jack bannister

obituaries
iAN PHILLIPS
TOM ALLIN
ROBIN BILBIE
FREDDIE GOODWIN
Ian Philips, who played for
Northamptonshire between 1938 and
1939 and was their last surviving pre-
Second World War player, has died at
the age of 95.
He had little success during his short
county career as a middle or lower
order batsman, but did appear against
Somerset in Northamptonshire’s final
match before the outbreak of war.
He played wartime matches while
studying at Oxford University - including
an appearance for a Northamptonshire
XI against Leicestershire - and when
active service took him to India he made
his final first-class appearance for the
Europeans against the Parsees.
The former Warwickshire seamer
has died suddenly in his native
Devon aged 28. The son of former
Glamorgan slow left-armer Tony
Allin, he spent six seasons on the
staff at Edgbaston, initially while
studying at university in Cardiff.
He made his senior debut in a
one-day match against Surrey in
2011 and his first-class debut in
a Championship match against
Middlesex two years later.
Released by Warwickshire at the
end of the 2013 season, he returned
to Devon where he played for North
Devon club at Instow.
The former Nottinghamshire middleorder
batsman, who made 14 firstclass
appearances between 1960 and
1963, has died in York aged 73.
He topped and tailed his career
with a highest score of 39 against
Hampshire in his maiden innings and
one of 37 against Oxford University
in his last one, but reached 30 only
twice more in his 27 innings.
Bilbie was released by
Nottinghamshire at the end of the
1963 season having struggled to
translate some useful innings in
second team cricket into consistent
performances at first-class level.
The former Lancashire seamer,
better known as a footballer and
manager, has died at his home in
America aged 82.
Goodwin played 11 matches for
Lancashire between 1955 and 1956 in
which he took 27 wickets, including
a five-wicket haul against Middlesex
at Lord’s.
His availability was limited by his
football commitments. As a Busby
Babe he helped Manchester United
win the League in 1956 and 1957 and
appeared in the 1958 FA Cup Final.
He managed Scunthorpe, Brighton
and Birmingham.
PETER
WIGHT
The former Somerset batsman and
long-serving umpire, has died aged 85.
Wight, whose brother Leslie played one
Test for the West Indies, appeared in
one match for his native British Guiana
in the 1950-51 season.
He travelled to England by cargo
boat in 1951 to study engineering but
impressed playing for Burnley, and then
on trial with Somerset.
He made his Somerset debut against
the Australians in 1953 and followed a
first innings duck with a second innings
century that secured his first contract.
The following summer Wight passed
1,000 first-class runs for the first of
10 consecutive seasons, including his
maiden County Championship century
against Worcestershire. He passed
2,000 runs in 1960 and 1962.
By the time he was released at the
end of the 1965 season, he had scored
16,965 runs for Somerset, a figure
bettered only by Harold Gimblett. His
first-class career yielded 17,773 runs
with 28 centuries, the highest being 222
against Kent at Taunton in 1959.
After retiring he ran a cricket school in
Bath, built with money from his benefit
year. He joined the first-class umpires
list in 1966 and stood in more than 500
first-class matches - and no one since
World War Two took part in more firstclass
matches as a player or umpire.
MATT
HOBDEN
The Sussex pace bowler, who was tipped for a
very bright future in the game, has died suddenly
at the age of 22.
A former Eastbourne College student, he was
due to travel to South Africa early in the New
Year as a member of the Potential England
Performance Squad.
Hobden first made his mark for Cardiff MCCU,
for whom he took both of his five-wicket hauls
in first-class cricket - including a best of 5-62
against Warwickshire at Edgbaston in April 2012.
Hobden’s victims in only his second first-class
appearance included Ian Westwood, Darren
Maddy, Tim Ambrose and Rikki Clarke in
Warwickshire’s first innings.
He made his one-day debut for Sussex in 2013
against Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge and his
County Championship debut a year later, also
against Nottinghamshire, at Hove.
Hobden became more of a regular in Sussex’s
firs- team in 2015, playing in 10 of their County
Championship matches in which he took 23
wickets with a best of 4-48 in the victory over
Warwickshire at Hove in May.
Hobden took 48 wickets in 18 first-class
matches during his career and one in his three
one-day appearances for Sussex. He made one
Twenty20 appearance in 2014.
18 BtB issue 18 / thepca.co.uk