Geoffrey Howard

Who was Geoffrey Howard?

Cecil Geoffrey Howard was an English cricketer and cricket administrator.

Geoffrey Howard was born in Hampstead Garden Suburb, a grandson of Sir Ebenezer Howard, a founder of the Garden City Movement, who taught him a respect for people and a love for cricket. He was educated at the University College School.He is also related to the dancer and TV personality Una Stubbs.

As a right-handed batsman and a wicket-keeper, he represented Middlesex in three first-class matches in 1930, whilst on annual leave from the bank for which he worked. He played for the Private Banks XI in 1926-36 and for the RAF durng the Second World War, when he once made a century before lunch.

He earned himself a place in cricket history as an enlightened administrator and a popular tour manager. He was Secretary of Lancashire and Surrey and managed three MCC touring teams in Australia and the Indian sub-continent. The 1954-55 MCC tour of Australia was the focal point of his rich and varied life, with England winning a series in Australia for the first time since Bodyline in 1932-33. The MCC 'A' tour of Pakistan in 1955-56 was marred by an incident, when several of the England cricketers doused the umpire Idris Begh with a bucket of water and as a result a major controversy broke out.