Mervyn John Kitchen (born 1 August 1940), is a former English first-class cricketer and international umpire.
[1] In his playing days he was a left-handed batsman for Somerset County Cricket Club, making 15,230 runs in his 354 first-class games between 1960 and 1979.
Kitchen was born in Nailsea, Somerset where his father played local club cricket.
At this stage in his career, he was primarily a defensive batsman "which suited neither his temperament, for he was not a selfish man, nor his technique", according to one history of Somerset cricket.
[5] He played in most of Somerset's matches in the 1964 season and finally averaged more than 20 runs per innings, but returned to inconsistent performances and an uncertain place in the team in 1965.