Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Full name | Alan Robert Wassell | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Born | Fareham, Hampshire, England | 15 April 1940|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Batting | Left-handed | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bowling | Slow left-arm orthodox | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Domestic team information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Years | Team | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
1957–1966 | Hampshire | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
1959 | Marylebone Cricket Club | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Career statistics | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Source:Cricinfo,21 February 2010 |
Alan Robert Wassell (born 15 April 1940) is an English former first-class cricketer who played for Hampshire between 1957 and 1966. A member of their 1961 County Championship winning team,he took 320 wickets from 121 first-class matches for Hampshire as a slow left-arm orthodox bowler.
Wassell was born to a well-known Fareham family in April 1940. [1] He impressed in club cricket for Fareham United,taking with his slow left-arm orthodox bowling nine of the ten wickets to fall against the staff of Winchester College in August 1956. [2] His impressive performances continued into 1957,which gained him a place on the staff at Hampshire. [3] He made his debut in first-class cricket for Hampshire against Cambridge University at Bournemouth in 1957,in what was his only first eleven appearance that season. [4] Wassell made two further first-class appearances in 1958,which included his debut in the County Championship against Derbyshire. [4] He featured more regularly in first-class cricket in 1959,making eleven appearances for Hampshire and one for the Marylebone Cricket Club against Oxford University; [4] he took 25 wickets at an average of 27.24 in 1959. [5] However,the following season he appeared in just two first-class matches for Hampshire against Oxford and Cambridge Universities. [4]
At the start of Hampshire's 1961 County Championship winning season,the off-break bowler Mervyn Burden was preferred to Wassell in the Hampshire starting eleven. However,after July,Wassell became Hampshire's preferred spinner. [6] Making 21 appearances during the season, [4] he took 66 wickets at an average of 25.04,whilst taking four five wicket hauls. His season best figures of 7 for 87 came against Surrey,in which he took 12 for 163 across the match. [5] [7] [8] The match was notable for Wassell bowling 56 overs in Surrey's first innings,in which he took 5 for 75,and 36.3 overs in their second innings;this took the overall number of balls he bowled in the match to 561,a Hampshire record for a match that still stands as of 2024. [9] Having established himself in the Hampshire starting eleven and made large strides in his game during the 1961 season,Wassell was considered one of the most exciting spin bowling prospects in the country. [10] The following season he made 23 appearances,taking 60 wickets at an average of 27.83. [5] He made his highest first-class score with the bat in 1962,scoring 61 runs against Lancashire in a partnership of 95 for the seventh wicket with Leo Harrison. [11]
Making 24 appearances in 1963,Wassell took 70 wickets –the most he would take in a season –at an average of 23.74. [5] Against the touring West Indians at Southampton,he took four wickets in each West Indian innings,the most by a Hampshire bowler in the match. [12] Wassell played in Hampshire's inaugural List A one-day match against Derbyshire in the 1963 Gillette Cup, [13] with him taking three wickets in the match. [14] His fortunes began to reverse beginning in 1964,when he took 46 wickets from twenty matches at an average of 35.23. [5] In the same season,he made an additional two one-day appearances in the Gillette Cup against Wiltshire and Warwickshire. [13] He made thirteen first-class appearances for Hampshire in 1965,taking 29 wickets at an average of 26.62. [5] After making three first-class appearances in 1966, [4] alongside a single one-day appearance in the Gillette Cup, [13] Wassell released at the end of the season,along with Mike Barnard. [15] In 121 first-class matches for Hampshire,he took 317 wickets at an average of 27.05;he took a five wicket haul on eleven occasions. [16] With the bat,he scored 1,209 runs at a batting average of 8.95,making a single half century. [17] In four one-day matches,he took 8 wickets at an average of 27.37. [18]
Wassell married Joan Gladys Gatrell in July 1960 at St John the Evangelist's Church in Fareham. [19] Following the end of his first-class career,he continued to play cricket at club level for Gosport Borough in the Southern Cricket League. [20] Wassell suffered a stroke in January 2014,in which he lost his ability to speak. He regained some of his mobility through physiotherapy,which was funded by the Professional Cricketers' Association,of which he is an active member,following a recommendation by Peter Haslop. [21]
Amyas Evelyn Giles Baring,known as Giles Baring,was an English first-class cricketer,who was mostly associated as a fast bowler with Hampshire before the Second World War.
Clifford Walker was an English first-class cricketer,who played five matches for Yorkshire between 1947 and 1948,and then 121 matches for Hampshire between 1949 and 1954.
Alan Terry Castell is an English former cricketer who played for Hampshire between 1961 and 1971 at both first-class and List A level. He began his career as a leg-break and googly bowler,but later switched to medium-pace. In 112 first-class appearances,he took nearly 230 wickets.
