[1] He was a right-arm fast-medium bowler and tail-end right-handed batsman who played first-class cricket for Nottinghamshire and Leicestershire between 1958 and 1969.
[2] He made his first-class debut for Nottinghamshire in 1958 at the age of 17 years and 181 days.
[3] Cotton took his best first-class bowling figures in 1967 for Leicestershire against the touring Indian team, when he "utterly demolished the tourists' batting in just over two hours", finishing with 9 for 29 and dismissing the Indians for 63.
[4] He took three wickets in four balls for Nottinghamshire against the touring South African team in 1960, and took a hat-trick on the first morning of Leicestershire's match against Surrey at The Oval in May 1965.
[3][5] This biographical article related to an English cricket person born in the 1940s is a stub.