Stan Worthington

Who was Stan Worthington?

Thomas Stanley "Stan" Worthington was a cricketer who played for Derbyshire between 1923 and 1947 and for England between 1930 and 1937. He was an all-rounder, scoring over 19000 runs and taking over 600 first-class wickets.

Worthington was born at Bolsover, Derbyshire and went to Netherthorpe Grammar School, Staveley, Derbyshire. He became an electrician with the Bolsover Colliery Company and played for the Colliery Club in the Bassetlaw League. Fred Tate, who was talent-spotting for Derbyshire, saw him and introduced him to the club in 1923.

Worthington played his debut for Derbyshire in August 1924 against Nottinghamshire, his only game that year. He scored a duck in his first innings and 12 in his second, but took four wickets in the match. He played three matches in 1925 and from 1926 played for the full season for the rest of his career.

Worthington was a middle order right-hand batsman and a medium-fast right-arm bowler. In neither role did he often hit the headlines, but his consistency and reliability was big factor in the success that Derbyshire enjoyed through the 1930s. The county, normally one of the weaker English first-class cricket teams, won the County Championship for the only time in its history in 1936, for which each player was awarded with a Gold Watch, engraved with the players name, date and championship title.