George Downton

George Charles Downton (1 November 1928 – 19 April 2014) was an English cricketer who played first-class cricket in eight matches for Kent in 1948 and in two for Marylebone Cricket Club about a decade later.^[1] He was born in Bexley, Kent and died at Sevenoaks, also in Kent.

In first-class cricket, Downton was an amateur right-handed lower-order batsman and wicketkeeper; he acted as Godfrey Evans' deputy in Kent's 1948 side, playing first-team cricket when Evans was on Test duty. Although he did play for Kent's first team after 1948, he appeared in the second team for Minor Counties matches through to 1954.^[2] Prominent in club cricket for Orpington Cricket Club, he also played for the Club Cricket Conference which organised warm-up non-first-class games against overseas teams touring England and against the universities in the 1950s and 1960s; in this vein of good-class amateur cricket, he played a couple of further first-class matches for MCC in the late 1950s.

Downton was the father of Paul Downton, also a batsman and wicketkeeper, who played for England in the 1980s.

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