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Yet looks and mien can be misleading and somehow this nice-as-pie, laid-back,
even-tempered charmer won 30 Test caps, over half of them against a West
Indies that inflicted two whitewashes over England in 1984 and 1985/6.
He also won 28 ODI caps for England, including the 1987 World Cup final, as
well as four County Championships with Middlesex for whom he also won three
NatWest Trophy finals and two Benson and Hedges Cup finals. Thereafter, he
spent 20 successful years as a stockbroker on the institutional sales desk
with James Capel and Cazenove, since subsumed within JP Morgan.
At one stage, Cazenove were stockbrokers to over fifty per cent of the
companies in the FTSE 100, a daunting prospect though one Downton never
shrank from. Indeed, one former colleague reckoned he was always positively
affirming, spotting problems before they arose and never minding when others
took the credit.
For all the testimonies to his good nature, he clearly has steel behind the
easy smile, as revealed when he put Phil Edmonds in his place during a
NatWest Final against Kent in 1984.
“Philippe was playing up about something and we were losing focus,” recalled
Mike Gatting, Middlesex’s captain at the time. “I had tried to sort it out
but I just seemed to make things worse until Paul absolutely tore a strip
off him. After that he did what he was told, even though we did not bowl him
again in the match.”
It is not the only incidence where he revealed a tough streak and another
Middlesex player remembered him sorting out a petulant Mark Ramprakash with
deft precision when Downton was acting captain. He was also in charge when
Essex were on top in a Championship match at Lord’s, and they turned down
the umpires’ offer of bad light. Sensing the game slipping away he whistled
up two of Middlesex’s many fast bowlers and instructed them to bowl as many
bouncers as they could get away with in order to force the batsmen into
taking the light – which they did. It was a cynical act but one that enabled
Middlesex to draw the game.
Downton’s later career in stockbroking was something he had obviously
considered during his playing career, as I recall him swotting for his exams
during the 1987 World Cup in India and Pakistan. Yet he still found the time
to minister to his sick room mate (your correspondent), after I spent the
best part of two days in Rawalpindi paying homage to the porcelain gods of
Armitage and Shanks.
If a career in the City was something he planned after cricket it was forced
upon him suddenly, in 1990, after a freak accident saw him struck in the eye
by a bail during a Sunday League match in Basingstoke. He suffered a
detached retina and, although he tried to play on the following season, he
was forced to retire when he found his wicket-keeping compromised in
anything but bright sunshine.
His name, made in cricket, was something of a novelty at first in the City,
though he quickly learned to thrive in his new environment. One colleague
recalls how, at the start, a client was aghast upon learning that Downton
would be looking after their portfolio while their usual stockbroker went on
holiday.
“He’s a wicket-keeper you’re the stockbroker, let’s remember that,” was the
gist, though the cricket was never mentioned again once he had settled in.
Now, after two successful careers, he is about to embark on a third, that of
managing director of England cricket. The post is only six years old, after
being created as a result of the last Ashes whitewash in 2006/7, and its
occupant decides the direction of England cricket, as well as the personnel
and systems that shape it.
The director of cricket, currently Andy Flower, is answerable to him and he
will be meeting with Downton over the next few days following the latter’s
arrival here on New Year’s Eve.
Flower will deliver his blueprint for getting the Ashes urn back and winning
the World Cup, a trophy that still eludes England. Downton will absorb it
all, chew over the information, and make his first decisions when he takes
over full time in February.
For those who may have misgivings about a man who has been out of top-class
cricket for 22 years, Downton has been one of the longest serving members of
the Middlesex committee.
Angus Fraser, Middlesex’s director of cricket, has also had dealings with him
and has nothing but admiration for Downton, who he says is unfailingly open
and outgoing with people.
“He gets his point over in a persuasive way without being domineering,” said
Fraser. “He likes structure and it is easy to underestimate him as he is not
looking for headlines.
“We all know he was a gutsy and intelligent player who loves the game and I
expect him to bring all that and more to his new job.”
