Paul Pridgeon
Encyclopedia
Alan Paul Pridgeon is a former English cricket
er who played first-class
and List A cricket for Worcestershire
, taking 530 first-class and 273 List A wickets for the county between the early 1970s and the late 1980s. He was capped by the county in 1980. He played football
in the winters as a centre-half for Stourbridge F.C.
After playing club cricket
first for Himley
, then in the Birmingham League
for Stourbridge
, he was offered a trial by Worcestershire.
He made his first-class debut against Cambridge University
at Fenner's
in May 1972, though he had an unsuccessful match, taking no wickets and not batting in either innings.
He had to wait until the middle of July to play again, bowling
Barry Dudleston
of Leicestershire
to claim the first wicket of his career.
Pridgeon was given only occasional opportunities for the next three seasons, but in 1976 things turned his way: Brian Brain
and Keith Wilkinson
left the club, while Jim Cumbes
spent the summer in the United States
playing football
.
Pridgeon was rarely out of the first team during that famously hot
summer. Indeed, his 1,200 deliveries in List A cricket were the most he sent down in any one season.
In late May he claimed what was to remain his career-best bowling return in taking 7/35 against Oxford University
, three further successes in the second innings bringing him his only ten-wicket match haul.
He dropped out of the side after the first half of 1977, but returned to play a full part in the 1978 season. In late July of that year, he achieved his best bowling performance in a one-day
match, taking 6/26 against Surrey
in the John Player League.
At the time, this was the second-best return for Worcestershire in a List A game (behind Jack Flavell
's 6/14 against Lancashire
in 1963).
However, in 1979 he was once again mainly a Second XI player.
From 1980, when he was capped, until 1984 Pridgeon commanded a regular place in the Worcestershire side. In 1983 he took 72 first-class wickets, the most he would manage in a single summer; he also topped 50 in 1978, 1980, 1981, 1984 and 1986. In 1984 he made his one half-century, hitting 67 against Warwickshire
.
However in 1985 his fortunes took a dramatic turn for the worse. Neal Radford
had arrived from Lancashire, and he and Phil Newport
were ahead of Pridgeon in the pecking order; he ended up playing just one first-class match (and that against Cambridge University) and no List A games at all.
Pridgeon bounced back in 1986 to play a full part in the season, but although he took a County Championship
best of 7/44 against Leicestershire
in 1987,
his appearances gradually diminished as his career began to wind down. He did, however, take part in the county's Championship-winning seasons of 1988 and 1989, and in 1988 he took 30 List A wickets, his most of any year. In 1989, his final season of first-class cricket, he was awarded a benefit season
in the latter year, which raised £154,720.
On leaving Worcestershire, Pridgeon took up a coaching role at Shrewsbury School
.
However, he continued to play cricket, turning out for Shropshire
in 1991 and 1992. In June 1991 he made his sole List A appearance for them, playing (though taking no wickets) against Leicestershire in the NatWest Trophy.
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
er who played first-class
First-class cricket
First-class cricket is a class of cricket that consists of matches of three or more days' scheduled duration, that are between two sides of eleven players and are officially adjudged first-class by virtue of the standard of the competing teams...
and List A cricket for Worcestershire
Worcestershire County Cricket Club
Worcestershire County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Worcestershire...
, taking 530 first-class and 273 List A wickets for the county between the early 1970s and the late 1980s. He was capped by the county in 1980. He played football
Football (soccer)
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...
in the winters as a centre-half for Stourbridge F.C.
Stourbridge F.C.
Stourbridge Football Club is an English association football club based in the town of Stourbridge, West Midlands. The club currently plays in the Southern League Premier Division.-Early years:The club was founded in 1876 and was originally known as Stourbridge Standard...
