David Peter Tower Deshon (19 June 1923 – 18 January 1992) was a successful school cricketer whose later progress in first-class cricket was limited by his career as a full-time officer in the Royal Artillery. He was born at Marylebone, London and died suddenly of a heart attack at Heathrow Airport.[1]
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | David Peter Tower Deshon | ||||||||||||||
| Born | 19 June 1923 Marylebone, London | ||||||||||||||
| Died | 18 January 1992 (aged 68) Heathrow Airport, London | ||||||||||||||
| Batting | Right-handed | ||||||||||||||
| Role | Batsman | ||||||||||||||
| Domestic team information | |||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | ||||||||||||||
| 1947–1953 | Somerset | ||||||||||||||
| FC debut | 9 July 1947 Somerset v Nottinghamshire | ||||||||||||||
| Last FC | 6 June 1953 Somerset v Lancashire | ||||||||||||||
| Career statistics | |||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||
Source: CricketArchive, 23 May 2010 | |||||||||||||||
Cricket career
editDeshon was a successful schoolboy cricketer at Sherborne School and was selected for the annual Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) schools cricket festival in 1941, where he scored a century and outshone Trevor Bailey in a big partnership.[1] He was a middle-order right-handed batsman.
As an officer in the regular army, his first-class cricket was very restricted. He made four appearances for Somerset, three of them in 1947 and a final one in 1953. His final match was Bertie Buse's infamous benefit match at Bath against Lancashire in 1953, when the entire match was completed in a single day; Deshon's contributions to the debacle were innings of 0 and 9.[2] In all, he scored 82 first-class runs at an average of 11.71, with a highest score of 21. He appeared in non-first-class inter-services cricket, as well as playing for the Royal Artillery.[3]
Military career
editOn leaving school, Deshon was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Royal Artillery on 24 October 1942.[4] After the Second World War ended, he remained within the Army and was promoted to Lieutenant (1946), Captain (1950) and Major (1957).[5][6][7] He retired from the Royal Artillery with the rank of major in 1958.[8]
References
edit- ^ a b "Obituaries". Wisden Cricketers' Almanack (1993 ed.). Wisden. p. 1272.
- ^ "Scorecard: Somerset v Lancashire". www.cricketarchive.com. 6 June 1953. Retrieved 23 May 2010.
- ^ "David Deshon". www.cricketarchive.com. Retrieved 23 May 2010.
- ^ "Supplement to the London Gazette". London Gazette. 24 November 1942. Retrieved 23 May 2010.
- ^ "Supplement to the London Gazette". London Gazette. 1 October 1946. Retrieved 23 May 2010.
- ^ "Supplement to the London Gazette". London Gazette. 20 June 1950. Retrieved 23 May 2010.
- ^ "Supplement to the London Gazette". London Gazette. 14 June 1957. Retrieved 23 May 2010.
- ^ "Supplement to the London Gazette". London Gazette. 14 October 1958. Retrieved 23 May 2010.