# Martin Horton

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**Martin John Horton** (21 April 1934[1] – 3 April 2011) was an [English](/source/English_people) [cricketer](/source/Cricket), who played in two [Tests](/source/Test_cricket) in 1959. He was born in [Worcester](/source/Worcester,_England), [England](/source/England), and played the bulk of his [first-class cricket](/source/First-class_cricket) for his [native county](/source/Worcestershire_County_Cricket_Club). After his career in England, he became New Zealand's first national cricket coach.

The cricket writer Colin Bateman described Horton as "a versatile [all-rounder](/source/All-rounder) who could bat anywhere in the top six and who twice took more than 100 wickets in a season with his [off-spin](/source/Spin_bowling)...".[1]

## Life and career

Horton made his debut for [Worcestershire](/source/Worcestershire_County_Cricket_Club) in 1952, and was an integral part of the side which won the [County Championship](/source/County_Championship) in 1964 (for the first time in the county's history) and 1965.[1] He passed 1,000 runs in a season on 11 occasions, scoring 2,468 runs in 1959, the year he won his two Test caps. He scored a half century against [India](/source/India_cricket_team) in his first Test and took 2 for 24 in his second. He was dropped from the side, never to return. He achieved the [double](/source/Double_(cricket)) in 1955 and 1961, and he took 9 for 56 against the [1955 South Africans](/source/South_African_cricket_team_in_England_in_1955). In nearly two decades of cricket, he took 825 first-class wickets in all and scored 23 centuries with the bat.

In late 1966, Horton moved to [New Zealand](/source/New_Zealand) to begin a five-year contract as the [national team's](/source/New_Zealand_cricket_team) [coach](/source/Coach_(sports)),[2] a position he eventually held for seventeen seasons. He also played four seasons in the [Plunket Shield](/source/Plunket_Shield) with [Northern Districts](/source/Northern_Districts_men's_cricket_team) from 1967–68 to 1970–71.[3] He returned to England in 1983 to become cricket coach at the [Royal Grammar School](/source/RGS_Worcester), a post he held until 1996. He also became chairman of Worcestershire County Cricket Club.

Horton died following a long illness in April 2011.[4]

## References

**Notes**

1. Bateman, Colin (1993). [*If The Cap Fits*](https://archive.org/details/ifcapfits0000unse/page/91). Tony Williams Publications. p. [91](https://archive.org/details/ifcapfits0000unse/page/91). ISBN 1-869833-21-X.

1. ["N.Z. Cricket Coach: Horton is Appointed"](https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19661019.2.188). *Press*. 19 October 1966.

1. *[Wisden](/source/Wisden_Cricketers'_Almanack)* 2012, pp. 200–1.

1. Williamson, Martin. ["Former England allrounder Martin Horton dies"](http://www.espncricinfo.com/england/content/story/509521.html). ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 4 April 2011.

**Sources**

- [*Daily Telegraph* obituary](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/8433140/Martin-Horton.html) Retrieved 10 Apr 2011

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Martin Horton](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Horton) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Horton?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.