>SmartyPants22 at 13:41, 5 July 2021

2021-07-05T13:41:50Z

New page

{{short description|English cricketer and civil servant}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2013}}
{{Use British English|date=July 2013}}
{{Infobox cricketer
| name = George Abell
| image = Sir George Edmond Brackenbury Abell.jpg
| caption = Abell in 1964.
| batting = Right-handed batsman
| bowling = unknown ([[wicket-keeper]])
| columns = 1
| column1 = [[First-class cricket|First-class]]
| matches1 = 75
| runs1 = 2,674
| bat avg1 = 24.75
| 100s/50s1 = 4/8
| top score1 = 210
| deliveries1 = 3
| wickets1 = 0
| bowl avg1 = –
| fivefor1 = 0
| tenfor1 = 0
| best bowling1 = –
| catches/stumpings1= 97/35
| international =
| country =
| testdebutfor =
| testdebutagainst =
| testdebutdate = 4 August
| testdebutyear = 1923
| lasttestdate = 29 December
| lasttestfor =
| lasttestagainst =
| lasttestyear = 1941
| source = http://cricketarchive.co.uk/Archive/Players/12/12609/12609.html CricketArchive
| date =
| year =
}}

'''Sir George Edmond Brackenbury Abell''' {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|KCIE|OBE}} (22 June 1904 – 11 January 1989) was an English civil servant and cricketer. Although his civil service career was the more significant, he was an excellent all-round sportsman, who won [[University Sporting Blue|Blues]] for [[Oxford University|Oxford]] at cricket, [[rugby union]] and [[field hockey|hockey]] as well as playing [[county cricket]] for [[Worcestershire County Cricket Club|Worcestershire]]. He was born in [[Worcester, England|Worcester]], and died at the age of 84 in [[Ramsbury]], Wiltshire.

== Civil service career ==
Abell was educated at [[Marlborough College]] and [[Corpus Christi College, Oxford]]. In 1928 he entered the [[Indian Civil Service]] and was posted to the [[Punjab Province (British India)|Pubjab]]. He was [[Private Secretary]] to the [[Governor of the Punjab]] 1941–43 and then private secretary to the last two [[viceroys of India]], [[Archibald Wavell, 1st Earl Wavell|Lord Wavell]] and [[Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma|Lord Mountbatten]].<ref name="Haigh">{{cite book|last1=Haigh|first1=Gideon|title=Peter The Lord's Cat and Other Unexpected Obituaries from Wisden|date=2006|publisher=John Wisden & Co|location=London|isbn=1845131630|page=1}}</ref> He was appointed OBE in 1943,<ref>{{London Gazette |date=28 May 1943 |supp=y |issue=36033 |page=2434}}</ref> and CIE in the [[1946 New Year Honours]].<ref>{{London Gazette |date=28 December 1945 |issue=37407 |page=11}}</ref> In 1947, shortly before [[Indian Independence Act 1947|Indian independence]], he was knighted KCIE.<ref>{{London Gazette |date=6 June 1947 |supp=y |issue=37977 |page=2576}}</ref> He returned to the United Kingdom and was a director of the [[Bank of England]] 1952–64 and [[First Civil Service Commissioner]] 1964–67.<ref>[http://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/article/oupww/whowaswho/U161318 ABELL, Sir George (Edmond Brackenbury)], ''Who Was Who'', A & C Black, 1920–2016 (online edition, Oxford University Press, 2014)</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Sir George Abell |newspaper=The Times |location=London |date=13 January 1989 |page=14}}</ref>

== Cricketing career ==
Abell's first-class debut came for [[Worcestershire County Cricket Club|Worcestershire]] against [[Essex County Cricket Club|Essex]] at [[New Road, Worcester|Worcester]] in August 1923; he had a quiet match, claiming no dismissals and scoring 1 and 6 [[not out]]. Indeed, in three further appearances that season he appeared on the scorecard only once as a fielder: when he caught [[Gloucestershire County Cricket Club|Gloucestershire]] captain [[Philip Williams (cricketer, born 1884)|Philip Williams]] off the bowling of [[Fred Root]]. Abell scored 50 in the second innings of this game, the only half-century he would make for nearly two years.

