Colin Ingleby-Mackenzie

Alexander Colin David Ingleby-Mackenzie (15 September 1933 – 9 March 2006) was an English cricketer, cricket administrator, and businessman. Ingleby-Mackenzie played first-class cricket for Hampshire between 1951 and 1966, serving as Hampshire's last amateur captain. Through bold captaincy, he led Hampshire to their first County Championship title in 1961. An attacking batsman, he scored over 12,000 runs in first-class cricket. Following the end of his playing career, thatwas followed by a period working in the insurance industry, Ingleby-Mackenzie assumed the presidency of the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) between 1996 and 1998. Under his tenure, the MCC underwent an important social reform when its members voted to allow for the admission of female members. He later served as president of Hampshire between 2002 and his death, in March 2006.

Early life The only son of Surgeon Vice-Admiral Sir Alexander Ingleby-Mackenzie and Violetta Longstaffe, Colin Ingleby-Mackenzie was born in Dartmouth on 15 September 1933. He was educated firstly at Ludgrove School, where the ex-Yorkshire cricketer Alan Barber was headmaster, before attending Eton College. He was also elected President of Pop at Eton.

A year later, in September 1951, he made his debut in first-class cricket for Hampshire against Sussex at Bournemouth in the County Championship, but was dismissed without scoring by Alan Oakman in his debut innings. The following season, he made six first-class appearances for Hampshire, playing five County Championship matches, and once against the touring Indians. Due to his National Service commitments, he did not play for Hampshire in 1953.

Career with Hampshire Early years After completing his National Service, Ingleby-Mackenzie gained employment with Slazenger in Yorkshire, In 1955, he played only two first-class matches, playing one match apiece for Hampshire against Warwickshire, and for the Free Foresters against Oxford University. The tour took place in March and April 1956, with Ingleby-Mackenzie playing two first-class matches against Trinidad and a West Indies XI. It was during this season that he began to score runs and impress the more senior players at Hampshire. He made a maiden first-class century with an unbeaten 124 runs against Oxford University, in what was his first match of the season for Hampshire. He followed this up with an unbeaten 130 runs against Worcestershire at Cowes. There, he played two first-class matches against Jamaica. In his first season as captain, he led Hampshire to second-place in the County Championship, their highest ever finish. His century against Somerset at Bournemouth, that he made in 61 minutes, was the fastest century of the season. His performances that season saw him selected to play for the Gentlemen in the Gentlemen v Players match at Lord's, At the end of the season he played for both the South, in the North v South fixture, and for the MCC at the Scarborough Festival. where he made four first-class appearances. Following the 1962 season, he toured Africa and Malaya with a Commonwealth XI, playing in one first-class match against Rhodesia. Earlier in the season, he had the distinction of captaining Hampshire in their inaugural List A one-day match against Derbyshire in the Gillette Cup, with Ingleby-Mackenzie keeping wicket in place of regular wicket-keeper Brian Timms.

Having recovered from his illness, he toured Jamaica with the International Cavaliers in January 1964, who were captained by Denis Compton. In March, he proceeded to tour India and Thailand with E. W. Swanton's team, where he captained a team that contained many of the leading Test cricketers of the time, such as Richie Benaud and Garfield Sobers. He captained Hampshire to twelfth-place in both the 1964 County Championship and the 1965 County Championship. In the 1965 Gillette Cup, he led Hampshire to the quarter-finals. Prior to the 1965 season, he had toured Barbados with the International Cavaliers, captained by Trevor Bailey. Ingleby-Mackenzie retired, aged just 31, following the 1965 season; the last amateur to captain Hampshire, he passed the captaincy onto the professional Roy Marshall. Despite retiring, he returned to play three one-day matches in the 1966 Gillette Cup against Kent, Surrey, and Worcestershire.

Playing style and statistics In his first-class career, Ingleby-Mackenzie scored 12,421 first-class runs from 343 first-class matches, including eleven hundreds, at a relatively low batting average of 24.35, this figure was depressed at least in part because of his attacking instincts: in only one season (1956) when he played more than a handful of games did he average above 30. During this two-year tenure as president, he oversaw the approval and initial stages of construction of the futuristic media centre. As president, he initiated reforms to allow women to be elected MCC members, His first attempt to allow the admission of female members was not successful, as his proposal failed to receive the two-thirds majority required from members to pass. with him having forced two votes on the matter within seven months. He pronounced himself "absolutely delighted" at the decision.

He became cricket manager for his friend Sir Paul Getty at his ground at Wormsley, where he was responsible for arranging fixtures, raising teams, and leading tours. Ingleby-Mackenzie was elected president of Hampshire in 2002, having previously advised Hampshire chairman Rod Bransgrove in a consultancy role. Following his death, he was succeeded as president by Barry Richards in April 2007.

Personal life and death

When he retired from business, Ingleby-Mackenzie became chairman of the Country Gentlemen's Association. In December of the same year, just before Christmas, Ingleby-Mackenzie was diagnosed with a brain tumour. For his funeral, the hearse carrying his coffin passed beneath and adjacent to the stands as it circled Lord's before making its way to Kensal Rise Crematorium. A memorial service for Ingleby-Mackenzie was held on 29 June 2006 at St Paul's Cathedral, that was attended by more than 1,600 people; amongst those in attendance were six members of Hampshire's 1961 County Championship winning team. After his death, Wisden remarked that he "was one of the most extraordinary, and best-loved, men ever to play cricket".

In 2012, Hampshire named two new stands at the Rose Bowl after Ingleby-Mackenzie and the Australian Shane Warne; the east stand was named after Ingleby-Mackenzie, with a naming ceremony taking place during a One Day International between England and the West Indies, that was attended by members of his family.