John Thompson (cricketer, born 1918)

John Ross Thompson (10 May 1918 – 15 June 2010) was an English amateur cricketer, rackets player and school master.

John Thompson

Personal information
Full name	John Ross Thompson
Born	(1918-05-10)10 May 1918 Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, England
Died	15 June 2010(2010-06-15) (aged 92) Marlborough, Wiltshire, England
Batting	Right-handed
Bowling	Right-arm off-spin
Role	Batsman
Domestic team information
Years	Team
1938 to 1939	Cambridge University
1938 to 1954	Warwickshire
Career statistics
Competition FC Matches 68 Runs scored 3,455 Batting average 31.12 100s/50s 6/19 Top score 191 Balls bowled 12 Wickets 0 Bowling average – 5 wickets in innings 0 10 wickets in match 0 Best bowling – Catches/stumpings 32/0
Source: Cricinfo, 25 September 2021

Life and career

Thompson was born in Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, and was educated at Tonbridge School in Kent and at St John's College, Cambridge.^[1] A right-handed batsman, he was regarded as a potential Test player during his two years in the Cambridge University team in 1938 and 1939, Wisden remarking that he batted in "very correct style" with "the makings of a brilliant batsman".^[2] However, World War II intervened, and after the war he concentrated on his career as a mathematics and physics teacher at Marlborough College, appearing occasionally for Warwickshire during the school holidays.^[2] In 1949, after playing his first match in mid-August, he scored 609 runs in first-class cricket at an average of 60.90, putting him sixth in the national averages.^[2][3]

He played 36 matches of Minor Counties cricket with Wiltshire from 1955 to 1963.^[4] He toured Canada in 1951 and North America in 1959 with the Marylebone Cricket Club, tours that coincided with the English school holidays; he also managed the 1959 tour.^[5]

Thompson was also a champion rackets player, winning the British amateur singles title five times and the doubles title 11 times. He also played squash for England.^[2] At Marlborough, as well as teaching mathematics and physics, he was master in charge of rackets and cricket, and a housemaster.^[6]