{{short description|English cricketer and footballer}} {{Use dmy dates|date=March 2022}} '''Desmond Leonard Dolding''' (13 December 1922 – 23 November 1954) was an English footballer and cricketer.
Born in Nundygroog, South India, Dolding served as a bomb-aimer in the Royal Air Force during the Second World War.<ref name="wisden">{{cite book |title=Wisden Cricketers' Almanack |date=1955 |chapter-url=https://www.espncricinfo.com/wisdenalmanack/content/story/228429.html |via=ESPNcricinfo |access-date=23 April 2024 |chapter=Obituaries in 1954}}</ref>
He was a footballer playing as a winger for Chelsea (27 league appearances in 1946 – 1948) and Norwich City (12 appearances). He played non-league football for Wealdstone, Dover and Margate. Played in winning Wealdstone team in Middlesex Sports Red Cross final at Wembley in 1942 – beating RAF, Uxbridge in extra time. (said to be first amateur final played at Wembley)<ref>100 Images of a Works Cricket Team – D.E.Coleman</ref>
He was on the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) staff for seven years.<ref name="wisden"/> An excellent fielder, his main claim to fame on the cricket pitch was as twelfth man for England in the Lord's Test of 1949.<ref name="wisden"/> He played only once for Middlesex, against Yorkshire in 1951, but appeared frequently for the MCC as a right-arm leg-break bowler.<ref name="wisden"/><ref>{{cite web |title=Miscellaneous Matches Played by Len Dolding (5) |url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/29/29113/Miscellaneous_Matches.html |website=CricketArchive |access-date=23 April 2024 |url-access=subscription}}</ref>
On 12 November 1954, Dolding was a passenger in a car that collided with a trolleybus standard in Wembley.<ref>{{cite news |title=News in Brief |url=https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/CS70603629/TTDA?u=mclib&sid=bookmark-TTDA&xid=fea44150 |access-date=23 April 2024 |work=The Times |via=The Times Digital Archive |date=13 November 1954 |url-access=subscription}}</ref> The car was being driven by Middlesex teammate Syd Brown. Dolding died on 23 November 1954.<ref name="wisden"/>
==References== {{reflist}} *http://www.margatehistory.co.uk/lendolding.htm{{dead link|date=December 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dolding, Len}} Category:1922 births Category:1954 deaths Category:Royal Air Force personnel of World War II Category:Men's association football wingers Category:Chelsea F.C. players Category:Margate F.C. players Category:Norwich City F.C. players Category:Wealdstone F.C. players Category:Middlesex cricketers Category:English cricketers Category:Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers Category:English men's footballers Category:British people in British India Category:Road incident deaths in London Category:English Football League players Category:20th-century English sportsmen