PARKHOUSE, WILLIAM GILBERT ANTHONY (1925-2000), cricketer

Gilbert Parkhouse was born at Swansea, 12 October, 1925, and educated at Wycliffe College, Gloucestershire. He married Dorothy James in 1949, and they had one son and one daughter.

Parkhouse first played for Glamorgan from 1943 in the wartime friendlies, and, after completing his National Service, joined the club's staff in 1948 when he was awarded his county cap. At first he batted at number three and scored 1,204 runs in his first season at an average of 25.07 runs per innings. He scored his maiden century, 117 against Sussex at Swansea and a week later scored 103 against Yorkshire at Hull. The following season he scored 1,491 runs at an average of 33.13, which included 126 against Hampshire and 145 against Nottinghamshire.

He opened the batting with Emrys Davies in 1950 and scored 121 and 148 against Somerset in his first two innings as an opening batsman. The two openers shared a first wicket stand of 241 against Somerset at Cardiff, and 233 against Surrey at Swansea. He played in two Test matches against the West Indies in this season, and scored 48 in the second innings of the Second Test, and 69 in the second innings of the Third Test. He then scored 161 for Glamorgan against Gloucestershire at Llanelli and 162 against Worcestershire at Kidderminster. He scored a total of 1,997 runs at an average of 45.38 in this season, and played three Tests on the MCC winter tour of Australia and New Zealand in the winter of 1950-51.

In 1954 he shared a second-wicket stand of 219 with Bernard Hedges against Warwickshire at Llanelli, and in 1956 hit his highest score of 201 against Kent at Swansea. He scored a total of 2,071 runs at an average of 49.30 in 1959, and played in two Tests against India, but after scoring 78 at Headingley, his seventh Test match for England, and sharing a record opening stand of 146 he was surprisingly dropped from the team. He continued to be a prolific scorer for Glamorgan, but after suffering back injuries in 1962 and 1963, he retired in 1964. He played 435 matches for Glamorgan and scored a total of 23,508 first-class runs at an average of 31.68 runs. Over 1,000 runs were scored in 15 consecutive seasons from 1948 until 1962, and he had scored a century against every other county side. He was also a skilful slip fielder and had taken 324 catches.

He played rugby for Swansea, hockey for Swansea and Wales, and was also a keen golfer.

Following his retirement as a cricketer he coached Worcestershire for a brief period, and served for 20 years as the cricket coach at Stewarts Melville College in Edinburgh from 1966 until 1987.

Gilbert Parkhouse died on 10 August, 2000.

Author

• D. Huw Owen

Sources

• Andrew Hignell, A Who's Who of Glamorgan County Cricket Club 1888-1991 (1992)

Further Reading

• Wikipedia Article: Gilbert Parkhouse

Additional Links

• Wikidata: Q3526537

Published date: 2015-03-20

Article Copyright: http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/