A cricket club has paid tribute to its former president, chairman, trustee and player, who passed away from a heart attack.

Abingdon Vale Cricket Club has released a statement after the death of Gordon Rhodes saying he will be “missed terribly” by all at the club.

Mr Rhodes joined Abingdon Vale Cricket Club in the 1960s.

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A spokesman for the club said: “He was one of the people that certainly guided my cricket over the years and he was always a knowledgeable sounding board in anything I did on behalf of the club.

“He was naturally sociable, and was a stalwart with the Ajax tours in the 80s, where he would play, umpire and score.

“His last tour to Holland in 2011 saw him as a much-respected friend to the Ajax club past and present members, enjoying past memories and forging links for Abingdon’s young cricketers.”

Mr Rhodes was born in Heckmondwike, West Yorkshire, in April 1942 and played cricket in the Yorkshire leagues as a tearaway opening bowler, where once he had Geoff Boycott pinned LBW.

After studying at Heckmondwike Grammar School, he came down to Abingdon to study at Oxford College of Technology (now Oxford Brookes University).

He started his career in industrial chemistry at Atomic Energy Research Establishment (AERE), in Harwell in 1960.

He joined both the research centre’s cricket and rugby sides and continued to test the opposition with his quick seam bowling and his swashbuckling batting, which frequently rescued the team on the hard and fast Harwell wicket.

Although rugby was his second string, Mr Rhodes enjoyed many good reports of his scrum half skills especially in the matches against Aldermaston.

According to Abingdon Cricket Club, he was also a very good bar billiards player.

In the 1960s he joined Abingdon Cricket Club and then moved to North Abingdon in 1980.

He played 236 games for North Abingdon Cricket Club and Abingdon Vale Cricket Club, scoring 631 runs, and took 447 wickets at an average of 15.37, including 19 five-wicket hauls.

He was chairman of North Abingdon up to when the town’s two clubs merged to form Abingdon Vale Cricket Club in 1993.

He retired from playing in 1997 and then took up umpiring, where he would regularly ‘light-up’ in at any break in play.

The spokesman added: “Once he deemed that he was not fit enough to umpire any more, he turned to the scorebox to volunteer for the club, where he would be passionately following the club’s performances and would celebrate a win as much as the players.

“In later years, he served as Abingdon Vale’s president between 2006 and 2011, as a club trustee and was made the club’s first life member in 2012.”

 

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This story was written by Matthew Norman, he joined the team in 2022 as a Facebook community reporter.

Matthew covers Bicester and focuses on finding stories from diverse communities.

Get in touch with him by emailing: Matthew.norman@newsquest.co.uk

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