Early years Born in 1934, Stott joined
Yorkshire County Cricket Club in 1951 when he was 16. He made his
Minor Counties Championship debut for the Yorkshire Second XI in the same season, and his
first-class debut in 1952. Stott joined the
Royal Air Force for his
national service and played for the
RAF cricket team in minor matches. He also played in three first-class matches for the
Combined Services between 1955 and 1956. Although he was never a
Test-class batsman, Stott was certainly
county-class and was widely respected for his determination and team spirit.
Fred Trueman later recalled the final match of the 1959 season, which Yorkshire had to win if they were to claim the
County Championship title. The match was against
Sussex at the
County Ground, Hove. Sussex had nothing to play for except pride but, as Trueman says, they "gave no quarter".
Playfair Cricket Annual recognised Stott's part in his county's success and, along with Burnet and
Ray Illingworth, he was named by the annual as one of its "Playfair 1959 XI".
Bowling Stott was a very occasional right-arm
off spinner. He took only seven career
wickets but four of them were in one innings when he achieved his best return of 4/34 against
Surrey at
Bramall Lane in 1962. The fixture was
Fred Trueman's
benefit match and it was ruined by rain. Yorkshire were in a good position, however, and captain
Vic Wilson made a sporting declaration in the hope of bowling Surrey out cheaply. This didn't happen, thanks to a big innings by
John Edrich who scored 154. The match became a certain draw and Wilson decided to let all his specialist batsmen bowl (though not himself) until time ran out. Stott was surprisingly successful and took the wickets of Edrich,
Bernie Constable,
Stewart Storey and
Tony Lock in only ten overs.
Final season In 1963, his final season, Stott played in two
Gillette Cup matches, scoring a total of 30 runs. Stott was plagued by injuries in 1963 and missed several matches, as did his team-mates
Ray Illingworth,
Doug Padgett and
Ken Taylor. Towards the end of the season, Stott announced his retirement from cricket. ==References==