Ray Carter

Raymond George Carter (14 April 1933 – 13 November 2012) was an English cricketer who played first-class cricket for Warwickshire between 1951 and 1961. He was born in Small Heath, Birmingham, but no place of death is recorded on the main cricket websites.

Carter was a tail-end right-handed batsman and a right-arm bowler who began as a fast-medium opening bowler but who later developed a second style, bowling off-breaks. As a multi-purpose bowler, he had two good seasons with the Warwickshire first eleven in 1957 and 1958. From 1952, he was on National Service and when he returned to Warwickshire in 1955, he faced competition for a fast-bowling place from other young bowlers, including Roly Thompson, Jack Bannister and Keith Dollery. He remained an irregular first-team player until the 1957 season, when his versatility won him a fairly regular place in the team, playing 23 matches, the most he managed in any single season. In 1957, he took 70 wickets at the somewhat high (for the time) average of 29.15; in the wet summer of 1958, he did even better from 21 matches, taking 81 wickets at 20.01. He was awarded his county cap for his bowling in 1958. But it was the penultimate match of his first-class career and he left the Warwickshire staff at the end of the season.