Desmond Fell

Desmond Fell

Personal information
Full name	Desmond Robert Fell
Born	(1912-12-16)16 December 1912 Pietermaritzburg, Natal, South Africa
Died	22 January 1992(1992-01-22) (aged 79) Durban, Natal, South Africa
Batting	Left-handed
Bowling	Right-arm off-break
Career statistics
Competition First-class Matches 39 Runs scored 1,958 Batting average 31.58 100s/50s 5/8 Top score 161 Balls bowled 8 Wickets 0 Bowling average – 5 wickets in innings – 10 wickets in match – Best bowling – Catches/stumpings 14/0
Source: CricketArchive, 3 December 2020

Desmond Robert Fell (16 December 1912 – 22 January 1992) was a South African cricketer who played first-class cricket for Natal either side of the Second World War, later becoming an umpire.

Biography

Fell was born in Pietermaritzburg, where he attended Maritzburg College. He represented South African Schools in a match against the touring MCC team in March 1931.

Fell's most successful first-class season was 1946–47, when he scored 496 first-class runs at 49.60, including two centuries, the higher of these being the career-best 161 he hit against Rhodesia. He also passed 400 runs in 1937–38, but after that his highest aggregate was the 219 runs he accumulated in 1947–48.

Fell's only first-class match outside South Africa was the game he played for Dominions against England at Lord's in late August 1945; he made 12 and 28 in what was the first first-class match to be played in England after the war.

After his retirement from playing, Fell umpired 14 first-class matches in the 1950s and 1960s, almost all involving Natal. The two exceptions were the first Test between South Africa and New Zealand at Durban in 1961–62, and a non-Test game between a South African XI and the Australians at Pietermaritzburg in 1966–67.

External links

• Desmond Fell at Cricinfo