Dick Heard dies

Dick Heard, the oldest surviving captain of the OCCC, has died at his home in Long Ditton at the age of 92.

One of the most successful club batsmen produced by Cranleigh, Dick captained the club for just one season – in 1935 – but between 1929 and 1939 he was consistently the side’s leading run-scorer. In 1931 he scored 505 runs for the OCCC, and in the summer as a whole he scored over 3,000 runs. Work commitments prevented him playing at all after the war.

He spent three years in the 1st XI at Cranleigh - during which time he scored two hundreds – and was selected to play for Surrey Young Cricketers and the Public Schools XI in 1928.

His hard-hitting style was well known. In 1929 the Surrey Advertiser reported that Dick scored a hundred for Hampton Wick in 29 minutes, and earlier in the season he had smashed 88 in 24 minutes.

He was also a leading member of the OCRFC, playing in the first match at Thames Ditton in November 1928 and holding his place in a side which boasted up to four full internationals. He always said that his biggest thrill was playing in front of 15,000 people at Twickenham in 1932 when the OCRFC got to the semi-finals of the Middlesex Sevens.