Roy Swetman 1933 - 2023 RIP

 

Roy Swetman made his name as a wicket-keeper batsman with Surrey and earned 11 test caps whilst at The Oval but after he lost his England spot to Jim Parks, and then slipped behind John Murray in the pecking order, he gave up cricket for almost five years, returning to join Notts in 1966.

Born in Westminster on 25th October 1933, Roy Swetman learned his cricket in the Surrey leagues and first represented Surrey Second XI in 1951. He spent his National Service with the RAF and made his first-class debut at Edgbaston for the Combined Services versus Warwickshire on 20th, 21st and 22nd May 1953. He joined the Surrey staff in 1954, and made his Surrey debut in a championship fixture against Notts at the Oval on 31st July and 1st August 1954. Surrey won the contest by 10 wickets in two days with Swetman bowled by the legendary Aussie leg-spinner Bruce Dooland for a duck. He was initially understudy to Arthur McIntyre. Swetman made a further three first-class appearances in 1954 and six in the following season.

He was selected for an MCC “A” tour of Pakistan in 1955-56.  The tour nearly ended early after a prank by a group of England cricketers, including Swetman, resulted in home umpire Idris Begh getting drenched with water. Though Begh himself took it all in good spirits, the Pakistan authorities reacted rather differently, not least because the standard of umpiring had been the cause of some complaint on the tour, and diplomacy was needed to calm things sufficiently for the tour to be completed.

It seems an unlikely incident for the likeable and undemonstrative Swetman to have been involved with and he would certainly much rather be remembered as the man who kept to Jim Laker when he took all 10 in an innings against Australia in 1956. And before the stats-minded rise up in wrath – Laker achieved that remarkable feat twice in the summer of ’56, the first-time bowling for Surrey at The Oval when he took 10-86, a performance he always rated technically better than the more famous feat in the Old Trafford test. That season Swetman made 21 appearances in first-class cricket.

A useful right-hand batter, Swetman failed to consolidate his place in the England team when given first bite at replacing the long-serving Test wicket-keeper Godfrey Evans. He toured Australia and New Zealand with the Test team in 1958–59, playing his first Test when Evans was injured at Sydney in January scoring 41 and 5 and catching Norm O’Neill off Laker. He later played at Melbourne in the same series and then in both tests that followed in New Zealand (Christchurch and Auckland). He played three Tests against India in 1959, then toured the West Indies as the primary wicket-keeper in 1959–60. He lost his place at the end of the 1959-60 tour to Parks. His top Test score of 65 was made during an innings victory versus India at The Oval. Surprisingly retiring from county cricket after the 1961 season after 129 matches for Surrey, he toured South Africa and Rhodesia in 1962-63 appearing for a Commonwealth XI and for the International Cavaliers.

He returned to full-time cricket in 1966 to play for Notts as replacement for the retired Geoff Millman. During his two seasons with Notts, Swetman played in 56 First-Class matches making his Notts first-class debut at Trent Bridge versus Kent on 4th to 6th May. Batting at number three, he made 15 and 8 not out and caught Alan Knott off the bowling of Ian Davison in a rain-hit fixture. At Trent Bridge in August he hit his only championship ton, scoring 115 (as an opener) versus Essex. His only other first-class ton was the 107 he scored for MCC against his then County Surrey in the opening match of 1958. In 29 first-class appearances for Notts in 1966 he scored 880 runs @22.56 taking 61 catches and 2 stumpings and also received his County Cap. The following summer he performed less impressively scoring 595 runs @17.00 and making 47 dismissals (including 1 stumping) in 27 first-class appearances. Swetman appeared in three Gillette Cup matches for Notts with a top score of 48 in their narrow 11-run win versus then Minor County Durham at the Ropery Lane, Chester-le-Street in 1967. With the emergence of West Indian stumper Deryck Murray who first appeared for Notts as a batter only in July 1966 following his appearances early that summer for Cambridge University, Swetman left the Trent Bridge staff at the end of the 1967 season.

His full record for Notts is given below

 

	M	I	NO	RUNS	HS	AV’GE	CT	ST	100	50
First-Class	56	90	16	1475	115	19.93	107	3	1	6
List A	3	3	0	58	48	19.33	3	-	-	-

 

In addition he bowled 3-0-13-0 for Notts in first-class cricket.

Swetman then took another sabbatical from the game, to run a pub. After making one first-class appearance in 1971 for DH Robins’ XI versus the Indians at The Saffrons, Eastbourne he returned to join Gloucestershire to replace Barrie Meyer. He played for them for three seasons between 1972 and 1974 appearing in 45 first-class and 48 List A games before retiring full-time cricket after losing his place in the line-up to Andy Stovold.

Swetman’s full career record is given below:

 

BATTING	M		I		NO		RUNS		HS		AV’GE		CT	ST		100		50
Tests	11		17		2		254		65		16.93		24	2		-		1
First-Class	286		411		73		6495		115		19.21		532	66		2		22
List A	51		36		12		229		48		9.54		31	5		-		-
BOWLING		OVERS		M		RUNS		W		AV’GE		ARPO			BPW		BB
First-Class		15		0		69		1		69.00		4.60			90.00		1-10

 

He became an antiques expert and an artist specialising in portraits of cricketers and also making appearances for the Old England Eleven in the early 1980s.

He died in July 2023, aged 89 years.

Gloucestershire obituary