Donald Carr: From schoolboy prodigy to England captain – Almanack

Schoolboy prodigies, in any walk of life, only occasionally live up to their promise in later years. This is particularly true of cricket, but one who has is Donald Bryce Carr, the Derbyshire captain, for whom 1959 was a memorable year. Scoring 2,292 runs, he set up a new record for any Derbyshire batsman, beating the 2,268 by LF Townsend in 1933. He also became the first player to exceed 2,000 runs in a season for the county alone.

The first the public heard of Carr, apart from those specially interested in School cricket, was in 1945 when he and two other youngsters, the Hon. LR White and JG Dewes, were chosen for England in a Victory Test match against Australia at Lord’s. From that moment the career of Carr was followed with keen interest and his progress, via Oxford University, Derbyshire and England, has been steady, although not spectacular.

Today he is acknowledged as one of the best captains in England, a delightful batsman to watch, a brilliant close fieldsman, an interesting unorthodox slow left-arm bowler and, above all, a man who obviously enjoys the game and who is determined to play it in the best possible spirit.

Carr was born into a sporting atmosphere. His father, JL Carr, a regular officer in the Royal Berkshire Regiment, played cricket for the Army and Berkshire, soccer for Oxford and hockey for the Army. His two older brothers, Douglas and David, were also extremely keen.

While his father was in Germany with the Army of Occupation after the 1914-18 war, Donald Carr was born at Wiesbaden on December 26, 1926. He stayed in Germany only a few weeks, but after a short return to England the family left for India. The Carrs, minus their father, who remained in India, came back to England in 1931 and lived in the Hampshire New Forest. By this time Donald Carr, helped considerably by his brothers, was showing skill and tremendous interest in cricket.

The brothers watched Hampshire as often as possible and Donald remembers an amusing incident at one of their matches at Bournemouth. Kenneth Farnes, the Essex and England fast bowler, who was killed during the war, was one of the personalities of his day and the young Carrs were keen to obtain his autograph.

So were scores of other boys, and Donald, being very small and younger than most, found himself pushed more and more to the back of a long queue. After signing many books, Farnes noticed what was happening and invited a very agitated Donald Carr into the pavilion. There, after obtaining for him all the autographs of the players, Farnes took him to the bar for an orange squash. Then he made a hurried collection and Carr also received a box of chocolates and 10½d., much to the envy of his brothers.

At the age of eight Donald Carr went to the Forres Boarding School in Swanage where he received his first serious coaching from the Rev. RM Chadwick, a former Dorset player, who taught him a great deal.

An interesting memory is of being at the other end when Ridgway of Kent took four wickets in four balls at Folkestone in 1951. Carr made 103 not out in the first innings and was 94 not out when Willatt declared in the second innings. The sequel came last year when, for the first time, Carr made a hundred in each innings – and it was against Kent at Canterbury.

A splendid amateur soccer forward, Carr gained his Blue at Oxford and appeared for Pegasus in two Amateur Cup finals at Wembley. He is also a good squash player and a useful golfer.

His one regret is that he never saw Bradman play. He had an opportunity in 1934 when he went to Southampton to watch the Australians against Hampshire. Unfortunately he arrived at the ground a quarter of an hour late and to his dismay Australia were then 10 for three with Bradman out for one of his rare ducks.

On January 1, 1960, Carr became secretary of Derbyshire, succeeding WT Taylor, who had occupied that position for over fifty years.