‘Squire’ calls time on cricket career

Times Media

TELFORD VICE, Johannesburg

Cricket in SA will lose one of its most colourful characters on Sunday when Cyril Mitchley calls time on a career in the game that has spanned more than 60 of his 75 years.

Mitchley, who played eight first-class matches for Transvaal as a wicketkeeper and was also a professional footballer, became better known as an umpire.

He stood in 26 tests and 61 one-day internationals, and was also an international match referee. Mitchley is officiating for the last time as a match referee in the first-class game between the Lions and the Cobras that started at the Wanderers yesterday.

In his white coat, flat cap and spectacles, there was no mistaking umpire Mitchley, particularly when he gave a batsman out. His head would tilt to the side, he could be seen mouthing the words, “That’s out”, and his finger would point straight at the batsman instead of upward.

Mitchley earned the nickname “Squire” for his magisterial presence on the field, but players needed to earn the right to use the moniker.

When a young Herschelle Gibbs came to the wicket and asked for “two-leg, please, Squire” having been told - by older, wiser teammates - that Mitchley liked being thus addressed, the umpire replied, “That’s two-leg, sonny, and who’s your fucking Squire?”

Mitchley was renowned for being able to spot the faintest of edges despite being hard-of-hearing in his later years.

“How the hell did he hear that,” England’s Graeme Hick asked in desperation as he threw his bat into the dressingroom in East London having been given out caught behind after feathering the faintest of catches to the wicketkeeper during an ODI.

All three of Mitchley’s sons - Cyril, Mark and Scott - also played first-class cricket.