The 1924 season saw Abell play 12 first-class matches: seven for [[Oxford University Cricket Club|Oxford University]] and five for Worcestershire. His batting produced nothing of note (his highest score that season was just 23[[Not out|*]]) but he held 12 catches and made two [[stumping]]s. The following year, however, he passed 500 runs for the only time in his career, this total including 124 for Worcestershire against [[Sussex County Cricket Club|Sussex]]. He also claimed 17 dismissals. From 1926 until 1928 he performed poorly with the bat, 50 being his highest score in 31 innings, but he continued to pick up victims behind the stumps.

From 1928–29 to 1934–35 he played all his first-class cricket in India for a variety of sides, including [[Europeans cricket team|Europeans]], the [[Punjab Governor's XI]] — for whom he made 92 and 116 against [[Muslims cricket team|Muslims]] in March 1929 — and even on one occasion for [[India cricket team|India]] itself, against [[Sri Lanka cricket team|Ceylon]].
<ref>{{cite web | url=http://cricketarchive.co.uk/Archive/Scorecards/14/14510.html | title=India v Ceylon in 1932/33 | accessdate=2007-05-06 | publisher=CricketArchive}}</ref>
However, the undoubted highlight of his career was the 210 he scored for [[Northern India cricket team|Northern India]] against [[British Army cricket team|Army]] in the first [[Ranji Trophy]] in 1934–35, the first double century made in the competition.<ref name="Wisden">Obituary. ''[[Wisden Cricketers' Almanack]]'' 1990</ref>

Northern India reached the final for the only time that season; Abell captained them against [[Bombay cricket team|Bombay]] but [[Hormasji Vajifdar|Vajifdar]]'s second-innings 8–40 for Bombay ensured a heavy defeat for Northern India.

Abell returned to play in England during the second half of the 1935 season, and he also had a few matches in 1939. (His civil service commitments precluded more frequent appearances.) Most of these games were for Worcestershire, for whom he acted as captain three times in 1939, but he also turned out for [[Marylebone Cricket Club]] (MCC) on a handful of occasions. His final first-class game of all was at [[Bagh-e-Jinnah (Lahore)|Lahore]], as captain of Northern India against [[Southern Punjab cricket team (India)|Southern Punjab]] in the 1941–42 Ranji Trophy. He made one stumping, held two catches and scored 11 and 2 as Northern India ran out 74-run winners.

Two of Abell's sons, [[John Abell (cricketer)|John]] and [[Timothy Abell|Timothy]], had very brief first-class careers. His [[brother-in-law]] [[Claude Ashton]] had had a much more substantial career with Essex and [[Cambridge University Cricket Club|Cambridge]], while his uncle [[Ted Sale]] turned out a few times for Europeans.

== References ==
<references />

== External links ==
* {{cricinfo|ref=england/content/player/8626.html}}
* [http://cricketarchive.co.uk/Archive/Players/12/12609/12609.html Statistical summary] from CricketArchive
* {{NPG name|name=Sir George Edmond Brackenbury Abell}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Abell, George}}
[[Category:1904 births]]
[[Category:1989 deaths]]
[[Category:English cricketers]]
[[Category:Indian Civil Service (British India) officers]]
[[Category:Indian cricketers]]
[[Category:Knights Commander of the Order of the Indian Empire]]
[[Category:Officers of the Order of the British Empire]]
[[Category:Oxford University cricketers]]
[[Category:Worcestershire cricketers]]
[[Category:Europeans cricketers]]
[[Category:Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers]]
[[Category:Northern India cricketers]]
[[Category:Oxford University RFC players]]
[[Category:English rugby union players]]
[[Category:People educated at Marlborough College]]
[[Category:Alumni of Corpus Christi College, Oxford]]
[[Category:People associated with the Bank of England]]
[[Category:20th-century English businesspeople]]

George Abell civil servant - Revision history

>SmartyPants22 at 13:41, 5 July 2021