Arthur Mitchell (cricketer)


Arthur "Ticker" Mitchell was an English first-class cricketer, who played both for Yorkshire County Cricket Club and England.
Born in Baildon, Yorkshire, and nicknamed "Ticker" because of a habit of chatting to himself while batting, Mitchell was a solid, determined and sometimes dour middle order batsman who converted to become an opening batsman after the retirement of Percy Holmes in 1932. An accumulator of runs rather than a stroke maker, he very occasionally allowed himself to bat more freely, and when he did he revealed himself as a particularly fine cutter. He scored centuries in four consecutive innings for Yorkshire in 1933.
He was a particularly fine close-in fieldsman, noted for taking catches off the bowling of Hedley Verity. The Yorkshire cricket journalist John Bapty said of Mitchell's fielding: "His skill became such, and his fame mounted so that there were times when it was said he had missed a catch that never would have been accounted a chance had he not made it one."
Mitchell's Test cricket career might have consisted of just three matches on the 1933-34 tour of India, when he performed without distinction in what was, in effect, an England second eleven. But an injury to Maurice Leyland just before the Headingley Test against South Africa in 1935 led to Mitchell being summoned, literally, from his back garden. With scores of 58 and 72, he retained his place for the final Test, and played once more, against India in 1936.
His first-class career lasted from 1922 to 1945. Mitchell was appointed county coach to Yorkshire after World War II, and remained in the job until 1970.
He died in December 1976 in Bradford, Yorkshire, at the age of 74.