Don Topley Cricketer
Thomas Donald Topley (born 25 February 1964) known as Don Topley or Toppers is a former English cricketer. Employed with the ground staff at Lord's Cricket Ground in London in 1984, he was recruited as a substitute fielder for one Test match involving England, before a brief appearance for Norfolk and Surrey led to a 10-year career with Essex, while supplementing his income during the off-season period as a postman. As a right-arm medium-fast bowler, Topley took 464 wickets at the top level of county cricket before being released from his contract in 1994, whereupon he made accusations that two 1991 county matches were fixed. Together with Guy Lovell, Topley took part in an interview with the Sunday Mirror stating that during matches against Lancashire, Essex were approached by the opposing team and accepted their offer of throwing one match in the Sunday League in return for Lancashire throwing the two side's next encounter in the County Championship. The Test and County Cricket Board reported that they had found no substance to the revelations, and Topley was severely ostracised by his former team-mates after the interview. Topley was also a coach in Zimbabwe from 1990 to 1992, and, being an alumnus of the Royal Hospital School in Suffolk, returned there after his career to coach cricket. His brother, Peter Topley, had a brief career for Kent and his son, Reece Topley, is a left-arm fast-bowler for Essex and England U-19s.