After playing club cricket
Club cricket
Club cricket is a mainly amateur, but still formal, form of the sport of cricket, usually involving teams playing in competitions at weekends or in the evening. There is a great deal of variation in game format although the Laws of Cricket are always observed...
first for Himley
Himley Cricket Club
Himley Cricket Club is an amateur cricket club in Himley, South Staffordshire, which is near Dudley. Founded in 1883 their 1st XI is currently in the Birmingham and District Premier League Premier division, and their 2nd XI in the first division...
, then in the Birmingham League
Birmingham and District Premier League
The Birmingham and District Cricket League is the oldest club cricket league in the world, formed in 1888. Arguably the strongest club competition in the country, it was also the first ECB Premier League, being designated such in 1998.- Geography :...
for Stourbridge
Stourbridge Cricket Club
Stourbridge Cricket Club is an English cricket club based in Stourbridge, West Midlands. The club play at the War Memorial Athletic Ground in Stourbridge, and compete in the Crusader Worcestershire County Cricket League....
, he was offered a trial by Worcestershire.
He made his first-class debut against Cambridge University
Cambridge University Cricket Club
Cambridge University Cricket Club is a first-class cricket team. It now plays all but one of its first-class cricket matches as part of the Cambridge University Centre of Cricketing Excellence , which includes Anglia Ruskin University...
at Fenner's
Fenner's
Fenner's is the University of Cambridge's cricket ground.-History:Fenner's has hosted first-class cricket since 1848, and many of the world's great players have graced the wicket. The ground was established on land leased for the purpose by Francis Fenner, after whom the ground is named.Playing for...
in May 1972, though he had an unsuccessful match, taking no wickets and not batting in either innings.
He had to wait until the middle of July to play again, bowling
Bowled
Bowled is a method of dismissing a batsman in the sport of cricket. This method of dismissal is covered by Law 30 of the Laws of cricket.A batsman is out bowled if his wicket is put down by a ball delivered by the bowler...
Barry Dudleston
Barry Dudleston
Barry Dudleston is a former first-class cricketer and umpire. He was a right-handed batsman and occasional wicketkeeper who played cricket for Rhodesia, Gloucestershire and Leicestershire. By the end of his career of 295 first-class games he had made 14,747 runs at 32.48, with 32 hundreds and 241...
of Leicestershire
Leicestershire County Cricket Club
Leicestershire County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh national cricket structure, representing the historic county of Leicestershire. It has also been representative of the county of Rutland....
to claim the first wicket of his career.
Pridgeon was given only occasional opportunities for the next three seasons, but in 1976 things turned his way: Brian Brain
Brian Brain
Brian Maurice Brain is a former English cricketer whose career with Worcestershire and Gloucestershire stretched over more than two decades...
and Keith Wilkinson
Keith Wilkinson (cricketer)
Keith William Wilkinson is a former English cricketer who played for Worcestershire between 1969 and 1975.After several years in the county's Second XI, Wilkinson made his first-class debut for Worcestershire against Somerset at Weston-super-Mare in early August 1969, scoring 1 in his only innings...
left the club, while Jim Cumbes
Jim Cumbes
James Cumbes , sometimes known as Jim or Jimmy, is a former English sportsman. He played first-class cricket for four counties as a right-arm fast-medium bowler and lower-order right-handed batsman, and later served as Chief Executive of Lancashire; while he also had a substantial career as a...
spent the summer in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
playing football
Football (soccer)
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...
.
Pridgeon was rarely out of the first team during that famously hot
1976 United Kingdom heat wave
The summer of 1976 was the hottest summer in the UK since records began. As well as the heat, Britain was in the middle of a severe drought.-Heatwave and drought effects:The temperature reached 80°F every day between 22 June and 16 July...
summer. Indeed, his 1,200 deliveries in List A cricket were the most he sent down in any one season.
In late May he claimed what was to remain his career-best bowling return in taking 7/35 against Oxford University
Oxford University Cricket Club
Oxford University Cricket Club is a first-class cricket team, representing the University of Oxford. It plays its home games at the University Parks in Oxford, England...
, three further successes in the second innings bringing him his only ten-wicket match haul.
