Brian Brain
Encyclopedia
Brian Maurice Brain is a former English
cricketer
whose career with Worcestershire
and Gloucestershire
stretched over more than two decades. He was capped by Worcestershire in 1966 and by Gloucestershire in 1977.
After turning in some good performances in the Worcestershire second team, Brain was selected to make his first-class
debut against Oxford University
in late June 1959. He took five wickets in the match (his first being that of Oxford captain Alan Smith
), but played only one further first-class game that season, against Somerset
in the County Championship
. He took 4-53 in the first innings, but was not to make another first-team appearance for almost five years.
After some more eye-catching figures in the second team (7-29 against Nottinghamshire
II; 8-79 against Kent
II) in 1964, Brain finally played first-class cricket again, facing Cambridge University
at Halesowen
. He took only one wicket, but was retained for the Championship game which followed (coincidentally this was also against Somerset), and in this match he excelled, taking 6-93 and 4-73 as Worcestershire won by 122 runs
. Although he dropped out of the side thereafter, he returned as a regular from mid-August to the end of the season, finishing with 31 wickets at 24.19
.
He went on Worcestershire's tour of Rhodesia
in 1964-65, one of only two occasions on which Brain played overseas (the other being the county's tour of West Indies the following winter). He played in one of the two first-class games against the Rhodesians, then back in England for the 1965 season he appeared 12 times, taking five or more wickets in an innings three times to finish with 44 first-class victims. In that season he also played his first List A cricket, against Sussex
in the Gillette Cup: his first two victims in one-day cricket were Ted Dexter
and Jim Parks
.
For most of the rest of the 1960s, Brain continued to play a dozen games a season or slightly more, as well as just a handful of one-day matches, and to pick up around 40 wickets a year. In 1969, however, he played 19 times in first-class cricket and snared 73 wickets at just over 25 runs apiece; he also appeared 13 times in one-day cricket
, albeit with considerably less success. In 1970 he played only seven first-class matches, then for the next two seasons he was entirely a one-day player, turning out 20 times in List A cricket but not at all in the longer form of the game.
The 1973 season saw Brain make his return to first-class duties, and he immediately delivered, taking 84 wickets at 19.29 that year, a career best tally that he was to equal (at an average only slightly higher) the following summer. Those two seasons also saw him pick up 58 one-day wickets, while in the Championship he took 6-36 against Gloucestershire in July 1973. His form dipped a little in 1975, but he still took more than 50 first-class wickets, including a career-best 8-55 against Essex
in late May; that performance was in vain, however, as a second-innings Worcestershire collapse saw them lose by 29 runs.
For the 1976 season, Brain moved to Gloucestershire, and though he started relatively slowly with 41 first-class wickets in that first year, in the following seasons he claimed 77. He also scored his only first-class half-century, scoring 57 against Essex
. This was a somewhat startling scorecard entry, as in his other eleven innings that season his highest score was just 6! The following summer he took 76 first-class wickets, managing his best bowling for his new county when he recorded 7-51 against the touring Australians
in May. That season also saw him achieve his highest season's total of List A wickets: he dismissed 34 victims, at an outstanding bowling average of only 14.55.
Now approaching forty years old, Brain's form began to tail off, although he was still good enough to take a total of 106 first-class and 46 List A wickets in the next two seasons, with 6-68 against Glamorgan
in May 1980 a highlight of his later years. He took his last first-class wicket (John Barclay
) against Sussex in July 1981, although he did play two further Championship games without reward. His final List A game was for Minor Counties against Leicestershire
in the 1982 Benson and Hedges Cup; he picked up the wickets of ex-Test cricket
ers Chris Balderstone
and Roger Tolchard
.
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...
cricketer
Cricketer
A cricketer is a person who plays the sport of cricket. Official and long-established cricket publications prefer the traditional word "cricketer" over the rarely used term "cricket player"....
whose career with 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...
and Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire County Cricket Club
Gloucestershire County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh national cricket structure, representing the historic county of Gloucestershire. Its limited overs team is called the Gloucestershire Gladiators....
stretched over more than two decades. He was capped by Worcestershire in 1966 and by Gloucestershire in 1977.
After turning in some good performances in the Worcestershire second team, Brain was selected to make his 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...
debut against Oxford University
Oxford University Cricket Club
Oxford University Cricket Club is a first-class cricket team, representing the University of Oxford. It plays its home games at the University Parks in Oxford, England...
in late June 1959. He took five wickets in the match (his first being that of Oxford captain Alan Smith
Alan Smith (cricketer)
Alan Christopher Smith, known as A. C. Smith is an English former Test cricketer, who appeared in six Tests for England. Primarily a wicket-keeper, Smith was also a capable right-handed middle-order batsman and right-arm seam bowler...
), but played only one further first-class game that season, against Somerset
Somerset County Cricket Club
Somerset 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 Somerset...
in the County Championship
County Championship
The County Championship is the domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales...
. He took 4-53 in the first innings, but was not to make another first-team appearance for almost five years.
After some more eye-catching figures in the second team (7-29 against Nottinghamshire
Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club
Nottinghamshire 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 Nottinghamshire, and the current county champions. Its limited overs team is called the Nottinghamshire Outlaws...
II; 8-79 against Kent
Kent County Cricket Club
Kent County Cricket Club is one of the 18 first class county county cricket clubs which make up the English and Welsh national cricket structure, representing the county of Kent...
