Alan Dixon (cricketer)

Alan Dixon
Personal information
Full name
Alan Leonard Dixon
Born (1933-11-27) 27 November 1933 (age 90)
Dartford, Kent, England
BattingRight-handed
BowlingRight-arm medium
Right-arm off break
Domestic team information
YearsTeam
1950–1970Kent
Career statistics
Competition First-class List A
Matches 381 23
Runs scored 9,589 122
Batting average 18.83 11.09
100s/50s 3/37 0/0
Top score 125* 23*
Balls bowled 55,620 1,070
Wickets 935 34
Bowling average 25.73 18.82
5 wickets in innings 46 2
10 wickets in match 10 0
Best bowling 8/61 7/15
Catches/stumpings 155/– 5/–
Source: CricInfo, 10 November 2016

Alan Leonard Dixon (born 27 November 1933) is a former English professional cricketer. He played for Kent County Cricket Club between 1950 and 1970.

Dixon made his first-class cricket debut for Kent in 1950 in a County Championship match against Essex at Clacton in August 1960. Dixon was aged 16 years and 248 days old on his debut.[1] At the time he was the second youngest player to play for the county after Wally Hardinge[1] and, as of 2016, is one of only five 16 year olds to have played for Kent.[1] He played just one match for the First XI in 1950 and once in 1954 before becoming a more regular member of the side in the 1955 season.[2] During this period he appeared regularly for the county Second XI in the Minor Counties Championship and was awarded his Second XI cap in 1951.[3] He was awarded his county cap in 1960 and played until the 1970 season, making a total of 378 first-class appearances for Kent as an all-rounder.[4][5] Dixon also appeared twice for Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and once for an AER Gilligan XI as well as making 23 List A cricket for Kent during his career.[4][5] Despite a relatively limited number of List A appearances he led the country in List A wickets taken in the 1967 season as Kent won the 1967 Gillette Cup.

Dixon had originally retired from cricket at the end of the 1957 season to become a travelling salesman before reconsidering at the start of the 1958 season and rejoining the county.[6] After retirement he coached cricket at Tonbridge School.[7] He coached, among others, Kent and England swing bowler Richard Ellison who credited Dixon with developing his talent. Ellison was selected as one of Wisden's four Cricketers of the Year in 1986.[8][9]

In 2011 Dixon was short-listed as one of the 40 candidates for the Kent Legends Walkway at the St Lawrence Ground, the county's base in Canterbury.[10] He took 100 first-class wickets in a season for Kent in each season between 1964 and 1966, his highest total being 122 in 1964[11] and as of 2016 is tenth in the list of all time wicket takers for Kent.[12]

  1. ^ a b c Reid J (ed) (2016) 'VIII Players' Records' in 2016 Kent Country Cricket Club Annual, Kent County Cricket Club, p.233.
  2. ^ "First-Class Matches played by Alan Dixon". Cricket Archive. Retrieved 10 November 2016.
  3. ^ Minor Counties Championship matches played by Alan Dixon, CricketArchive.
  4. ^ a b "Alan Dixon". Cricket Archive. Retrieved 10 November 2016.
  5. ^ a b "First-class Batting and Fielding For Each Team by Alan Dixon". Cricket Archive. Retrieved 10 November 2016.
  6. ^ Chalke, Stephen. "When the fat lady sings". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 10 November 2016.
  7. ^ "Tonbridge School". Archived from the original on 11 November 2016. Retrieved 10 November 2016.
  8. ^ "Richard Ellison". Wisden. Retrieved 10 November 2016.
  9. ^ The Wisden Collector's Guide pp.250-251.
  10. ^ "Kent Legends Walkway - choose your favourite cricket hero". Kent Live. Retrieved 10 November 2016.[permanent dead link]
  11. ^ Reid J (ed) (2016) 'Bowling records' op. cit. p.220.
  12. ^ Reid J (2016) 'Bowling records', op. cit. p.219.