Bobby Parks (cricketer)

Bobby Parks
Personal information
Full name
Robert James Parks
Born (1959-06-15) 15 June 1959 (age 64)
Cuckfield, Sussex, England
BattingRight-handed
RoleWicket-keeper
RelationsJim Parks junior (father)
Jim Parks senior (grandfather)
Domestic team information
YearsTeam
1980–1992Hampshire
1993Kent
Career statistics
Competition First-class List A
Matches 256 251
Runs scored 3,957 972
Batting average 19.58 16.20
100s/50s –/14 –/–
Top score 89 38*
Balls bowled 189 0
Wickets 0 –
Bowling average – –
5 wickets in innings – –
10 wickets in match – –
Best bowling – –
Catches/stumpings 642/72 266/47
Source: Cricinfo, 30 September 2018

Robert 'Bobby' James Parks (born 15 June 1959) is a former English first-class cricketer who played for Hampshire County Cricket Club.

Playing career[edit]

The son of the England Test cricketer Jim Parks junior, he was born in June 1959 at Cuckfield, Sussex. His grandfather, Jim Parks senior, was also a Test cricketer. When his father was playing for Sussex, Parks was educated at Eastbourne Grammar School,[1] but was later educated at Taunton School when his father played for Somerset later in his career.[2] He then proceeded to study at the Southampton Institute of Technology.[1] After briefly playing for the Somerset Second XI, he joined Hampshire in 1976, where he would spend the next four years as an understudy to regular wicket-keeper Bob Stephenson.[2] Parks made his debut for the Hampshire first team against Sussex at Southampton in the 1980 County Championship.[3] He featured regularly for Hampshire in the closing weeks of the 1980 season as Stephenson stepped down from his wicket-keeping duties,[4] making six further appearances in the County Championship,[3] in addition to playing five List A one-day matches in the 1980 John Player League.[5] Following Stephenson's retirement at the end of the 1980 season, Parks became Hampshire's first choice wicket-keeper.

Parks ended his first full season as Hampshire first choice keeper with 52 dismissals in first-class matches,[6] Against Derbyshire that season, he took ten catches in a match, which at the time was a Hampshire record.[2] He kept with success for Hampshire throughout the early to mid-1980s, taking 265 dismissals between the 1981 and 1984 seasons.[6] He toured Zimbabwe with an English Counties XI in the spring of 1985, making two first-class and five one-day appearances against the Zimbabwean national team.[3][5]

Parks kept wicket for England during a Test against New Zealand at Lord's in 1986 as a substitute for Bruce French.[7] He helped Hampshire to win the 1986 John Player Special League and the 1988 Benson & Hedges Cup, and was part of an "English Counties XI" tour of Zimbabwe in 1984–5,[8]

He was displaced in the Hampshire side in 1990 by fellow wicket-keeper Adrian Aymes, who was considered to have greater batting ability than Parks.[1] Having played only three one-day matches in 1991, Parks returned to Hampshire's first-class team in 1992 when he played against Oxford University in May, before a knee injury to Aymes in June enabled him to return to the team and play a further five County Championship matches.[9] Prior to these, Parks had the second-highest number of first-class dismissals for a Hampshire wicket-keeper, behind Neil McCorkell's 688;[9] following these matches, he surpassed McCorkell's record with 700 dismissals (630 catches and 70 stumpings).[10] As of 2024, he remains Hampshire's most successful wicket-keeper.[7] In addition to playing six first-class matches in 1992, Parks also made six one-day appearances,[5] the last of which came in the final of the 1992 Benson & Hedges Cup against Kent at Lord's,[1] which Hampshire won by 41 runs.[11] In September of that season, Hampshire announced their intention to release Parks at the end of the season.[9] In 253 first-class matches for Hampshire, Parks scored 3,936 runs at an average of 19.68, although never scored a century.[10] In one-day cricket, he made 244 appearances, taking 260 catches and making 43 stumpings; with the bat, he scored 959 runs at an average of 16.53, but never passed fifty.[12]

In July 1993, he played briefly for Kent as cover for the injured Steve Marsh,[13] making two appearances at Maidstone: one first-class appearance in the County Championship against Essex and another in a one-day match against the same opposition in the Axa Equity & Law League.[3][14][5] Following the end of his playing career, Parks trained to become an accountant.[15]

Coaching career[edit]

Parks coached the France national cricket team in 1998.[7] Parks returned to Hampshire in 2002 on a freelance basis to coach wicket-keepers between the ages of 10 and 19, before expanding this role to work with Hampshire's then-incumbent wicket-keeper Nic Pothas.[15] He then spent four years in charge of Hampshire's emerging players' programme, before spending another four years as Hampshire's academy director. He stepped down from as academy director in 2015 and was succeeded by Second XI coach Charlie Freeston.[15] Parks was the general manager of the Southern Vipers women's team until April 2018, when he retired and handed the role to Charlotte Edwards.[16]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d Carlaw, Derek (2020). Kent County Cricketers A to Z. Part Three: 1946–1999 (PDF). Cardiff: ACS. pp. 270–71.
  2. ^ a b c "One In – One Out". www.hampshirecrickethistory.wordpress.com. Retrieved 6 June 2024.
  3. ^ a b c d "First-Class Matches played by Bobby Parks". CricketArchive. Retrieved 6 June 2024.
  4. ^ "Six-Hit Bob is axed". Daily Mirror. London. 9 August 1980. p. 32. Retrieved 6 June 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  5. ^ a b c d "List A Matches played by Bobby Parks". CricketArchive. Retrieved 6 June 2024.
  6. ^ a b "First-Class Batting and Fielding in Each Season by Bobby Parks". CricketArchive. Retrieved 6 June 2024.
  7. ^ a b c "Player profile: Bobby Parks". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 30 September 2018.
  8. ^ "English Counties XI in Zimbabwe: Feb/Mar 1985". ESPNCricinfo. Retrieved 20 June 2022.
  9. ^ a b c Moss, Stephen (2006). Wisden Anthology 1978-2006: Cricket's Age of Revolution. London: Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 1089.
  10. ^ a b "First-Class Batting and Fielding For Each Team by Bobby Parks". CricketArchive. Retrieved 11 June 2024.
  11. ^ "Hampshire v Kent, Benson and Hedges Cup 1992 (Final)". CricketArchive. Retrieved 11 June 2024.
  12. ^ "List A Batting and Fielding For Each Team by Bobby Parks". CricketArchive. Retrieved 11 June 2024.
  13. ^ "Absorbing finale as last pair deny Kent". Kentish Gazette. Canterbury. 9 July 1993. p. 25. Retrieved 11 June 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  14. ^ Fairall, Brian (1 July 1993). "Cricket: Champions ground down by Kent". The Independent. London. Retrieved 30 September 2018.
  15. ^ a b c "Bobby Parks steps down as Hants' academy director". Daily Echo. Southampton. 8 October 2015. Retrieved 11 June 2024.
  16. ^ Francis, Seth (20 April 2018). "Edwards is perfect fit for new director's role". The Cricket Paper. London. Retrieved 11 June 2024.

External links[edit]

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