| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Alan Leonard Dixon | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 27 November 1933 Dartford, Kent, England | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Batting | Right-handed | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bowling | Right-arm medium Right-arm off break | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Domestic team information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1950–1970 | Kent | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Career statistics | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Source:CricInfo,10 November 2016 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Alan Leonard Dixon (born 27 November 1933) is a former English professional cricketer. He played for Kent County Cricket Club between 1950 and 1970.
Dixon made his first-class cricket debut for Kent in 1950 in a County Championship match against Essex at Clacton in August 1960. Dixon was aged 16 years and 248 days old on his debut. [1] At the time he was the second youngest player to play for the county after Wally Hardinge [1] and,as of 2016,is one of only five 16 year olds to have played for Kent. [1] He played just one match for the First XI in 1950 and once in 1954 before becoming a more regular member of the team in the 1955 season. [2] During this period he appeared regularly for the county Second XI in the Minor Counties Championship and was awarded his Second XI cap in 1951. [3] He was awarded his county cap in 1960 and played until the 1970 season,making a total of 378 first-class appearances for Kent as an all-rounder. [4] [5] Dixon also appeared twice for Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and once for an AER Gilligan XI as well as making 23 List A cricket for Kent during his career. [4] [5] Despite a relatively limited number of List A appearances he led the country in List A wickets taken in the 1967 season as Kent won the 1967 Gillette Cup.
Dixon had originally retired from cricket at the end of the 1957 season to become a travelling salesman before reconsidering at the start of the 1958 season and rejoining the county. [6] After retirement he coached cricket at Tonbridge School. [7] He coached,among others,Kent and England swing bowler Richard Ellison who credited Dixon with developing his talent. Ellison was selected as one of Wisden's four Cricketers of the Year in 1986. [8] [9]
In 2011 Dixon was short-listed as one of the 40 candidates for the Kent Legends Walkway at the St Lawrence Ground,the county's base in Canterbury. [10] He took 100 first-class wickets in a season for Kent in each season between 1964 and 1966,his highest total being 122 in 1964 [11] and as of 2016 is tenth in the list of all time wicket takers for Kent. [12]