Will Warren Obituary, Death – In addition to his family, friends, and coworkers, the untimely loss of Warren Cresswell, 47, following an intra-company rugby match on Friday, November 27, will be felt by the cricketers in Stroud and beyond, among whom he was a very well-liked character. Warren may be summed up in one word: affection. He was constantly competitive but always completely fair in cricket. In the summer of 1998, immediately following the debut of the new pavilion, he moved to Minchinhampton with his dear friend Jon Davies. Both had previously participated in sports at Bristol in the 1980s and 1990s, with Warren serving as captain of the University of Bristol Staff Cricket Club for a short while.
Warren and Jon quickly established themselves as pillars of our Minch club, and over the years, Warren seldom missed a Saturday game, occasionally planning vacations just so he wouldn’t miss one – much to the team’s delight but perhaps to the dismay of his wife Steph! We will all remember the part he played in helping us get to three consecutive KO finals. Warren frequently arrived just in time on match days after traveling a long distance from a business meeting he had likely canceled early. He was a true all-rounder when he arrived at Minch, but in more recent years, he had given up bowling and had switched to being a hard-hitting opening bat. Have you given up bowling? Well, not quite. He served the previous two seasons as vice captain.
A couple of seasons ago, in a late-summer game against Eastcombe that they had to win, he made the decision to come out of retirement and bowl a crucial but unscheduled over—something the regular captain would not consider, believe me. His eccentric (and time-consuming!) field settings were legendary among Minch players. Tim Philips twice pushed him into the football field on the opposite side of the road in his one-over maneuver. losing the ball, naturally. That was the last time he “gave it a whirl,” as far as I know. The younger players looked up to Warren as a father figure on the field; while he didn’t necessarily teach them how to play the game, he most definitely taught them how to conduct themselves on the cricket field. The younger players respected him for his impeccable cricketing manners.
In addition to the numerous runs he scored during his 11 years with the team, opposing teams will remember him for his fearless – some might even say reckless! – fielding at silly mid off while wearing all the necessary equipment. Finally, on a more personal note, he praised me for creating a “beautiful batting strip” early last summer while I was working as a groundsman at Minch. whole thing was a handshake. I decided it would be best to keep quiet after he went back to the pavilion after being caught out on the third ball of a “spitting, unpredictable wicket that was unfit for cricket.” Five minutes later, he was keeping the score, and everything had vanished. Warren was in that.
We send our deepest sympathies to Steph, their two kids, as well as their family and friends. He was a good man, and his passing will be felt by many. All cricket players who knew Warren will undoubtedly concur with me in that regard. Minchinhampton CC Chairman Mike Waring Dr. Warren Cresswell had extensive credentials in his field. He graduated from the University of Bristol with a PhD in ecology and a BSc in biology (first class). He founded Cresswell Associates in Brimscombe (along with his wife), which is now one of the top environmental consultancies in the UK and a part of the larger Hyder Consulting Group.
