Martin Horton

Martin Horton, the cricketer who died on April 3 aged 76, was a good enough all-rounder to play twice for England; first and foremost, however, he was a Worcestershire man, and a vital member of the side when the county won the championship for the first time in 1964. 

Martin Horton batting for Worcestershire against New Zealand, 1958 Photo: EMPICS

 

 

 

Short and stocky, Horton the batsman could hit powerfully on both sides of the wicket, in particular favouring the on-drive and the square cut. As an off-spinner he pushed the ball through with a nagging accuracy which could become deadly when the wicket favoured him.

Horton’s first-class career had begun in 1952, when Worcestershire ended the season in fourth place; for most of that decade, however, the county was to be found in the lower half of the table. Then, in the early 1960s, the arrival of Tom Graveney, the flowering of the formidable opening attack of Jack Flavell and Len Coldwell, and the advent of Norman Gifford turned the county into one of the strongest sides in the country.

Horton had originally been a middle order batsman; in the late 1950s, however, he began to open the innings with Ron Headley. In the 1960s he retained this position with Don Kenyon as his partner. In 1964 he contributed 1,808 runs and 48 wickets to the title-winning side, playing in every championship game. Worcestershire carried off the title again in 1965, the club’s centenary year, but this time Horton’s performance was far less telling, not least because the qualification of Basil D’Oliveira had diminished Horton’s importance to the team.

Martin John Horton was born in Worcester on April 21 1934, the son of a one-time middleweight boxing champion of the Midlands who kept the Duke of York pub in Angel Place. When Martin was three his father took over the Forester’s Arms in the city. He was educated at the Sacred Heart, Droitwich, and showed little interest in cricket until he was taken to see Worcestershire play the Indian tourists in early May 1946. The Indians, struggling in freezing conditions, lost by 16 runs; Martin Horton was smitten with cricket.

Three years later, still only 15, he joined the county ground staff, and in June 1949 made his debut for Worcestershire second XI. He first turned out for Worcestershire proper against Oxford University in 1952, beginning his first-class career with a duck. A week later he played in a county championship match against Lancashire, capturing the wicket of Cyril Washbrook.

For the next two years Horton did his National Service in the RAF. Playing for the Combined Services against the Australians in September 1953, he made his side’s top first innings score of 45, but the tourists won a crushing victory. Also in that Combined Services team was Aircraftsman FS Trueman, which did not prevent Keith Miller from hitting a dazzling 262 not out.
Back with Worcestershire in 1955, Horton immediately made his mark in Worcestershire’s first game of the season, against the South Africans, when he took nine for 56 in the tourists’ second innings to secure victory. That year he achieved “the double” of more than 1,000 runs and 100 wickets, a feat he repeated in 1961.
His best season with the bat was 1959, when he scored 2,468 runs (including four hundreds and 15 fifties ) at an average of 44.87. His prime form that year earned him selection for England in the second Test match against India at Trent Bridge. He did well, making 58 and bowling 10 overs for only 20 runs in India’s second innings.
He then took two wickets in the next Test, at Lord’s, only to find himself replaced by the Gloucestershire off-spinner John Mortimore. Horton’s assessment was that he had been fortunate to be selected, but perhaps a shade unlucky to be dropped.
In the 1960s Horton was somewhat hampered by a knee injury. He played his last game for Worcestershire in 1966 against Essex, ending his county career as he had begun it, with a duck.
The following year Horton took up an appointment as national coach in New Zealand, a position he held for the next 16 years. His achievement was recognised in 2010 by the Bert Sutcliffe award for services to New Zealand cricket. From 1967 to 1971 he played for Northern Districts in the Plunket Shield, achieving considerable success with both bat and ball.
Back in England, in 1984 he took up a coaching appointment at the Royal Grammar School, Worcester, where he remained for 12 years, a favourite with both staff and boys. In 1987 he was co-opted on to the Worcestershire committee, subsequently serving as chairman of cricket from 1998 to 2001. He very much preferred strolling around the New Road ground watching the game to talking about it in committee rooms.
In a total of 410 first-class matches, Horton scored 19,945 runs (including 23 centuries) at an average of 29.54, and took 825 wickets at 26.94 apiece. His highest innings was 233 against Somerset in 1962, when he shared in a third-wicket stand of 314 with Tom Graveney. As a bowler he took five wickets in an innings on 40 occasions, and seven times claimed 10 or more victims in a match.
Outside cricket, he loved opera, especially Wagner. He was also devoted to skittles, playing in the same team from 1944 to 2009.
Martin Horton is survived by his wife Margaret, whom he married in 1956, and by their daughter. “We never talked cricket at home,” Margaret Horton recalled. “I know a couple of wives went through it ball by ball. I wouldn’t know whether he’d scored a hundred or none.”

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/8433140/Martin-Horton.html