Don Topley

Don Topley
Personal information
Full name Thomas Donald Topley
Born (1964-02-25) 25 February 1964
Canterbury, Kent, England
Nickname Toppers
Batting style Right-hand bat
Bowling style Right-arm medium-fast
Role Bowler
Domestic team information
YearsTeam
1984-1985 Norfolk
1985 Surrey
1985-1994 Essex
First-class cricket debut 8 June 1985 Surrey v Cambridge University
Last First-class cricket 15 March 1994 Essex v Cambridge University
List-A debut 4 July 1984 Norfolk v Hampshire
Last List-A 17 July 1994 Essex v Glamorgan
Career statistics
Competition FC List-A
Matches 120 158
Runs scored 1693 452
Batting average 15.53 9.04
100s/50s 0/4 0/0
Top score 66 38*
Balls bowled 19422 7428
Wickets 367 197
Bowling average 27.64 26.39
5 wickets in innings 15 2
10 wickets in match 2 0
Best bowling 7/75 6/33
Catches/stumpings 70/0 32/0
Source: CricInfo, 28 August 2011

Thomas Donald Topley (born 25 February 1964) known as Don Topley or Toppers is a former English cricketer.

Employed with the ground staff at Lord's Cricket Ground in London in 1984, he was recruited as a substitute fielder for one Test match involving England, before a brief appearance for Norfolk and Surrey led to a 10-year career with Essex, while supplementing his income during the off-season period as a postman.[1]

As a right-arm medium-fast bowler, Topley took 464 wickets at the top level of county cricket before being released from his contract in 1994, whereupon he made accusations that two 1991 county matches were fixed.[2] Together with Guy Lovell, Topley took part in an interview with the Sunday Mirror stating that during matches against Lancashire, Essex were approached by the opposing team and accepted their offer of throwing one match in the Sunday League in return for Lancashire throwing the two sides' next encounter in the County Championship. The Test and County Cricket Board reported that they had found no substance to the revelations, and Topley was severely ostracised by his former team-mates after the interview.[3]

Topley was also a coach in Zimbabwe from 1990 to 1992, and, being an alumnus of the Royal Hospital School in Suffolk, returned there after his career to coach cricket. His brother, Peter Topley, had a brief career for Kent and his son, Reece Topley, is a left-arm fast-bowler for Hampshire and the England one-day team.[2]

Notes

  1. Williamson, Martin. "You're not going to believe this, but...". CricInfo. ESPN. Retrieved 23 August 2011.
  2. 1 2 "Player Profile: Don Topley". CricInfo. ESPN. Retrieved 23 August 2011.
  3. Williamson, Martin (17 February 2007). "If it ain't fixed ...". CricInfo. ESPN. Retrieved 23 August 2011.

External links

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