Jack Durston

Who was Jack Durston?

Frederick John "Jack" Durston, born Clophill, Bedfordshire, on 11 July 1893 and died at Southall, Middlesex, on 8 April 1965, was a cricketer who played for Middlesex and England.

A tall fast bowler with the ability to make the ball "break back" after pitching, Durston came to the fore in Middlesex's County Championship-winning seasons of 1920 and 1921, having played only a handful of matches before then. In both years, he took more than 100 wickets and, after taking 11 wickets in the county's game against the all-conquering 1921 Australian cricket team led by Warwick Armstrong, he was picked for the second Test match on his home ground, Lord's. But though he took five wickets for 136 runs in the match, he was dropped and never played for England again.

Durston played for Middlesex until 1933, turning increasingly to off-spin as he got older and stouter. In all, he took 1,314 wickets. His batting improved with age, and in 1927 he shared an unbroken ninth-wicket partnership of 160 with Patsy Hendren against Essex at Leyton that remains a Middlesex record.

He also played soccer as a goalkeeper for Brentford F.C.