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{{Short description|English cricketer}}
{{Use British English|date=February 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2022}}
{{Infobox cricketer
| name = Dickie Dodds
| image = File:Dickie Dodds 1950s.jpg
| country = England
| fullname = Thomas Carter Dodds
| heightft =
| heightinch =
| nickname = Dickie
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1919|5|29|df=yes}}
| birth_place = [[Bedford]], Bedfordshire, England
| death_date = {{Death date and age|2001|9|17|1919|5|29|df=yes}}
| death_place = [[Cambridge]], Cambridgeshire, England
| batting = Right-handed
| bowling = Leg-break, right-arm medium
| role = Opening batsman
| family =
| club1 = [[Essex County Cricket Club|Essex]]
| year1 = 1946–1959
| type1 = [[First-class cricket]]
| debutdate1 = 11 February
| debutyear1 = 1944
| debutfor1 = Services XI
| debutagainst1 = Indian XI
| lastdate1 = 16 June
| lastyear1 = 1961
| lastfor1 = [[Marylebone Cricket Club]] (MCC)
| lastagainst1 = [[Scottish national cricket team|Scotland]]
| columns = 1
| column1 = [[First-class cricket|FC]]
| matches1 = 396
| runs1 = 19407
| bat avg1 = 28.75
| 100s/50s1 = 17/114
| top score1 = 157
| deliveries1 = 1800
| wickets1 = 36
| bowl avg1 = 31.27
| fivefor1 = 0
| tenfor1 = 0
| best bowling1 = 4/34
| catches/stumpings1 = 186/–
| date = 21 January
| year = 2013
| source = https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/4/4830/4830.html CricketArchive
}}
'''Thomas Carter Dodds''', known in his cricket career as '''Dickie Dodds''' and outside it as '''Carter Dodds''', (29 May 1919 – 17 September 2001) was an English [[first-class cricket|first-class]] [[cricket]]er who played for [[Essex County Cricket Club|Essex]] between 1946 and 1959 as a hard-hitting opening batsman.<ref name = "CA Prof">{{cite web | url = https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/4/4830/4830.html | title = Player profile: Dickie Dodds | publisher = CricketArchive| accessdate = 21 January 2013}}</ref> He was born in [[Bedford]], Bedfordshire and died in [[Cambridge]].

The son of a clergyman, Dodds was a strong supporter of the [[Moral Re-Armament]] movement and cricket was, in his view, "a reflection of the Great Creator" and should therefore be played in a suitably dashing and creative style.<ref name = "Tele">{{cite web | url = https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1341046/T-C-Dickie-Dodds.html | title = Obituary: T. C. 'Dickie' Dodds |date = 20 September 2001 | work = The Daily Telegraph|location=London | accessdate = 21 January 2013}}</ref><ref name="Gibson">{{cite news| title = A sporting chance for the power of prayer | author = Alan Gibson | author-link = Alan Gibson | newspaper = The Times |issue = 59853 | page = 10 | location = London | date = 5 November 1976}} Also available free of charge through UK public library subscription at [http://infotrac.galegroup.com/itw/infomark/164/2/206931066w16/purl=rc1_TTDA_0_CS168787813&dyn=7!xrn_48_0_CS168787813&hst_1 this], but otherwise behind paywall at [http://www.thetimes.co.uk Times website].</ref>

==Early life and career==
Dodds was one of four brothers, the sons of a Church of England vicar who was successively in charge of parishes in Bedfordshire, [[Northamptonshire]] and [[Warwickshire]].<ref name = "Tele"/> He was educated at [[Wellingborough School]] and at [[Warwick School]], and then joined [[Barclays Bank]], moving to London. He played second eleven cricket for both [[Warwickshire County Cricket Club|Warwickshire]] and [[Middlesex County Cricket Club|Middlesex]], but he did not play any first-class games, nor in any official [[Minor Counties]] fixtures and at this stage he played as a lower-order batsman and leg-spin bowler.<ref name = "Tele"/>

Dodds joined the [[Royal Signals Regiment]] at the outbreak of [[World War II]] and was later commissioned, serving in India and Burma and finishing the war as a [[captain]]. His first experience of first-class cricket came during his war service: he played for a Services XI captained by [[Douglas Jardine]] against a strong Indian XI at [[Brabourne Stadium|Bombay]] in February 1944, the only debutant in a strong team of Test and county players.<ref name = "Tele"/><ref>{{cite web | url = https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/17/17412.html| title = Scorecard: Indian XI v Services XI | date = 11 February 1944 | publisher = CricketArchive| accessdate = 22 January 2013}}</ref>