He dropped out of the side after the first half of 1977, but returned to play a full part in the 1978 season. In late July of that year, he achieved his best bowling performance in a one-day
One-day cricket
Limited overs cricket, also known as one-day cricket and in a slightly different context as List A cricket, is a version of the sport of cricket in which a match is generally completed in one day, whereas Test and first-class matches can take up to five days to complete...
match, taking 6/26 against Surrey
Surrey County Cricket Club
Surrey County Cricket Club is one of the 18 professional county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Surrey. Its limited overs team is called the Surrey Lions...
in the John Player League.
At the time, this was the second-best return for Worcestershire in a List A game (behind Jack Flavell
Jack Flavell
Jack Flavell was an English cricketer who played in four Tests for England from 1961 to 1964. His county cricket career was spent with Worcestershire, with whom Flavell won two County Championship titles...
's 6/14 against Lancashire
Lancashire County Cricket Club
Lancashire County Cricket Club represents the historic county of Lancashire in cricket's County Championship. The club was founded in 1864 as a successor to Manchester Cricket Club and has played at Old Trafford since then...
in 1963).
However, in 1979 he was once again mainly a Second XI player.
From 1980, when he was capped, until 1984 Pridgeon commanded a regular place in the Worcestershire side. In 1983 he took 72 first-class wickets, the most he would manage in a single summer; he also topped 50 in 1978, 1980, 1981, 1984 and 1986. In 1984 he made his one half-century, hitting 67 against Warwickshire
Warwickshire County Cricket Club
Warwickshire County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Warwickshire. Its limited overs team is called the Warwickshire Bears. Their kit colours are black and gold and the shirt sponsor...
.
However in 1985 his fortunes took a dramatic turn for the worse. Neal Radford
Neal Radford
Neal Victor Radford Neal Victor Radford Neal Victor Radford (born 7 June 1957, Luanshya, Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia) is an English former cricketer, who appeared in three Tests and six ODIs for England.He also played for Transvaal B, Lancashire, Worcestershire, and Herefordshire....
had arrived from Lancashire, and he and Phil Newport
Phil Newport
Philip John Newport is a former English cricketer, who played primarily as a seam and swing bowler. Newport was a stalwart of Worcestershire County Cricket Club for most of the 1980s and 1990s, and played a key part in the county's triumphs in the late 1980s...
were ahead of Pridgeon in the pecking order; he ended up playing just one first-class match (and that against Cambridge University) and no List A games at all.
Pridgeon bounced back in 1986 to play a full part in the season, but although he took a County Championship
County Championship
The County Championship is the domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales...
best of 7/44 against Leicestershire
Leicestershire County Cricket Club
Leicestershire County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh national cricket structure, representing the historic county of Leicestershire. It has also been representative of the county of Rutland....
in 1987,
his appearances gradually diminished as his career began to wind down. He did, however, take part in the county's Championship-winning seasons of 1988 and 1989, and in 1988 he took 30 List A wickets, his most of any year. In 1989, his final season of first-class cricket, he was awarded a benefit season
Benefit season
A benefit season is a method of financially rewarding professional cricketers that is used by English county cricket teams to compensate long serving players....
in the latter year, which raised £154,720.
On leaving Worcestershire, Pridgeon took up a coaching role at Shrewsbury School
Shrewsbury School
Shrewsbury School is a co-educational independent school for pupils aged 13 to 18, founded by Royal Charter in 1552. The present campus to which the school moved in 1882 is located on the banks of the River Severn in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England...
.
However, he continued to play cricket, turning out for Shropshire
Shropshire County Cricket Club
Shropshire County Cricket Club is one of the county clubs which make up the Minor Counties in the English domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Shropshire and playing in the Minor Counties Championship and the MCCA Knockout Trophy...
in 1991 and 1992. In June 1991 he made his sole List A appearance for them, playing (though taking no wickets) against Leicestershire in the NatWest Trophy.