Having been born in Chilwell in October 1919, Ron Giles impressed with his hometown club and enjoyed a successful trial at Trent Bridge in 1935, accepting the offer of a squad place for the remainder of the season. After a string of useful performances for the Second Eleven, he made his First-Class debut against Gloucestershire at Bristol in the final game of the 1937 season.
A right-hand bat and left-arm spin bowler, he batted at number nine on debut scoring 7 and 4 but his bowling proved very expensive with his two wickets costing 103 runs.
He made a winning contribution in his second appearance for the club against Hampshire in August 1938, taking the two decisive wickets with the last two balls of the final day, and retained his place in the side for the remaining two games of the season to finish with seven wickets at six runs each.
After the war, he joined Salts CC in the Bradford League but returned to the Notts ranks in 1947 making five appearances in the first eleven. In 1951 he was awarded his county cap and began to find form with the bat and struck his maiden First-Class century against Oxford University at The Parks. He went on to make eight First-Class centuries in all, three of them at Trent Bridge, with the final notable knock coming against Hampshire at Coates in 1957.
His final appearance came against Derbyshire at Trent Bridge in June 1959 by which time he’d amassed 7,639 runs and taken 23 wickets in 195 matches.
December 2020
Nottinghamshire First-Class Number: 366