Philip Arthur Whitcombe

Philip Arthur Whitcombe (23 April 1923 – 11 August 2015) was a first-class cricketer who played in England from 1947 to 1960.

He was educated at Winchester, where he was a contemporary of Hubert Doggart, a future England cricketer. During the war he served with the Royal Horse Artillery before going up to Christ Church, Oxford. He played in the Oxford University team from 1947 to 1949 and won a Blue three years running. He worked for P&O as a shipping agent, while working in India, when he met his wife-to-be, Rosemary, daughter of Lord Clydesmuir, the last Governor of Bombay.

His most notable season was 1948, when he took 47 wickets at an average of 15.93. In Oxford's match against Yorkshire he bowled Len Hutton in each innings, finishing with figures of 5 for 32 and 2 for 33. In the University Match he played a large part in Oxford's innings victory: "Well-maintained length at fast-medium pace with the pavilion as background, coming from such a high delivery as that of the six feet four inches tall Whitcombe, seemed beyond interpretation by the Cambridge students, and in taking seven wickets for 51 runs he influenced the proceedings to such an extent that the other Oxford bowlers invariably checked any suggestion of easy scoring." A few days later he opened the bowling for the Gentlemen, taking the wickets of Cyril Washbrook (twice) and Denis Compton. A few days after that, playing only his second match for Middlesex, he dismissed Bill Brown and Don Bradman to leave the touring Australians 28 for 2.

He played no more county cricket after 1948, and after the university season ended in 1949 he played no first-class cricket until 1954, when he began playing occasionally for Free Foresters.

He was a captain in the Royal Artillery. He and his wife Rosemary (1927–2009), daughter of John Colville, 1st Baron Clydesmuir, had a son and a daughter.

His father, Major-General Philip Sidney Whitcombe, played some first-class cricket while serving in India, and also played for Berkshire.