{{Short description|English cricketer}} {{Use British English|date=August 2013}} {{Use dmy dates|date=January 2024}} {{Infobox cricketer | name = | country = England | fullname = Basil William Rought-Rought | nickname = | birth_date = {{Birth date|1904|9|15|df=yes}} | birth_place = Brandon, Suffolk, England | death_date = {{Death date and age|1995|10|27|1904|9|15|df=yes}} | death_place = Brandon, Suffolk, England | heightft = | heightinch = | heightm = | batting = Left-handed | bowling = | role = | family = Rodney Rought-Rought (brother)<br />Desmond Rought-Rought (brother) | club1 = Minor Counties | year1 = 1937–1938 | clubnumber1 = | club2 = Norfolk | year2 = 1926–1948 | clubnumber2 = | columns = 1 | column1 = First-class | matches1 = 4 | runs1 = 229 | bat avg1 = 28.62 | 100s/50s1 = –/2 | top score1 = 61 | deliveries1 = – | wickets1 = – | bowl avg1 = – | fivefor1 = – | tenfor1 = – | best bowling1 = – | catches/stumpings1 = 3/– | date = 15 August | year = 2012 | source = http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/player/19483.html Cricinfo }}
'''Basil William Rought-Rought''' (15 September 1904 – 27 October 1995) was an English cricketer. Rought-Rought was a left-handed batsman. He was born at Brandon, Suffolk.
Rought-Rought made his debut for Norfolk against Hertfordshire in the 1926 Minor Counties Championship. He made 123 appearances in the Minor Counties Championship for Cheshire before World War II.<ref name="MCM">{{cite web |url-access=subscription |url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/3/3355/Minor_Counties_Championship_Matches.html|title=Minor Counties Championship Matches played by Basil Rought-Rought|publisher=CricketArchive|accessdate=15 August 2012}}</ref> He made his debut in first-class cricket in 1933 for HDG Leveson Gower's XI against Oxford University at The Saffrons, Eastbourne, with him making a further first-class appearance in that season for the team at the same venue against Cambridge University.<ref name="FCM">{{cite web |url-access=subscription |url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/3/3355/First-Class_Matches.html|title=First-Class Matches played by Basil Rought-Rought|publisher=CricketArchive|accessdate=15 August 2012}}</ref> He scored 129 runs in his two matches, which a high score of 61 against Cambridge University.<ref name="FCBAT">{{cite web |url-access=subscription |url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/3/3355/f_Batting_by_Team.html|title=First-class Batting and Fielding For Each Team by Basil Rought-Rought|publisher=CricketArchive|accessdate=15 August 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url-access=subscription |url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/14/14711.html|title=HDG Leveson-Gower's XI v Cambridge University, 1933|publisher=CricketArchive|accessdate=15 August 2012}}</ref> Playing minor counties cricket for Norfolk allowed Rought-Rought to be selected to play for a combined Minor Counties cricket team, with him making his debut for the team in a first-class match against the touring New Zealanders in 1937 at the Rose Brothers Ground, Gainsborough. He made a further first-class appearance for the team in 1938 against Oxford University at the University Parks.<ref name="FCM"/> In his two first-class matches for the team, he scored 100 runs, with a high score of 50 against the New Zealanders.<ref name="FCM"/><ref>{{cite web |url-access=subscription |url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/16/16416.html|title=Minor Counties v New Zealanders, 1937|publisher=CricketArchive|accessdate=15 August 2012}}</ref>
He served during World War II in the Royal Norfolk Regiment, holding the rank of Lieutenant in 1940. He was captured in France in 1940, spending most of the war as a Prisoner of War. He attempted to escape captivity, but was unsuccessful on his first attempt. In 1945, he made a second attempt at escaping captivity, this time succeeding in his escape and returning to England.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ww2.brandonatwar.co.uk/the-times/1945-2|title=Brandon at War|publisher=brandonatwar.co.uk|accessdate=12 August 2018}}</ref>
Following World War II, Rought-Rought returned to playing minor counties cricket for Norfolk, making sixteen further appearances, the last of which came against Buckinghamshire in 1948.<ref name="MCM"/> His brothers, Rodney and Desmond, both played first-class cricket. The three brothers all had long careers for Norfolk, where they encouraged the young Bill Edrich. He later wrote, "many a time they gave me a quiet hint or bit of advice that was invaluable, and which occurred to me many a time afterwards, in the strenuous, hard grind of a Test match".<ref>Bill Edrich, ''Cricket Heritage'', Stanley Paul, London, 1948, p. 210.</ref>
The brothers' unusual surname originated with their father, who was born Albert William Rought Whitta. His maternal grandfather William Rought left him the family hatters and furriers business in Brandon on the condition that he adopted the surname Rought. He became Albert William Rought-Rought.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/6fc304ea-025e-42a5-bcf3-18884e43baef| title = William Rought Ltd., Hatters' Furriers, Brandon | publisher = National Archives | accessdate =12 August 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.rgreen.org.uk/Whitta.html#R3| title = Whitta Branch| publisher = rgreen.org.uk | accessdate =12 August 2018}}</ref>
Basil Rought-Rought died at the place of his birth on 27 October 1995.
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== *[http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/player/19483.html Basil Rought-Rought] at ESPNcricinfo *[https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/3/3355/3355.html Basil Rought-Rought] at CricketArchive
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rought-Rought, Basil}} Category:1904 births Category:1995 deaths Category:English cricketers Category:Norfolk cricketers Category:Minor Counties cricketers Category:H. D. G. Leveson Gower's XI cricketers Category:British Army personnel of World War II Category:Royal Norfolk Regiment officers Category:British World War II prisoners of war Category:British escapees Category:People from Brandon, Suffolk Category:Cricketers from Suffolk Category:Military personnel from Suffolk Category:20th-century English sportsmen