Dan Piachaud (1937 - 2026)

Born Colombo, Sri Lanka 1.3.1937. ‘Dan’ Piachaud was an off-break bowler who played for Oxford University from 1958-1961 winning his ‘blue’ in all four years, and for Hampshire in 12 matches in 1960.

He was educated at St Thomas’ College, Mount Lavinia, Colombo where he was cricket captain 1955/6. He came to England to study at Keble College, Oxford and at the University he made his first-class debut against Gloucestershire in May 1958, batting in the middle order but not bowling – in that first year a score of 40 against Derbyshire in the Parks would be his highest in first-class cricket. He did eventually bowl regularly taking 41 wickets at 20.07 including figures of 15-9-14-1 in the Cambridge first innings in the ‘Varsity’ match at Lord’s. In 1959, he took a couple of top order batters as Oxford won and in the hot, dry summer reached 50 wickets for the University. 

There were another 47 university wickets in 1960 although fewer in 1961 as studies and examinations meant absence until the side went ‘on tour’ – he did nonetheless take 3-30 in the Cambridge first-innings. These were still the years when the two premier cricket universities often played cricket of high quality - his team-mates over these years included future Test cricketers Nawab of Pataudi & AA Baig (India), Javed Burki (Pakistan) and AC Smith (England) and Cambridge included future England captains Ted Dexter, Mike Brearley & Tony Lewis, plus Roger Prideaux (England) and Henry Blofeld. 

In the July vacation of 1958 ‘Dan’ had played for Hampshire 2^nd XI in the year before the launch of the 2^nd XI Championship - he took four wickets against the Army - and in 1959 he toured Canada with MCC. Another of his Oxford team-mates was Charles Fry, the grandson and son of Hampshire players CB and S Fry and when the 1960 University term ended the pair were invited to play some matches for Hampshire’s county side – they were as a consequence effectively the last amateur debutants for the county before that distinction was abolished in 1963, playing under the amateur captain Colin Ingleby-Mackenzie.

In his 12 matches Dan took 29 wickets at 29.31 with a best of 4-62 (& 2-72) in a drawn match with Essex at Bournemouth in late August. He began by taking 3-4 in an innings victory at Trent Bridge, followed by a drawn match against Champions Yorkshire at Bradford and there were figures of 4-96 against Somerset and 4-97 against Sussex, both at Bournemouth, a ground that normally suited spin bowlers. He rarely scored runs for Hampshire (HS 13) but he did work his way from number 11 to nine and reached double figures against Northamptonshire in Frank Tyson’s final first-class match. His last county match came one match later in a rain-spoiled game at Taunton where he did not get to bat and ‘retired’ with 0-14 in four overs.

It was not easy for him to establish himself at Hampshire where Sainsbury had one spinning place guaranteed and the professional staff included also the experienced off-spinner Mervyn Burden plus promising youngsters Alan Wassell (slow left-arm) and Alan Castell (leg breaks). In 1962 he appeared in a few non-first-class matches for Oxford University and in one first-class game, he played once more against Cambridge University for MCC (3-34 & 4-19). In 1964 he played for EW Swanton’s XI against an Indian XI in Calcutta and there were other first-class matches for MCC, Free Foresters, and the Gentlemen v Players. His last recorded first-class match was at Colombo in January 1969 for Ceylon against a strong MCC side on their way to a Test series in Pakistan – for MCC, John Edrich and Tom Graveney scored centuries and Keith Fletcher 81 in a drawn match.