==Cricket and Christianity==
Having been introduced earlier to the Essex county cricket captain [[Tom Pearce (cricketer)|Tom Pearce]], Dodds was [[Demobilization|demobbed]] from the army in 1946 and joined Essex. At about this time, according to his later account in his autobiography, he joined Moral Re-Armament and embraced a form of active Christianity in which he lived his life according to "advice" which he received in conversations with God: "You have a quiet time, in which you put the problem to him, and you note what thoughts he puts into your mind in reply. You are not asking for anything, except advice."<ref name="Gibson"/>

Dodds reported that he asked God how he should play cricket, and received the reply: "Hit the ball hard and enjoy it."<ref name="Gibson"/> He took some while to follow this advice, but when he did, the Essex cricketer and coach [[Frank Rist]] noted such a transformation in his batting that he dubbed Dodds "the miracle man".<ref>{{cite journal |url=http://www.thefreelibrary.com/How+Dodds+brightened+up+his+game%3A+fifties+cricket+star+TC+%60Dickie%27...-a030126157 |title=How Dodds brightened up his game: fifties cricket star TC 'Dickie' Dodds tells Paul Williams why he started hitting the ball harder |work=For A Change |date=1 February 2000 |last=Williams |first=Paul |accessdate=2 February 2013}}</ref> Dodds himself dated his transformation to a match against [[Middlesex County Cricket Club|Middlesex]]: "I felt closer to God than ever before in my life," he wrote. "I tried to fashion the loveliest strokes I could manage for the God who would enjoy them. In return I had a tremendous sense of His pleasure."<ref name = "Tele"/>

Later, according to his own account, Dodds followed the same precept of asking for God's advice on other matters. He was "advised" not to insure against rain in his benefit match, which proved a wise decision. In a match at [[Valentines Park|Ilford]], he conceived that if he were to take a catch off a particular ball bowled by leg-spinner [[Bill Greensmith]], he should marry a woman named Ann who was keener on him than he was on her – Greensmith bowled a long hop, the batsman took a swipe, Dodds held the catch, and married Ann.<ref name="Gibson"/>

When not playing cricket, Dodds worked for Moral Re-Armament in the [[East End of London]], and then further afield. Playing cricket as an [[Amateur status in first-class cricket|amateur]] in 1946, he turned professional – unusual for a former public schoolboy – from 1947 and he gave the money from his benefit match to Moral Re-Armament projects in India. He worked on projects worldwide for the group after he retired from cricket.<ref name = "Tele"/>

==First-class cricket career==
Dodds went straight into the Essex first team when he joined the county and made an impact as an opening batsman in his first match, against [[Sussex County Cricket Club|Sussex]] at Ilford, when his second innings of 63 was by some distance the highest score in a final innings which saw Essex lose nine wickets but hang on for a draw.<ref name = "Tele"/><ref>{{cite web | url = https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/17/17620.html| title = Scorecard: Essex v Sussex | date = 22 May 1946 | publisher = CricketArchive| accessdate = 22 January 2013}}</ref> A little over a month later, Dodds and [[Sonny Avery]] set an Essex first-wicket partnership record with a stand of 270 in the match against [[Surrey County Cricket Club|Surrey]] at [[The Oval]]; at this stage, Dodds was not yet following his "instruction" to hit the ball hard, and Avery comfortably outscored him, making 140 out of 235 on the first day – Dodds was 83 not out at close of play.<ref>{{cite news| title = Cricket | newspaper = The Times |issue = 50491 | page = 2 | location = London | date = 1 July 1946 }}</ref> He went on the following morning to his first first-class century, finishing with 103.<ref>{{cite web | url = https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/17/17720.html| title = Scorecard: Surrey v Essex | date = 29 June 1946 | publisher = CricketArchive| accessdate = 22 January 2013}}</ref> Later in the season he improved on that with a second century, a score of 111, in the match against [[Hampshire County Cricket Club|Hampshire]] at [[Chalkwell Park|Westcliff]], and he finished the season with 1050 runs at an average of 25.60.<ref>{{cite web | url = https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/17/17769.html| title = Scorecard: Essex v Hampshire | date = 20 July 1946 | publisher = CricketArchive| accessdate = 23 January 2013}}</ref><ref name="bbs">{{cite web | url = https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/4/4830/f_Batting_by_Season.html | title = First-class Batting and Fielding in Each Season by Dickie Dodds | accessdate = 2 February 2013}}</ref>

