George Mann (cricketer)

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George Mann (cricketer) bigraphy, stories - English Test and County cricketer

George Mann (cricketer) : biography

6 September 1917 – 8 August 2001

Francis George Mann CBE, DSO, MC (6 September 1917 – 8 August 2001) was an English cricketer, who played for Cambridge University, Middlesex and England. He was born at Byfleet, Surrey and died at Stockcross, Berkshire.

Life and career

As a cricketer, George Mann was a right-handed middle-order batsman. His father, Frank Mann, also captained England, making them the first father and son to both captain England. Colin and Chris Cowdrey are the only other father and son to have done this for England.

Mann captained England in each of his seven Test matches, winning two, and drawing the other five; his father had also been captain in every Test he played in. Wisden said of Mann: "as a captain he was ideal, zealous to a degree, and considerate in all things at all times". After leading England in South Africa in 1948/49, Mann led his side for two Tests in the following summer, before he stood down, citing inability to participate regularly due to his family’s brewing business commitments (Mann, Crossman & Paulin). Mann was a main board director and retained his position on the new company board when the brewery merged with Watney Combe & Reid in 1958.

F.G. Mann was chairman of the Test and County Cricket Board (TCCB) from 1978–83; most notably during the controversy over the rebel tour which Geoff Boycott and Graham Gooch led to South Africa in 1982.

His son, Simon, was jailed for thirty-four years in Equatorial Guinea in 2008, on charges related to an attempted coup in 2004, but was pardoned on 2 November 2009.