I fought the law…
Terry Jenner
There’s something inspiring in Jenner’s story of rehabilitation. After his career as a leg-spinning all-rounder finished in 1977, Jenner lost his focus and by 1988 was sentenced to six-and-a-half years in prison for stealing from his employer to repay gambling debts. Released after 18 months, he rebuilt his life as a spin-bowling coach and is now widely credited for his work with Shane Warne and with England’s young leg-spinners.
Leslie Hylton
Few mention fast bowling when they talk of Hylton. He was, however, one of the quickest bowlers in the world in the 1930s and performed admirably against the MCC tourists in the Caribbean in 1934/35. Yet the Jamaican is remembered primarily as the only Test cricketer known to have been executed. He was found guilt of murdering his wife after she had admitted adultery. His claim that he had attempted to shoot himself but missed was undermined by the presence of seven bullets in his wife’s body. It meant he had stopped and reloaded the gun.
Inzamam-ul-Haq
The former Pakistan captain was arrested in Toronto after attacking a spectator with a bat. The spectator had been using a megaphone to heckle Inzamam, repeatedly calling him ‘potato.’ Charges were eventually dropped, though Inzi was suspended for two ODIs.
Shivnarine Chanderpaul
The West Indian left-hander once exchanged shots with police officers who he mistook for ‘bandits.’ “It was really scary,” his wife, Amy recalled. “We were eating some Kentucky
Fried Chicken on the sea wall, then out of nowhere appeared these men.” Alarmed by bright lights being shone into his car, Chanderpaul opened fire and shot a uniformed policeman in the hand. He then fled, but was stopped at a roadblock. After compensating the policeman, charges were dropped.
Frank Foster
A truly tragic figure, Foster could have been one of the greatest of them all. An outstanding left-arm quick bowler in the style of Wasim Akram, and an aggressive right-handed batsman, Foster led Warwickshire to their first championship in 1911 and played 11 Tests with some success. His bowling played a major role in the 1911/12 Ashes triumph and he is widely credited with the invention of leg theory
(aka Bodyline). Alas, he was injured in a motorbike accident during the First World War and never played again. It precipitated a sharp decline. Mental illness and a huge thirst accelerated his descent and he spent several nights in prison in connection with a murder trial (he was cleared despite being found in bed with the deceased) and for hitting a bailiff. He was banned from Edgbaston and ended his days in an asylum.
Mark Vermeulen
Another sad story, but one that might yet have a happy ending. The Zimbabwean opener’s career appeared to be over after he was charged with arson – he set fire to the Harare Sports Club and the Zimbabwe National Academy. He was cleared on the grounds of mental illness, however, after medical evidence proved that he had suffered epilepsy after sustaining a broken skull in early 2004 after being struck on the head by a bouncer. Encouragingly, and against all the odds, Vermeulen appears to be on the road to rehabilitation and was recently named in the Zimbabwe A team. He also offered to help rebuild the academy.
Johnny Shilton
Shilton was a brilliant left-arm spinner whose bowling helped Warwickshire achieve first-class status. His tastes exceeded his budget, however, and he resorted to shoplifting and ‘borrowing’ to fund his lifestyle. Committee minutes from Warwickshire relate that Shilton missed the 1895 season through “being in prison for debt” and he drowned his sorrows, dying from liver failure, aged just 37.
Walter Gilbert
A cousin of WG Grace, Gilbert was a quality all-rounder in his own right and represented Middlesex and Gloucestershire in 175 first-class games. His career came to an abrupt halt, however, when he was found stealing from his colleagues’ pockets in the dressing room and, shamed and disgraced, he emigrated to Canada.
Roy Gilchrist
Mean spirited and quick tempered, Gilchrist could bowl like the wind; he is one of very few fast bowlers to have hit the sight screen first bounce. His Test career came to an end, when he was sent home from India in 1959 for bowling beamers – sometimes from 18 yards – and for “an incident with a knife”.
Playing in the Lancashire leagues, Gilchrist once hit a batsman with a stump. But it was his wife, Novlyn, who
felt the full force of his vile disposition after he held her against a wall and branded her with a hot iron during a domestic disagreement in
1967. He escaped with just three months’ probation, though in summing-up the judge commented: “I hate to think English sport has sunk
so far that brutes will be tolerated because they are good at games.”
Garth Le Roux
A strong, fast bowler and belligerent batsman, Le Roux would surely have enjoyed a successful international career had his peak years not coincided with South Africa’s exclusion from world cricket. He was rated as fast as anyone in World Series Cricket and served Sussex with distinction between 1978 and 1987. Last year, however, Le Roux was sentenced to four years in prison for tax evasion.
Vallence Jupp
An off-spinning all-rounder who played eight Tests for England and became captain and secretary of Northants, Jupp’s career was interrupted in 1935 when sentenced to nine months in prison for manslaughter. He had been involved in a car accident that killed the pillion rider of a motorbike.
Abdul Qadir
The 1980s Pakistan leg-spinner once ‘did a Cantona’ and jumped into the crown in Barbados to hit a spectator. Charges were dropped after Pakistan cricket made a contribution to police funds.
Ted Pooley
He should have been England’s wicketkeeper in the first Test ever played, but instead died in poverty without a single appearance at the highest level. Instead of playing at Melbourne in 1877, Pooley found himself on trial in Christchurch after a violent disagreement over an unpaid gambling debt. Though cleared of serious charges, Pooley literally missed the boat to Australia and was never selected again.
Research by George Dobell. (Thanks to Robert Brooke for additional material).
