bateman, noted, "David Larter was a complex character. There were days at Northampton when he just would not fancy bowling. But when the mood took him and his 6ft 7in physique was in perfect working order, he was a frighteningly good fast bowler, as a career record record of 666 wickets at 19 apiece suggests".^[1]

Life and career

A six foot seven inch right arm fast bowler with a long run up, Larter made his debut for Northamptonshire in 1960, and took 121 wickets at just 16 in 1961. He claimed nine wickets on his Test debut a year later,^[2] and had bagged sixteen in his first two Tests,^[1] and a long Test career appeared to beckon. He was a regular tourist for England, but his Test appearances were limited by a succession of niggling injuries and, in all, he took just 37 wickets at 25.43.^[1] His career was badly affected by an ankle injury picked up in Sydney on the 1965/6 tour of Australia and he retired after playing a few games for his county in 1966 and 1969.

He took 666 first class wickets at 19.53 apiece. His best figures, 8 for 28, came in the second innings against Somerset at Northampton in 1965 after he had taken 4 for 28 in the first innings. In the next match, against Yorkshire at Leeds, he took 5 for 43 and 7 for 37, giving him 24 for 136 in one week.^[3] Although his batting was notoriously poor, he hit an unlikely unbeaten half century against Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge in 1962, coming in at his usual number 11 and putting on a valuable last-wicket stand of 85 in an hour with Keith Andrew.^[4]

After retiring from cricket at the age of 29, he ran the family transport business before moving into company training.^[1]

References

External links

• David Larter, Cricinfo
• David Larter, Cricket Archive