The 1947 and 1948 seasons were Dodds' most prolific in first-class cricket and contained his highest aggregates of runs, highest batting averages and his two highest scores.<ref name="season">{{cite web | url = https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/4/4830/f_Batting_by_Season.html| title = First-class Batting and Fielding in each Season by Dickie Dodds| publisher = CricketArchive| accessdate = 23 January 2013}}</ref> In May 1947 he was picked for the [[Marylebone Cricket Club]] (MCC) team to play the [[South African cricket team in England in 1947|touring South African team]] and scored 80 and 25, sharing in a first-innings first-wicket partnership of 121 with [[Dennis Brookes]] which accounted for more than half of the MCC total.<ref>{{cite web | url = https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/18/18016.html| title = Scorecard: MCC v South Africans | date = 17 May 1947 | publisher = CricketArchive| accessdate = 23 January 2013}}</ref> Less than two weeks later, he made 157, which remained his highest ever individual score,<ref name = "CA Prof"/> in the match against [[Leicestershire County Cricket Club|Leicestershire]] at [[Grace Road|Leicester]].<ref>{{cite web | url = https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/18/18040.html| title = Scorecard: Leicestershire v Essex | date = 28 May 1947 | publisher = CricketArchive| accessdate = 23 January 2013}}</ref> And when the first-class averages were published early in June, Dodds stood fourth in the national batting lists with 816 runs at an average of 51 runs per innings, headed only by the [[Test cricket|Test]] players [[Martin Donnelly (cricketer)|Martin Donnelly]], [[Denis Compton]] and [[Len Hutton]].<ref>{{cite news| title = Cricket | newspaper = The Times |issue = 50782 | page = 2 | location = London | date = 9 June 1947 }}</ref> These averages were published while the first Test match against the South Africans was being played: Dodds was not picked for that, nor for any Test cricket. He maintained form to the end of the 1947 season, and his aggregate of 2147 runs at an average of 38.33 was his highest total for a single season.<ref name="season"/> The 1948 season was another success for Dodds: he scored 1876 runs at an average of 39.08, his best season's average, though on both aggregate and average he was outshone by his opening partner, Avery.<ref name="season"/>

Dodds' first-class cricket career never achieved these heights again, and though he continued to contribute more than 1000 runs each season for the next 10 years, his batting average drifted downwards – to the low 30s up to 1952, and then the mid 20s thereafter.<ref name="season"/> His cavalier batting style rarely led to long innings and he never scored more than three centuries in any single season; after 1954, he made only one further century in four-and-a-half years of regular county cricket.<ref name="bbs"/> He was, according to his obituary in [[Wisden Cricketers' Almanack]] in 2002, "like a fiery Viking, smiting and walloping in the Essex cause".<ref>{{Cite book | editor = Graeme Wright | title = Wisden Cricketers' Almanack | edition = 2002| chapter = Obituary | publisher = John Wisden | page = 1572}}</ref> In the wet 1958 season his aggregate was just 1075 runs and his average had declined to 21.93; he was, with Dennis Brookes and [[Jack Robertson (English cricketer)|Jack Robertson]], by this stage one of only three cricketers to have achieved 1000 runs in each postwar season.<ref>{{Cite book | editor = Roy Webber | title = News Chronicle Cricket Annual | edition = 1959 | publisher = Bouverie Press| page = 150}}</ref> In the 1959 season, the young opening batsman [[Les Savill]] enjoyed a highly successful start to the season and Dodds dropped out of the Essex first team in mid-season. After a few second eleven games, he did not regain his place and he retired from regular cricket at the end of the season. He reappeared in single matches for MCC in both 1960 and 1961, in the first of these scoring 75 and 41 against [[Cambridge University Cricket Club|Cambridge University]] and sharing a fast opening partnership of 100 with [[Tom Pugh (cricketer)|Tom Pugh]] that lasted just an hour.<ref>{{cite web | url = https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/24/24176.html| title = Scorecard: MCC v Cambridge University| date = 15 June 1960 | publisher = CricketArchive| accessdate = 27 January 2013}}</ref>

==After cricket==
Dodds worked on Moral Re-Armament projects in the UK and overseas, and was also involved with West Indian cricketer [[Conrad Hunte]] in race relations work.<ref name = "Tele"/> The cricket writer [[Neville Cardus]] suggested that he write his autobiography, and Cardus contributed the foreword to the resulting book, which was entitled ''Hit Hard and Enjoy It''; the foreword is thought to be the last work that Cardus did before his death.<ref name = "Gibson"/> Dodds later wrote a cricket coaching book, ''Cricket: From Father to Son'', in 1979.<ref>[[Alan Gibson]], "A fruitful book for fathers", ''[[The Cricketer]]'', November 1979, p. 59.</ref>

Dodds' first wife Ann, whom he married in 1960, died in 1978; they had one son. He married Kathleen Johnson in 1985.<ref name = "Tele"/>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dodds, Dickie}}
[[Category:1919 births]]
[[Category:2001 deaths]]
[[Category:English cricketers]]
[[Category:Essex cricketers]]
[[Category:People educated at Wellingborough School]]
[[Category:Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers]]
[[Category:Services cricketers]]
[[Category:North v South cricketers]]
[[Category:East of England cricketers]]
[[Category:English Christians]]
[[Category:British Army personnel of World War II]]
[[Category:Royal Corps of Signals officers]]

Dickie Dodds - Revision history

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