Cecil Paris

Cecil Gerard Alexander Paris (20 August 1911 — 4 April 1998) was an amateur English first-class cricketer who played for Hampshire County Cricket Club eitherside of the Second World War, including as captain in 1938. Later in his life, he was a prominent cricket administrator. He was the first chairman of the Test and County Cricket Board and succeeded the Duke of Edinburgh as president of the Marylebone Cricket Club in 1975. He also held every administrative office at Hampshire until 1989. During the Second World War, Paris was a liaison officer for General Bernard Montgomery and was awarded the Czechoslovak War Cross. By profession, he was a solicitor and was a partner in his family's long-established Southampton law firm.

Cricket and military service The son of soldier Alexander Lloyd Paris, he was born in British India at Kirkee in August 1911. He was educated in England at The King's School, Canterbury, where he captained the school cricket team. Paris made his debut in first-class cricket for Hampshire against Worcestershire at Bournemouth in the 1933 County Championship, in what was his only appearance that season. He became a regular member of the Hampshire team under the captaincy of Lionel Tennyson, making sixteen appearances in 1934, which decreased to 12 appearances in 1935. It was in 1935 that he played for the Gentlemen in the Gentlemen v Players fixture at Folkestone. The official history of Hampshire County Cricket Club notes that he "captained the side with immense concentration and effort", but despite this Hampshire found themselves finishing in 14th place by the end of the season and Paris was replaced as captain for 1939 by George Taylor. He played just two County Championship matches in 1939, in addition to playing for the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) against Surrey at Lord's. being commissioned into the Royal Artillery as a second lieutenant in June 1939. He gained the war substantive rank of captain in October 1941, having graduated from the intermediate staff course prior to this appointment; he was conferred the temporary rank of major at the same time. He later served in the war as a liaison officer for General Bernard Montgomery. During his role as liaison officer between Montgomery and the 1st Czechoslovak Armoured Brigade under Major General Alois Liška, Paris was awarded the Czechoslovak War Cross, the Czechoslovak version of the British Military Cross. he would eventually retire from the Reserve of Officers in May 1962, with the rank of honorary major.

Following the war, he briefly returned to first-class for Hampshire in the 1948 County Championship, making four appearances. Besides playing cricket, he also played squash and rugby union (for the Hampshire county team in the latter). His chairmanship was seen by John Arlott as beneficial to the nascent Professional Cricketers' Association, with Paris recognising its potential before many players did so; he secured a £750 annual grant to keep the association alive until membership amongst players became the norm. An early challenge to his chairmanship of the TCCB came in 1969, when ITV took the TCCB to the High Court for alleged breach of contract when the broadcasting contract for cricket went to the BBC; the High Court found in favour of the TCCB. Other challenges during his twelve-month chairmanship included facilitating the expansion of one-day cricket and the D'Oliveira affair. and conversely, chairman of the International Cricket Conference. Following the end of his presidency, Paris became a patron of the club alongside Lord Denning. He became a partner in his family's well-established law-firm Paris, Smith and Randall in Southampton in 1938, the same year that he had assumed the Hampshire captaincy. His association with the firm lasted until his retirement in 1982. Following his death, the Cecil Paris Memorial Fund was founded under the auspices of the Hampshire County Cricket Youth Trust, where money raised through the fund would be used to support Hampshire's community and ethnic coaching programmes.