Bob Berry (cricketer)
Encyclopedia
Robert Berry (29 January 1926 – 2 December 2006) was an English
cricket
er. He played in two Tests
in 1950. He played county cricket
for Lancashire from 1948 to 1954, for Worcestershire
from 1955 to 1958, and for Derbyshire
from 1959 to 1962. He was the first cricketer to be capped by three different counties.
, Manchester
, Lancashire
, the youngest of 10 children. He played League cricket in both Lancashire and Cheshire before making his debut for Lancashire
in 1948. Within two years and having taken barely more than 50 first-class
wickets, he was in the England
Test side, having taken 5 wickets in a Test trial. He was picked for the 1st Test against the West Indies
at his home ground of Old Trafford
in 1950, on a pitch made for spinners – each side played three. Berry took 5-63 in the first innings and 4-53 in the second, to finish with match figures of 9-116. Eric Hollies
took another 8 wickets for England (3-70 and 5-63), and West Indian debutant Alf Valentine
took 11-204 (for West Indies 8-104 and 3-100). England won by 202 runs.
Berry retained his place for the 2nd Test at Lord's. On a much less helpful pitch to spinners, he was unable to match his Old Trafford success. He bowled economically, but took no wickets (0-45 in 19 overs, and 0-67 in 32 overs). By contrast, the West Indian spinners Sonny Ramadhin
and Alf Valentine
continued their success from Manchester, taking 18 wickets between them, and the West Indies won the match, their first Test victory in England. Berry was dropped after this match.
By the end of the 1950 season, Berry was not even first-choice left-arm spinner for Lancashire, his long-time friend Malcolm Hilton
being often preferred as the spin alternative to the off-spin of Roy Tattersall
. Hilton was reckoned as the more devastating bowler on a turning wicket, and could also bowl flatter and faster than Berry, which meant that he was at times used to open the bowling. Berry was known for flight and spin, but was also inclined to be more expensive than Hilton. Nonetheless, it was Berry who was picked for the 1950-51 MCC
tour to Australia
and New Zealand
under Freddie Brown. He had a poor tour on pitches not designed for spin and was not chosen for any of the Test matches, with Doug Wright
being preferred. Hilton was picked for the 1951-52 tour to India
, and Berry did not play Test cricket again.
Berry stayed with Lancashire for four more seasons, but was usually considered as second choice to Hilton, except in 1953, when Hilton had the first experience of the loss of control that was eventually to end his career. In that season, Berry took 98 wickets at an average of 18.97, including all 10 in an innings for Lancashire against Worcestershire
at Blackpool
. He toured India successfully in the winter of 1953-54 with a Commonwealth XI, but with the return of Hilton, Lancashire picked him for only six County Championship
matches in 1954, and he left at the end of the season to join Worcestershire.
Berry enjoyed considerable success in his four seasons with Worcestershire, before leaving to join Derbyshire in the 1959 season
He played four further seasons until the 1962 season
. He was the first cricketer to receive a county cap from three different first-class counties.
Berry was an orthodox slow left-arm spin bowler
and took 703 first class wickets. He was an excellent outfielder, but a tail-end left-handed batsman. In all first-class cricket, his highest first-class score was 40.
Berry became a publican
after he retired from professional cricket, running pubs
in Burton
, Derby
, Mansfield
and Farnsfield
. He was president of Farnsfield CC, and of the Lancashire Players' Association. It is often claimed that he bred pigeons, but that misapprehension originates from an incident at a match against Derbyshire at Queen's Park, Chesterfield
, when Berry rescued a pigeon from the pitch.
He married twice. After his first wife, Eileen, died in 1992, Berry married Vera Hilton, the widow of his long-time friend and rival Malcolm Hilton, who had died in 1990. He finally retired to Greenfield
near Oldham
in 2004, and died in Manchester
. He was survived by his second wife.
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
cricket
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
er. He played in two Tests
Test cricket
Test cricket is the longest form of the sport of cricket. Test matches are played between national representative teams with "Test status", as determined by the International Cricket Council , with four innings played between two teams of 11 players over a period of up to a maximum five days...
in 1950. He played county cricket
County cricket
County cricket is the highest level of domestic cricket in England and Wales. For the 2010 season, see 2010 English cricket season.-First-class counties:...
for Lancashire from 1948 to 1954, for Worcestershire
Worcestershire County Cricket Club
Worcestershire County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Worcestershire...
from 1955 to 1958, and for Derbyshire
Derbyshire County Cricket Club
Derbyshire County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the England and Wales domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Derbyshire...
from 1959 to 1962. He was the first cricketer to be capped by three different counties.
Life and career
Berry was born in GortonGorton
Gorton is an area of the city of Manchester, in North West England. It is located to the southeast of Manchester city centre. Neighbouring areas include Longsight and Levenshulme....
, Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
, Lancashire
Lancashire
Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Although Lancaster is still considered to be the county town, Lancashire County Council is based in Preston...
, the youngest of 10 children. He played League cricket in both Lancashire and Cheshire before making his debut for Lancashire
Lancashire County Cricket Club
Lancashire County Cricket Club represents the historic county of Lancashire in cricket's County Championship. The club was founded in 1864 as a successor to Manchester Cricket Club and has played at Old Trafford since then...
in 1948. Within two years and having taken barely more than 50 first-class
First-class cricket
First-class cricket is a class of cricket that consists of matches of three or more days' scheduled duration, that are between two sides of eleven players and are officially adjudged first-class by virtue of the standard of the competing teams...
wickets, he was in the England
English cricket team
The England and Wales cricket team is a cricket team which represents England and Wales. Until 1992 it also represented Scotland. Since 1 January 1997 it has been governed by the England and Wales Cricket Board , having been previously governed by Marylebone Cricket Club from 1903 until the end...
Test side, having taken 5 wickets in a Test trial. He was picked for the 1st Test against the West Indies
West Indian cricket team
The West Indian cricket team, also known colloquially as the West Indies or the Windies, is a multi-national cricket team representing a sporting confederation of 15 mainly English-speaking Caribbean countries, British dependencies and non-British dependencies.From the mid 1970s to the early 1990s,...
at his home ground of Old Trafford
Old Trafford (cricket)
Old Trafford is a cricket ground situated on Talbot Road in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester. It has been the home of Lancashire County Cricket Club since its foundation in 1864, having been the ground of Manchester Cricket Club from 1857...
in 1950, on a pitch made for spinners – each side played three. Berry took 5-63 in the first innings and 4-53 in the second, to finish with match figures of 9-116. Eric Hollies
Eric Hollies
William Eric Hollies was an English cricketer, who is mainly remembered for taking the wicket of Donald Bradman for a duck in Bradman's final Test match innings, in which only four was needed for a Test average of 100...
took another 8 wickets for England (3-70 and 5-63), and West Indian debutant Alf Valentine
Alf Valentine
Alfred Louis Valentine, April 28, 1930–11 May 2004 , was a West Indian cricketer in the 1950s and 1960s. He is most famous for his performance in the West Indies' 1950 tour of England, which was immortalised in the Victory Calypso.-The 1950 tour:...
took 11-204 (for West Indies 8-104 and 3-100). England won by 202 runs.
Berry retained his place for the 2nd Test at Lord's. On a much less helpful pitch to spinners, he was unable to match his Old Trafford success. He bowled economically, but took no wickets (0-45 in 19 overs, and 0-67 in 32 overs). By contrast, the West Indian spinners Sonny Ramadhin
Sonny Ramadhin
Sonny Ramadhin was a West Indian cricketer, and a dominant bowler of the 1950s. He was the first West Indian cricketers of Indian origin, and was one of the five Wisden Cricketers of the Year in 1951.- Biography and career :...
and Alf Valentine
Alf Valentine
Alfred Louis Valentine, April 28, 1930–11 May 2004 , was a West Indian cricketer in the 1950s and 1960s. He is most famous for his performance in the West Indies' 1950 tour of England, which was immortalised in the Victory Calypso.-The 1950 tour:...
continued their success from Manchester, taking 18 wickets between them, and the West Indies won the match, their first Test victory in England. Berry was dropped after this match.
By the end of the 1950 season, Berry was not even first-choice left-arm spinner for Lancashire, his long-time friend Malcolm Hilton
Malcolm Hilton
Malcolm Jameson Hilton was an English left-arm spin bowler, who played for Lancashire and in four Test matches for England....
being often preferred as the spin alternative to the off-spin of Roy Tattersall
Roy Tattersall
Roy Tattersall is an English former Lancashire cricketer, who played sixteen Tests for England as a specialist off spin bowler....
. Hilton was reckoned as the more devastating bowler on a turning wicket, and could also bowl flatter and faster than Berry, which meant that he was at times used to open the bowling. Berry was known for flight and spin, but was also inclined to be more expensive than Hilton. Nonetheless, it was Berry who was picked for the 1950-51 MCC
Marylebone Cricket Club
Marylebone Cricket Club is a cricket club in London founded in 1787. Its influence and longevity now witness it as a private members' club dedicated to the development of cricket. It owns, and is based at, Lord's Cricket Ground in St John's Wood, London NW8. MCC was formerly the governing body of...
tour to Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
and New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
under Freddie Brown. He had a poor tour on pitches not designed for spin and was not chosen for any of the Test matches, with Doug Wright
Doug Wright (cricketer)
Douglas Vivian Parson Wright, better known as Doug Wright was an English cricketer. A leg-spinner for Kent and England from 1932 to 1957 he took a record seven hat-tricks in first class cricket. He played for Kent for 25 years and was their first professional captain from late 1953 to 1956...
being preferred. Hilton was picked for the 1951-52 tour to India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, and Berry did not play Test cricket again.
