Kent Cricket has announced the passing of former Kent seamer, Alan Igglesden, at the age of 57.
Alan was born in Farnborough, at that time part of Kent, in 1964. As a teenager, he played for his home town club, Westerham Cricket Club in Kent, and his pacey seam bowling was instrumental in the club retaining its North Kent League title in 1983. He first played for Kent County Cricket Club’s Second XI in 1983.
‘Iggy’ made his debut for Kent against Somerset in July 1986, and in a career spanning two decades, went on to make 283 appearances for the county, taking 592 wickets across both first-class and List A cricket.
His Kent best-figures of 7-37 came against Zimbabwe B during Kent’s tour of the country after the conclusion of the 1992 season, and in total recorded 19 five-wicket hauls for the county of his birth, having been born in Farnborough.
The right-arm seamer was awarded Kent Cap no. 187 in 1989 during a season in which he took 90 wickets in 42 matches for Kent, having made his England Test debut that year.
For his country, Igglesden made seven appearances for England across both formats, taking eight wickets, including the dismissals of Mark Taylor and Steve Waugh on debut in the sixth Test of the 1989 Men’s Ashes series.
He was an inspiration to everyone he encountered
Igglesden suffered a seizure in 1999 and, after a routine MRI scan, doctors discovered a non-malignant but inoperable brain tumour. He was treated with radiotherapy and drugs and had seen a significant reduction in the size of the tumour. Following his diagnosis, he retired from the game in 1999 whilst playing minor counties cricket for Berkshire.
After his retirement from cricket, he became a sports centre manager at Woodhouse Grove School. He has also taught at Sutton Valence School in Kent
After cricket, he worked tirelessly to raise hundreds of thousands of pounds for The Brain Tumour Charity, the largest dedicated fundraiser of research into brain tumours globally, and an organisation of which he was a patron.
Kent Cricket Club say that their thoughts “are with his wife Liz and his friends and family at this desperately sad time”.
