John Platts

Who was John Platts?

John Thomas Brown Dumelow Platts was an English cricketer who played for Derbyshire between 1871 and 1884. He was a member of the team that played Derbyshire's first match in May 1871.

Platts was born to Robert and Alice Platts in Chellaston, Derbyshire. In his youth, he worked in the local gypsum mines, and in his spare time would pretend to play cricket by bowling stones at imaginary batsmen. An early game was for Hallam and Staveley in 1861 against an All England Eleven. He was a wheelwright by trade, but by 1868 was a professional at Ipswich School. In 1869 he played for Dudley and also for the Gentlemen of Worcester when he took 8 wickets in an innings.

In 1870, Lord Coventry helped raise a subscription for Platts to join the Marylebone Cricket Club. Platts played a single first class game for MCC against Nottinghamshire in June 1870 which resulted in tragedy. He was fast bowling on a badly laid wicket at Lords when the ball struck the batsman George Summers on the head. Summers retired hurt and appeared to recover, but died four days later. W. G.