Leo Harrison was an English first-class cricketer who played for Hampshire from 1939 to 1966. Making his debut in the County Championship before the Second World War,Harrison played initially as a batsman and reserve wicket-keeper to Neil McCorkell,an arrangement which continued until McCorkell's retirement in 1951,and Hampshire's brief experiment with Ralph Prouton as first-choice wicket-keeper,after which Harrison assumed the role of first-choice wicket-keeper after 1953. He played 387 first-class appearances for Hampshire,out of a total of 396 career first-class matches,and was a member of Hampshire's 1961 County Championship winning team.
Simon John Renshaw is an English former cricketer. He played cricket at first-class and List A level as a bowler predominantly for Hampshire. He also played at minor counties level for Cheshire and Staffordshire,and toward the latter part of his minor counties career,he was considered an all-rounder.
Mervyn Derek Burden was an English first-class cricketer.
Jonathan Richard Ayling is an English former first-class cricketer and cricket coach. He played first-class and List A one-day cricket for Hampshire as an all-rounder between 1987 and 1993,though ultimately his career came to a premature end through injury. Following his retirement,he was assistant and bowling coach at Hampshire until 2012.
Kevin St John Dennis Emery is an English former first-class cricketer.
Lawrence 'Larry' Roosevelt Worrell is a Barbadian-born English former first-class cricketer.
Harry Baldwin was an English first-class cricketer and umpire. Playing first-class cricket for Hampshire as an off break bowler between 1877 and 1905,he took 580 wickets in 150 matches for the county,forming a prolific partnership with Thomas Soar. As an umpire,he stood in 62 matches between 1892 and 1909.
Dennis Oliver Baldry is an English former first-class cricketer who played as an all-rounder for both Middlesex and Hampshire. Debuting in first-class cricket for Middlesex in 1953,he played irregularly for the county until 1958. He moved to Hampshire in 1959,and was a member of their 1961 County Championship winning team. He played for Hampshire in first-class cricket until 1962,and played in their inaugural List A one-day match in the 1963 Gillette Cup. A right-handed batsman and right-arm off break bowler,he score over 4,600 runs in 139 first-class matches,and took 83 wickets.
James Bailey was an English first-class cricketer. An all-rounder,he played first-class cricket for Hampshire in two spells,making 242 appearances for the county between 1927 and 1952. He scored over 9,000 runs for Hampshire and took over 450 wickets,enjoying much of his success as a cricketer following the Second World War. He achieved the double of 1,000 runs and 100 wickets in 1948,and as of 2024 he remains the last Hampshire player to achieve this feat.
Steven John Malone is an English former first-class cricketer and cricket umpire. A journeyman county cricketer,he played at first-class level for Essex,Hampshire,and Glamorgan. He played predominantly for Hampshire as a right-arm fast-medium bowler,taking 103 wickets from 46 first-class matches and 99 wickets from 65 matches List A one-day matches. After the end of his first-class career,he played Minor Counties Cricket and later became a first-class umpire.
William Guy Dible was an English first-class cricketer.
Malcolm Brewster Heath was an English cricketer who played first-class cricket for Hampshire from 1954 to 1962. Playing in over 140 first-class matches as a fast-medium bowler,Heath partnered opening bowler Derek Shackleton early in his career,before being utilised as a first-change bowler upon the arrival of Butch White. He was a member of the Hampshire team which won the County Championship for the first time in 1961. He took 527 wickets for Hampshire,before a hip-injury led to the end of his career in 1962. He later became a coach at St Paul's School,London.
George Edward Mansell Heath was an English first-class cricketer,who took over 400 wickets for Hampshire in a career spanning from 1937 to 1949,separated by the Second World War.
Charles James Knott was an English first-class cricketer,cricket administrator,and motorcycle speedway promoter. Knott began his first-class cricket career with Hampshire as a right-arm medium pace bowler,before switching to bowl off-spin from his third first-class match. Knott went onto be considered one of the best amateur spinners in England,and came close on a few occasions to being capped at Test level for England. Playing in 173 first-class matches between 1938 and 1957,he took 676 wickets,with 47 five wicket hauls. He remained connected to Hampshire following his retirement from playing,holding the post of chairman of cricket from 1967 to 1988. During that period he was instrumental in attracting some of the best young cricketers to Hampshire,and oversaw their second County Championship title in 1973.
Brian Stanley Valentine Timms is an English former first-class cricketer who played as a wicket-keeper for Hampshire from 1959 to 1968 and Warwickshire from 1969 to 1971.
Stanley Fenley was an English first-class cricketer who played as a leg spinner for both Surrey and Hampshire,making nearly 120 appearances in first-class cricket. He also stood in one first-class match as an umpire.
Reginald Arthur Dare was an English first-class cricketer and association footballer. In first-class cricket,he was associated as a slow left-arm orthodox bowler for Hampshire,with Dare taking 185 wickets in 109 first-class matches for the county. As an association football centre-forward,he played for Alton,Dorchester Town,Exeter City,and Southampton.