David Wilde

It is always sad when a player you associate with your formative years of cricket watching passes away. Perhaps it is a reminder of one's own mortality, but news of the death of David Wilde was one of these moments.

David played 23 matches for Derbyshire between 1970 and 1972 and my Dad and I saw a fair few of them. Tall and powerfully built, the left armer could bowl with surprising pace and, with Chris Armishaw, suggested the traditional rich county seam bowling strength was well-stocked. With Mike Hendrick and Alan Ward ahead of them, the next generation looked to be in place under the tutelage of Edwin Smith, the county coach at the time.

Yet it didn't materialise. By 1972 Ward's best days were already behind him, while Armishaw, after displays suggesting genuine promise, preferred a solid career in banking over the 'gamble' of a less lucrative first-class cricket career. He was to go on to become the scourge of league batters for many seasons thereafter.

David Wilde looked set to offer a useful variation, as left-armers always do, but the javelin throwing of his youth left him with an inconsistency in his action which was noted on the circuit. He took wickets and bowled well in some of those matches, with a first-class best of 3-27 to go with a Sunday best of 3-31, but attempts to resolve the occasional 'kink' in his arm were unsuccessful. 

For a county that had endured unjust scrutiny of both Harold Rhodes and Peter Eyre in the previous decade, it was important to be seen to be keeping their house in order and Wilde was released at the end of the 1972 season. 

His county career was brief, but there are plenty of us who have sat around the  boundary edge over the years have never done that.

Rest in peace, David. My condolences go to family and friends at this sad time.