Tommy Mitchell

Biography

Thomas Bignall Mitchell (4 September 1902 – 27 January 1996) was an English first-class cricketer who played for Derbyshire between 1928 and 1939. A leg spin bowler, he was the most successful slow bowler in the history of a county better known for its pace bowling strength. His bowling was an important factor in Derbyshire's most successful period in the County Championship during the 1930s. Along with Bill Copson, Leslie Townsend and the brothers Pope, he formed an attack sufficiently strong during the dreadful summer of 1936 to, aided by some quirks in the weather, displace Yorkshire from their perennial position atop the Championship table. Mitchell was born at Creswell, Bolsover, Derbyshire and was a faceworker in the coal mines. He was first spotted by Derbyshire during the General Strike of 1926 and began playing for Derbyshire in the 1928 season but was disappointing. However, in the 1929 season he took fifty wickets in his first eight matches and was selected for "The Rest" in a Test trial against England, ultimately topping 100 despite a later decline. In the 1930 season, he did even better and was the season's third-highest wicket-taker behind only incomparable county bowlers Tich Freeman and Charlie Parker. In 1931, Mitchell achieved the amazing feat of taking twelve wickets for thirty runs against a strong Sussex eleven – featuring that brilliant player of spin bowling Duleepsinhji at his best – on a pitch too wet to take much spin. Although expensive during the remainder of the 1931 and 1932 seasons, Mitchell's ability to spin the ball on dry pitches more than any other leg-spinner in county cricket saw him taken on the Ashes tour (in preference to the likes of Freeman) when business prevented Walter Robins touring. He played in the Fourth Test as a replacement for Bill Voce who was injured, and despite dismissing Bill Woodfull in both innings he was never able to establish himself for England. Indeed, he was so expensive when called upon in 1934 that

Bio from Wikipedia