Neil Thomas McCorkell was an English first-class cricketer.
24 Facts About Neil McCorkell
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Neil McCorkell was Hampshire's most successful wicket-keeper until his records were surpassed by Bobby Parks.
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Neil McCorkell never played Test cricket for England, largely due to the concurrent careers of the Kent wicket-keeping duo Les Ames and Godfrey Evans.
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Neil McCorkell resided in South Africa until his death in February 2013.
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Neil McCorkell was born in March 1912, at White Hart Lane in Old Portsmouth.
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Neil McCorkell was educated at the Portsmouth Town School, where he began to play cricket, but left the school at the age of 14 to work at the Officers' Sports Ground.
7.
Neil McCorkell made his debut in first-class cricket for Hampshire against Somerset at Taunton in the 1932 County Championship, establishing himself as Hampshire's first-choice wicket-keeper with 28 appearances that season and gaining his county cap.
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Neil McCorkell did well enough in his first season to be selected for the Players in the end of season Gentlemen v Players fixture at Folkestone.
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Neil McCorkell made 33 first-class appearances during the following season, where he was reliable enough behind the stumps for Hampshire's 1933 Cricket Guide to remark "McCorkell has already shown that he has the right temperament for county cricket and he has a bright future".
10.
Neil McCorkell's consideration led to his selection for the Players in the Gentlemen v Players fixture at Lord's, where it was noted that he "kept wicket tidily".
11.
Neil McCorkell toured British India with Lord Tennyson's personal team in the winter which followed the 1937 season, making ten first-class appearances on the tour.
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Neil McCorkell only came to prominence towards the end of the tour, having missed out on selection for the five unofficial-Tests against India.
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Neil McCorkell made 33 first-class appearances in 1938, passing a thousand runs for the season with 1,586 runs at an average of 27.82, with a single century.
14.
Neil McCorkell instead worked as a firefighter at the Vickers factory in Newbury, Berkshire.
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Neil McCorkell played in exhibition matches back in Southampton, appearing for the Supermarine works cricket team.
16.
Neil McCorkell returned to play for Hampshire in 1946, having a modest season as a batsman with 641 runs at an average of 15.26, but had a prolific return to form in 1947, when he scored 1,665 runs at an average of 40.60, with two centuries and fifteen half centuries.
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Neil McCorkell suffered a broken finger in 1948, which limited him to just fourteen matches, before making his highest run-scoring aggregate in 1949, with 1,871 runs across the season at an average of 38.18.
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Neil McCorkell left Hampshire at the end of the 1951 season, to take up a coaching appointment in South Africa.
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In 383 first-class matches for Hampshire, Neil McCorkell scored 15,833 runs at an average of 25.87, with seventeen centuries and 76 half centuries.
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Neil McCorkell batted with an unorthodox grip, with his hands far apart on the bat handle.
21.
Neil McCorkell had a calm temperament when batting, coupled with great powers of concentration and a wide range of shots.
22.
The Times speculated that had it not been for the Kent wicket-keeping duo of Ames and Godfrey Evans, Neil McCorkell might have had a successful career in Test cricket.
23.
On 23 March 2012, he celebrated his 100th birthday at his Uvongo home, becoming the second Hampshire cricketer after Edward English to reach the landmark, Neil McCorkell died at Uvongo on 28 February 2013, at age 100.
24.
Neil McCorkell was predeceased by his wife and had one surviving son.