A NEWTONIAN has made an impassioned plea for the town to continue to remember the legacy of a famous local cricketer by naming a pavilion after him.

Born and bred in Newton Abbot, Bert Sowerby says the Baker’s Park pavilion should be named after Len Coldwell, just like the previous pavilion was.

Len, who played in seven Tests for England from 1962 to 1964, opened the ‘Len Caldwell Pavilion’ in August 1968.

It was demolished in 2021 as part of the redevelopment of the park.

And 92-year-old Bert feels that the new pavilion should also be called the same, in honour of Len.

‘It is not asking much’, Bert said.

‘It is better than to have it named after some obscure councillor!

‘I feel strongly about this’, Bert, who played alongside and was a friend to Len, added.

A right-arm fast-medium bowler, Len, alongside his bowling partner Jack Flavell, saw unprecedented success in English county cricket.

Len and Jack brought Worcestershire its first success in the County Championships in 1964 and 65.

‘The pavilion should be named the same as it was before, Len deserves to be recognised’, Bert said.

In 1961, Coldwell took 140 wickets and finished sixth in the national averages; the following year, his best, he took 152 wickets and was fourth.

Coldwell was not much of a batsman: in 15 years of first-class cricket, he failed to reach 40 runs in an innings.

He died in Teignmouth in 1996 at the age of 63.

‘There was no bigheadedness with Len’, Bert said.

‘He was a super guy, a very good man’, Bert added.