Wilcox Denys Image 1 Essex 1933

Description

Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex born amateur right-handed batsman Denys Wilcox scored more than 1,000 runs in his last season at Dulwich College, then went up to Cambridge University. He played three years for the University team, scoring a century in the University Match in 1932 and captaining them in 1933.

He played for Essex between 1928 and 1947, and made a few appearances for Free Foresters in first class matches after his Essex career ended, playing his final game in 1951. In 1946 he and Reginald Taylor set a record 8th-wicket partnership for Essex of 263 runs. He was joint captain of Essex from 1933 to 1939 and captained The Rest against an England team in a trial match for Test selection in 1938.

He played as an amateur, spending most of his time on his duties as headmaster of Alleyn Court Prep School in Westcliff-on-Sea, which his father had founded in 1904. He was a considerable influence on the early career of Trevor Bailey, a pupil at Alleyn Court who also played for Dulwich School, Cambridge and Essex. Wilcox died of leukemia in February 1953 at the age of 42, less than two years after his final appearance in first class cricket.

In 179 matches, Wilcox scored 8,399 runs at an average of 29.47 with 15 centuries and 42 half centuries, with a highest score of 157. An occasional right-arm offbreak bowler, he also took 3 wickets in first class play at an average of just over 45 apiece and held 130 catches.

Wilcox’s son John also played first class cricket for Cambridge University and Essex in the 1960’s.

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