{{Short description|English cricketer (1926–2017)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2022}} {{Use British English|date=February 2016}} {{Infobox cricketer | name = Doug Insole | image = Doug Insole G&P 2012.jpg | caption = | fullname = Douglas John Insole | birth_date = {{Birth date|1926|4|18|df=y}} | birth_place = Clapton, London, England | death_date = {{death date and age|2017|8|6|1926|4|18|df=y}} | batting = Right-handed | bowling = Right-arm medium | columns = 2 | column1 = Test | matches1 = 9 | runs1 = 408 | bat avg1 = 27.19 | 100s/50s1 = 1/1 | top score1 = 110* | deliveries1 = – | wickets1 = – | bowl avg1 = – | fivefor1 = – | tenfor1 = – | best bowling1 = – | catches/stumpings1= 8/– | column2 = First-class | matches2 = 450 | runs2 = 25,241 | bat avg2 = 37.61 | 100s/50s2 = 54/126 | top score2 = 219* | deliveries2 = 9,020 | wickets2 = 138 | bowl avg2 = 33.91 | fivefor2 = 1 | tenfor2 = 0 | best bowling2 = 5/22 | catches/stumpings2= 366/6 | international = true | country = England | testdebutagainst = West Indies | testdebutdate = 20 July | testdebutyear = 1950 | lasttestdate = 30 May | lasttestagainst = West Indies | lasttestyear = 1957 | source = http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/player/15399.html Cricinfo | date = 6 November | year = 2022 }}
'''Douglas John Insole''' {{post-nominals|CBE}} (18 April 1926<ref name="Cap">{{cite book |title=If The Cap Fits |last=Bateman |first=Colin |year=1993 |publisher=Tony Williams Publications |isbn=1-869833-21-X |page=98 }}<!--|accessdate=20 April 2011--></ref> – 5 August 2017) <ref name=dt>[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/cricket/2017/08/06/former-england-selector-essex-captain-doug-insole-dies-aged Obituary] The Daily Telegraph</ref> was an English cricketer, who played for Cambridge University, Essex and in nine Test matches for England, five of them on the 1956–57 tour of South Africa, where he was vice-captain to Peter May. After retiring from playing, he was prominent in cricket administration, and served as chairman of the England selectors and as President of the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.espncricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/149597.html |title=The IPL is born |work=ESPN Cricinfo |date=18 April 2006 |access-date=18 April 2018}}</ref>
==Life and career== Insole was born in Clapton, London, attended the Monoux School, Walthamstow, and lived most of his adult life in Chingford. He read history at St Catharine's College, Cambridge, where he was captain of Cambridge University's cricket team. Playing as an amateur, he scored 20,113 first-class runs for Essex, the ninth highest aggregate for the club. He played as a batsman who also occasionally bowled and kept wicket, and was captain of the Essex team from 1950 to 1960. He was one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year in 1956. He was President of the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) for twelve months, beginning on 1 October 2006. For his many services to cricket, Insole was appointed a CBE in 1979.
Insole was chairman of selectors for England in the 1960s, and in 1968, he was criticized for presiding over the non-selection of Basil D'Oliveira for a tour to South Africa. Only later did it become generally known that the selectors had been pressured into omitting D'Oliveira because he was a 'coloured' South African and his inclusion in a team to visit the country, then under apartheid, was thought to be undiplomatic.<ref name=obituary>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2017/aug/06/doug-insole-obituary|title=Doug Insole obituary|author=Peter Mason|website=The Guardian|date=6 August 2017}}</ref>
Also during Insole's time Geoffrey Boycott was dropped, in 1967 after having scored 246 not out. Boycott admitted to still feeling aggrieved about this over 40 years later, while commenting on the third Test between New Zealand and England at Napier on 24 March 2008 and again during the ''Test Match Special'' commentary of England against the West Indies at Edgbaston on 7 June 2012, where he said that Insole "should have spelt his name with an A!"<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/cricket/18341799|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120608055550/http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/cricket/18341799|url-status=dead|archive-date=8 June 2012|title=England v West Indies, third Test, day one, Edgbaston as it happened|date=7 June 2012|publisher=BBC|location=London|access-date=7 June 2012}}</ref> Again on 9 August 2014 during the 4th Test against India at Old Trafford, Insole's name was mentioned and Boycott reiterated his thoughts on how Insole's name should be spelt.<ref>TMS</ref>
Insole was a first team footballer for the amateur Corinthian-Casuals F.C., and played in the 1956 FA Amateur Cup final, before they lost to Bishop Auckland in a replay.<ref name="Cap"/> He managed the 1978–79<ref name="cricinfo">{{cricinfo|id=15399}} by David Liverman</ref> and 1982–83 Ashes tours to Australia,<ref name=obituary/> and for nine years to 2006 was chair of the European Cricket Council.<ref name="ECC">{{cite web | url=http://www.espncricinfo.com/icc-development/content/story/252663.html | title=Roger Knight to succeed Doug Insole as ECC Chairman | work=ESPN Cricinfo | date=7 July 2006 | access-date=7 August 2017 | author=ECC}}</ref><ref name="cricinfo"/> Insole died on 5 August 2017, aged 91. His death was announced by Essex County Cricket Club the following day.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.essexcricket.org.uk/2017/08/06/doug-insole-1926-2017/|title=Doug Insole (1926-2017)|publisher=Essex County Cricket Club|date=6 August 2017}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * {{cricinfo|id=15399}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Insole, Doug}} Category:1926 births Category:2017 deaths Category:Corinthian-Casuals F.C. players Category:English cricketers Category:England Test cricketers Category:Alumni of St Catharine's College, Cambridge Category:Cambridge University cricketers Category:Wisden Cricketers of the Year Category:Presidents of the Marylebone Cricket Club Category:Essex cricketers Category:Essex cricket captains Category:People educated at Sir George Monoux College Category:England cricket team selectors Category:Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers Category:Gentlemen cricketers Category:North v South cricketers Category:Free Foresters cricketers Category:Gentlemen of England cricketers Category:Cricketers from the London Borough of Hackney Category:Men's association football players not categorized by position Category:H. D. G. Leveson Gower's XI cricketers Category:English men's footballers Category:20th-century English businesspeople Category:Cambridge University cricket captains Category:Commanders of the Order of the British Empire