Berry stayed with Lancashire for four more seasons, but was usually considered as second choice to Hilton, except in 1953, when Hilton had the first experience of the loss of control that was eventually to end his career. In that season, Berry took 98 wickets at an average of 18.97, including all 10 in an innings for Lancashire against Worcestershire
Worcestershire County Cricket Club
Worcestershire County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Worcestershire...
at Blackpool
Blackpool
Blackpool is a borough, seaside town, and unitary authority area of Lancashire, in North West England. It is situated along England's west coast by the Irish Sea, between the Ribble and Wyre estuaries, northwest of Preston, north of Liverpool, and northwest of Manchester...
. He toured India successfully in the winter of 1953-54 with a Commonwealth XI, but with the return of Hilton, Lancashire picked him for only six County Championship
County Championship
The County Championship is the domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales...
matches in 1954, and he left at the end of the season to join Worcestershire.
Berry enjoyed considerable success in his four seasons with Worcestershire, before leaving to join Derbyshire in the 1959 season
Derbyshire County Cricket Club in 1959
Derbyshire Country Cricket Club in 1959 represents the cricket season when the English club Derbyshire had been playing eighty-eight years. It was their fifty-fifth season in the County Championship and they won thirteen matches to finish seventh in the County Championship.-1959 season:Derbyshire...
He played four further seasons until the 1962 season
Derbyshire County Cricket Club in 1962
Derbyshire Country Cricket Club in 1962 was the cricket season when the English club Derbyshire had been playing for ninety-one years. It was their fifty-eighth season in the County Championship and they won 9 championship matches and lost six to finish seventh in the County Championship.-1962...
. He was the first cricketer to receive a county cap from three different first-class counties.
Berry was an orthodox slow left-arm spin bowler
Spin bowling
Spin bowling is a technique used for bowling in the sport of cricket. Practitioners are known as spinners or spin bowlers.-Purpose:The main aim of spin bowling is to bowl the cricket ball with rapid rotation so that when it bounces on the pitch it will deviate, thus making it difficult for the...
and took 703 first class wickets. He was an excellent outfielder, but a tail-end left-handed batsman. In all first-class cricket, his highest first-class score was 40.
Berry became a publican
Publican
In antiquity, publicans were public contractors, in which role they often supplied the Roman legions and military, managed the collection of port duties, and oversaw public building projects...
after he retired from professional cricket, running pubs
Public house
A public house, informally known as a pub, is a drinking establishment fundamental to the culture of Britain, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. There are approximately 53,500 public houses in the United Kingdom. This number has been declining every year, so that nearly half of the smaller...
in Burton
Burton upon Trent
Burton upon Trent, also known as Burton-on-Trent or simply Burton, is a town straddling the River Trent in the east of Staffordshire, England. Its associated adjective is "Burtonian"....
, Derby
Derby
Derby , is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands region of England. It lies upon the banks of the River Derwent and is located in the south of the ceremonial county of Derbyshire. In the 2001 census, the population of the city was 233,700, whilst that of the Derby Urban Area was 229,407...
, Mansfield
Mansfield
Mansfield is a town in Nottinghamshire, England. It is the main town in the Mansfield local government district. Mansfield is a part of the Mansfield Urban Area....
and Farnsfield
Farnsfield
Farnsfield is a village and civil parish in Nottinghamshire in Sherwood Forest. It is in the local government district of Newark and Sherwood....
. He was president of Farnsfield CC, and of the Lancashire Players' Association. It is often claimed that he bred pigeons, but that misapprehension originates from an incident at a match against Derbyshire at Queen's Park, Chesterfield
Chesterfield
Chesterfield is a market town and a borough of Derbyshire, England. It lies north of Derby, on a confluence of the rivers Rother and Hipper. Its population is 70,260 , making it Derbyshire's largest town...
, when Berry rescued a pigeon from the pitch.
He married twice. After his first wife, Eileen, died in 1992, Berry married Vera Hilton, the widow of his long-time friend and rival Malcolm Hilton, who had died in 1990. He finally retired to Greenfield
Greenfield, Greater Manchester
Greenfield is a village in the Saddleworth parish of the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham in Greater Manchester, England. It is east of Oldham, and east-northeast of the city of Manchester...
near Oldham
Oldham
Oldham is a large town in Greater Manchester, England. It lies amid the Pennines on elevated ground between the rivers Irk and Medlock, south-southeast of Rochdale, and northeast of the city of Manchester...
in 2004, and died in Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
. He was survived by his second wife.