Tony Richardson obituary by Conrad Sutcliffe

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Player:

AB Richardson

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DateLine: 28th December 2020

 

A former captain of South Devon CC who regularly topped the batting averages has died aged 76. Tony Richardson joined the club in the 1950s as a schoolboy and rose through the ranks to skipper the first team between 1967-69.

 

Although Richardson was born with a deformed arm, it didn’t stop him excelling with bat or ball. He was the club’s star player in the 1964 season, topping the batting averages with more than 600 runs and finishing second in the bowling list with 54 wickets, Only Mervyn Scott (58) took more wickets that season.

 

Richardson was the leading batsman again in 1966 and continued to score heavily for the next three seasons.

 

Devon had a good look at Richardson in trial games in the late 1960s, but he missed out on selection for the full county side. Richard Wheeler, who played with him, said: “He was a very capable cricketer and a mainstay of the side through the 1960s.

 

“Tony was a very useful left-hand opening bat and bowled quickish medium pace. He took over as captain from Phil Wardlow and it proved to be a good choice.

 

“Tony was a very astute captain, certainly one of the best I played under at South Devon.”

 

The Richardson family moved to South Devon in 1953 when Tony’s father took a post with Newton Abbot Rural District Council.

 

Tony, a pupil at Teignmouth Grammar School, worked his way through the colts and the Etceteras midweek side into the first team. By 1960 he had become a regular.

 

In a 2001 interview for South Devon CC’s 150th anniversary booklet, Richardson remembered his time at the club on their former ground in Cricketfield Road with affection. “It was a super ground and a great shame when it became a council car park,” he said at the time. “In the summer it was a very popular place. There was a thriving tennis club and nets going on two or three nights a week.

 

“The area round the pavilion had rose beds round it and I will always remember the blue and white willow pattern wash bowls in the dressing room.”

 

Richardson worked in the insurance industry and left the area in 1970 for a job in Wiltshire. By then he was married to Sarah Cockcroft, who was the daughter of the Exeter CC chairman .

 

He had a long playing career at Malmesbury CC and also a spell as chairman. He toured with Incogniti CC, who were regular visitors to South Devon until the mid-1990s. South Devon inaugurated the Tony Richardson Cup in 1974 as an award for the player of the season.