Former Worcestershire chairman Duncan Fearnley is back in office at New Road following his election as the county’s new president.
The former bat-maker was elected to succeed Ken Mills at Worcestershire’s annual meeting.
Worcestershire enjoyed a golden era when Fearnley was chairman for 12 years from 1986 when his contacts helped to bring high profile signings such as Ian Botham and Graham Dilley to the club and celebrities such as Eric Clapton were regular visitors to New Road.
Indeed, Worcestershire won all four major domestic titles, including two County Championships, while Fearnley was chairman and his good friend Mike Jones was chairman of cricket.
Fearnley was briefly banned from Worcestershire matches in 2004 for what the then chief executive Mark Newton referred to as “a couple of drink-related incidents”.
He subsequently apologised and his election as president at the age of 70 rightly acknowledges the contribution he has made to Worcestershire cricket for 50 years.
Having played second team cricket for Yorkshire, Fearnley decided to join Worcestershire in 1961 in the expectation of having more first team opportunities.
He made his first-class debut in 1962 and went on to score more than 3,000 runs in 97 matches, including one century and 14 fifties. Fearnley later played Minor Counties cricket for Lincolnshire.
He took up bat-making during his time with Worcestershire and by the mid-1970s his brand was among the best known in the world with Fearnley bats being used by the likes of Botham, Graham Gooch, Allan Lamb and Allan Border.