Heritage: Warwickshire’s England Captains

Only four Warwickshire players have ever captained England, leading the national side for a combined total of 90 games.

The exclusive club includes two skippers who became embroiled in the ‘bodyline’ bowling controversy, a player who’d previously represented England in rugby union…and Bears great Bob Willis who was given the honour on 46 occasions.

Who might be next…?

Here’s the list of Great Bears who have captained England.

Freddie Calthorpe (1892-1935)

Calthorpe captained Warwickshire for almost a decade (1920-29) and led an England side that toured the West Indies in 1929-30.

The tour took place simultaneously with another England series in New Zealand – where Harold Gilligan skippered England – and the four Caribbean Tests were Calthorpe’s only appearances for his country.

In a speech he gave in Barbados, Calthorpe (pic below left) condemned the bowling tactic later to be known as ‘bodyline’ which had been used by West Indian fast bowler Learie Constantine.

In his first-class career Calthorpe scored 12,596 runs, with 13 centuries, and took 782 wickets, including 18 five-fers.
A scratch golfer, he died of cancer aged just 43 in November 1935, having played first-class cricket earlier that summer.

Bob Wyatt (1901-1995)

Bob Wyatt played 40 Tests for England between 1927 and 1937, captaining the side on 15 occasions, the first of which was against the dominant Aussies in 1930 for the final Test of their England tour.

But he had to wait several years before leading the side again.

Wyatt (pic above right) was replaced by Douglas Jardine for the next few years and served as his vice-captain for the 1932-33 Bodyline Tour, employing the controversial tactic in an early match that Jardine had sat out.

After Jardine resigned following the fallout caused by the bodyline controversy, Wyatt was reinstated as captain.

Wyatt’s career lasted almost 30 years from 1923-1951. He played most of his career with Warwickshire but switched to Worcestershire after the war in 1946.

He made 39,405 first-class runs with 85 centuries, including two for England, and took 901 first-class wickets during a career that covered 739 matches.

Michael John Knight (M.J.K.) Smith (1933-present)

Mike Smith (pic below right) captained England in half of his 50 Test appearances between 1963-66.

He was a double International having played one match in 1956 for England’s rugby union side!

He made three centuries for England and is remembered as being one of the country’s most popular captains.

Born in Leicestershire, for whom he played between 1951-55 before going to Oxford University, he qualified for Warwickshire and made his debut in 1956. He remained a Bear until 1975, captaining the side between 1957-67.

He made 637 first-class appearances in his career, scoring 39,832 runs and a further 3,106 List A runs from 140 games.

Bob Willis (1949-2019)

Bob played in 90 Test matches for England, captaining the side in 18 Tests and 28 ODI’s between June 1982 and March 1984.

Remembered by Ian Botham as “a tremendous trier, a great team-man and an inspiration” and “the only world-class fast bowler in my time as an England player”.

Willis battled through almost constant aches and pains but never failed to give his all when representing his country.

Willis left his first county, Surrey, at the end of the 1971 season, but was prevented from representing his new county until July when he helped Warwickshire win the 1972 Championship.

Injury caused him to miss most of the 1973 season and problems with his back and knees continued to dog him throughout most of the 1970’s resulting in most of his matches and attention being for England.

He announced his retirement with immediate effect in 1984 to end a career that had seen him play 308 first-class matches, taking 899 wickets of which 325 were for England. In List A cricket Willis took 421 wickets, 80 of them for England.