Robert Neal Abberley (22 April 1944 –8 August 2011) was an English first-class cricketer. A stalwart county player, [1] he was a right-handed batsman and occasional right arm medium pace bowler.
He was born in Stechford,Birmingham and educated at Saltley Grammar School. He played for his native Warwickshire from 1964 to 1979.
He had a modest batting record (he averaged under 25 as a specialist batsman),and played over 250 times for the "Bears". He made 3 first-class hundreds,with a best of 117 not out against Essex and scored his only one day hundred,113 not out,against Hampshire.
He moved into coaching in 1980 after retiring from the game,initially as Warwickshire's Second XI coach and later with a 'roving brief' at all levels in the club. [2] He was particularly involved in the development of Ian Bell and the England team wore black armbands in his honour during the Test against India at Edgbaston in the days following his death.
Abberley made his first-class debut for Warwickshire in 1964 against Cambridge University,scoring a half-century in the drawn match. [3] The following year,he made his County Championship debut against Yorkshire,but was unable to bat due to injury. [4] In 1966,Abberley struck his first-class century,scoring 117 not out against Essex,the highest first-class score of his career. The 1966 season proved to be Abberley's most prolific in first-class cricket,with 1315 runs scored at an average of 28.58. He toured Pakistan with an Under 25 MCC side in 1966/67,in a squad featuring a number of current and future England stars such as Mike Brearley,Dennis Amiss,Alan Knott and Derek Underwood. Abberley scored 92 and 31 in his only match on this tour,against Central Zone.
Norman Gifford is a retired English cricketer,who played primarily as a left-arm spinner. Gifford played county cricket for Worcestershire,and Warwickshire County Cricket Clubs,and represented England in fifteen Test matches and two One Day International between 1964 and 1985.
Thomas Walter Hayward was an English first-class cricketer who played for Surrey and England between the 1890s and the outbreak of World War I. He was primarily an opening batsman,noted especially for the quality of his off-drive. Neville Cardus wrote that he "was amongst the most precisely technical and most prolific batsmen of any time in the annals of cricket." He was only the second batsman to reach the landmark of 100 first-class centuries,following WG Grace. In the 1906 English season he scored 3,518 runs,a record aggregate since surpassed only by Denis Compton and Bill Edrich in 1947.
Chris Old is a former English cricketer,who played 46 Tests and 32 ODIs from 1972 to 1981. A right-arm fast-medium bowler and lower order left-handed batsman,Old was a key feature of the Yorkshire side between 1969 and 1983,before finishing his career at Warwickshire in 1985. As a Test bowler for England he took 143 wickets,and scored useful runs in the famous 1981 Ashes series' Headingley victory. He was a part of the English squad which finished as runners-up at the 1979 Cricket World Cup.
John James Whitaker is an English former cricketer,who played in one Test and two ODIs for England in 1986–7.
John Edward Morris is an English former cricketer,who played for England in three Test matches and eight One Day Internationals in 1990 and 1991. He played first-class cricket for Derbyshire from 1982 to 1993,for Durham from 1994 to 1999 and for Nottinghamshire in 2000 and 2001.
John Ashby Lester was an American cricketer,active in the late 19th and early 20th centuries,and a teacher. Lester was one of the Philadelphian cricketers who played from the end of the 19th century until the outbreak of World War I. His obituary in Wisden Cricketers' Almanack,described him as "one of the great figures in American cricket." During his career,he played in 53 matches for the Philadelphians,47 of which are considered first class. From 1897 until his retirement in 1908,Lester led the batting averages in Philadelphia and captained all the international home matches.
Graham Atkinson was a cricketer who played first-class and List A cricket for Somerset and Lancashire. He was born in Lofthouse,Wakefield,Yorkshire,England.
George Rodney Cass was an English cricketer:a wicket-keeper who played first-class cricket for Essex and Worcestershire in England,and for Tasmania in Australia,in the 1960s and 1970s. He was capped by Worcestershire in 1970. He was born at Overton,Wakefield,Yorkshire,and educated at Dewsbury Technical College.
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Albert Edward Mark Whittle was a first-class cricketer who played for Warwickshire and Somerset. He was born in Bristol and died at Charminster,Dorset. Whittle was a useful right-handed batsman the bulk of whose cricket career was spent batting low in the order;he was also a right-arm medium-paced bowler.
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Thomas Carter Dodds,known in his cricket career as Dickie Dodds and outside it as Carter Dodds,was an English first-class cricketer who played for Essex between 1946 and 1959 as a hard-hitting opening batsman. He was born in Bedford,Bedfordshire and died in Cambridge.
David Kirby was an English cricketer who had a short but intensive career in first-class cricket for Cambridge University and Leicestershire between 1959 and 1964 and was captain of both. After his cricket career,he taught at his former school,St Peter's School,York.
Edwin James Diver was an English first-class cricketer who played for Surrey and Warwickshire between 1883 and 1901. He was born in Cambridge and died at Pontardawe,Glamorgan,Wales.
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