Chris Tolley was signed from Worcestershire in 1996 and spent two decades at Trent Bridge as player and coach.
Born on 30 December 1967 in Kidderminster, Christopher Mark Tolley began his career with his native county. A left arm seam bowler and right handed batsman, he had seven seasons at New Road, appearing in 63 First-Class and 48 limited overs matches for Worcestershire. He made his debut in the County Championship in July 1989 but his first experience of top cricket came earlier that season in a successful Combined Universities side in the Benson & Hedges Cup. Tolley, a student at Loughborough University, was part of a talented side, captained by Michael Atherton and including Nasser Hussain and many other future County cricketers, which beat Surrey and Worcestershire in group matches before suffering a close three-run defeat in the quarter final at Taunton.
At Trent Bridge, Tolley was used frequently in List-A cricket, starting in 80 games and taking 82 wickets, with his best figures of 5-16 coming against Hampshire at Southampton in 1996. Usually batting in the middle order, he contributed over 1,000 runs with a top score of 77 against Somerset in 1998.
In First-Class cricket, Tolley scored 10 fifties in 44 matches for Notts, with a top score of 78 coming against Gloucestershire in 1998. His best bowling figures were recorded in his home town of Kidderminster when his 7-45 took Nottinghamshire to victory over Worcestershire in 1998.
In 2001, Tolley played just twice for the County and moved into coaching. He was appointed as Director of the Nottinghamshire Cricket Academy and, over the next 15 years, oversaw the development of many future stars. By the time he left the role at the end of the 2016 season, players like Samit Patel, Jake Ball, Brett Hutton, Luke Wood, Tom Moores and Matt Carter had all featured within Tolley’s Academy programme.
May 2020
Nottinghamshire First-Class Number: 535