Thomas Mitchell

Who was Thomas Mitchell?

Thomas Bignall Mitchell was an English cricketer who played for Derbyshire between 1928 and 1939.

A leg spin bowler, he was the most successful slow bowler in the history of a county better known for its pace bowling strength. His bowling was an important factor in Derbyshire's most successful period in the County Championship during the 1930s. Along with Bill Copson, Leslie Townsend and the brothers Pope, he formed an attack sufficiently strong during the dreadful summer of 1936 to, aided by some quirks in the weather, displace Yorkshire from their perennial position atop the Championship table.

Mitchell was born at Creswell, Bolsover, Derbyshire and was a faceworker in the coal mines. He was first spotted by Derbyshire during the General Strike of 1926 and began playing for Derbyshire in the 1928 season but was disappointing. However in the 1929 season he took 100 wickets and was deadly whenever the pitches took sufficient spin. In the 1930 season, he did even better, and though expensive in the 1931 and 1932 seasons, his ability to spin the ball on dry pitches more than any other leg-spinner in county cricket saw him taken on the Ashes tour when business prevented Walter Robins touring. He played in the Fourth Test as a replacement for Bill Voce who was injured, and despite dismissing Bill Woodfull in both innings he was never able to establish himself for England. Indeed, he was so expensive when called upon in 1934 that he took no wicket and conceded 117 runs, and the following year, when he was very disappointing on a leatherjacket-infested Lord's wicket that should have helped him, he is quoted as having said "You couldn't captain a team of bloody lead soldiers" to his captain Bob Wyatt. Indeed, Mitchell's tactlessness towards administrators made him quite unpopular with them and may have prejudiced his chances of doing well in representative cricket.