II) in 1964, Brain finally played first-class cricket again, facing Cambridge University
Cambridge University Cricket Club
Cambridge University Cricket Club is a first-class cricket team. It now plays all but one of its first-class cricket matches as part of the Cambridge University Centre of Cricketing Excellence , which includes Anglia Ruskin University...
at Halesowen
Halesowen
Halesowen is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley, in the West Midlands, England.The population, as measured by the United Kingdom Census 2001, was 55,273...
. He took only one wicket, but was retained for the Championship game which followed (coincidentally this was also against Somerset), and in this match he excelled, taking 6-93 and 4-73 as Worcestershire won by 122 runs
The result in cricket
The result in a game of cricket may be a win for one of the two teams playing, a draw or a tie. In the case of a limited overs game, the game can also end with no result...
. Although he dropped out of the side thereafter, he returned as a regular from mid-August to the end of the season, finishing with 31 wickets at 24.19
Bowling average
Bowling average is a statistic measuring the performance of bowlers in the sport of cricket.A bowler's bowling average is defined as the total number of runs conceded by the bowlers divided by the number of wickets taken by the bowler, so the lower the average the better. It is similar to earned...
.
He went on Worcestershire's tour of Rhodesia
Rhodesia
Rhodesia , officially the Republic of Rhodesia from 1970, was an unrecognised state located in southern Africa that existed between 1965 and 1979 following its Unilateral Declaration of Independence from the United Kingdom on 11 November 1965...
in 1964-65, one of only two occasions on which Brain played overseas (the other being the county's tour of West Indies the following winter). He played in one of the two first-class games against the Rhodesians, then back in England for the 1965 season he appeared 12 times, taking five or more wickets in an innings three times to finish with 44 first-class victims. In that season he also played his first List A cricket, against Sussex
Sussex County Cricket Club
Sussex County Cricket Club is the oldest of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Sussex. The club was founded as a successor to Brighton Cricket Club which was a representative of the county of Sussex as a...
in the Gillette Cup: his first two victims in one-day cricket were Ted Dexter
Ted Dexter
Edward Ralph Dexter CBE is a former English cricketer...
and Jim Parks
Jim Parks junior
Jim Parks is an English former cricketer. He played in forty six Tests for England, between 1954 and 1968...
.
For most of the rest of the 1960s, Brain continued to play a dozen games a season or slightly more, as well as just a handful of one-day matches, and to pick up around 40 wickets a year. In 1969, however, he played 19 times in first-class cricket and snared 73 wickets at just over 25 runs apiece; he also appeared 13 times in one-day cricket
One-day cricket
Limited overs cricket, also known as one-day cricket and in a slightly different context as List A cricket, is a version of the sport of cricket in which a match is generally completed in one day, whereas Test and first-class matches can take up to five days to complete...
, albeit with considerably less success. In 1970 he played only seven first-class matches, then for the next two seasons he was entirely a one-day player, turning out 20 times in List A cricket but not at all in the longer form of the game.
The 1973 season saw Brain make his return to first-class duties, and he immediately delivered, taking 84 wickets at 19.29 that year, a career best tally that he was to equal (at an average only slightly higher) the following summer. Those two seasons also saw him pick up 58 one-day wickets, while in the Championship he took 6-36 against Gloucestershire in July 1973. His form dipped a little in 1975, but he still took more than 50 first-class wickets, including a career-best 8-55 against Essex
Essex County Cricket Club
Essex County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh national cricket structure, representing the historic county of Essex. Its limited overs team is called the Essex Eagles, their team colours this season are blue.The club plays most of its home games...
in late May; that performance was in vain, however, as a second-innings Worcestershire collapse saw them lose by 29 runs.
For the 1976 season, Brain moved to Gloucestershire, and though he started relatively slowly with 41 first-class wickets in that first year, in the following seasons he claimed 77. He also scored his only first-class half-century, scoring 57 against Essex
Essex County Cricket Club
Essex County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh national cricket structure, representing the historic county of Essex. Its limited overs team is called the Essex Eagles, their team colours this season are blue.The club plays most of its home games...
. This was a somewhat startling scorecard entry, as in his other eleven innings that season his highest score was just 6! The following summer he took 76 first-class wickets, managing his best bowling for his new county when he recorded 7-51 against the touring Australians
Australian cricket team
The Australian cricket team is the national cricket team of Australia. It is the joint oldest team in Test cricket, having played in the first Test match in 1877...
in May. That season also saw him achieve his highest season's total of List A wickets: he dismissed 34 victims, at an outstanding bowling average of only 14.55.
Now approaching forty years old, Brain's form began to tail off, although he was still good enough to take a total of 106 first-class and 46 List A wickets in the next two seasons, with 6-68 against Glamorgan
Glamorgan County Cricket Club
Glamorgan County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh national cricket structure, representing the historic county of Glamorgan aka Glamorganshire . Glamorgan CCC is the only Welsh first-class cricket club. Glamorgan CCC have won the English County...
in May 1980 a highlight of his later years. He took his last first-class wicket (John Barclay
John Barclay (cricketer)
John Robert Troutbeck Barclay was an English cricketer, who played internationally once for Hong Kong.John Barclay was born in Bonn, Germany. He was educated at Eton and was an acclaimed schoolboy cricketer...
) against Sussex in July 1981, although he did play two further Championship games without reward. His final List A game was for Minor Counties against Leicestershire
Leicestershire County Cricket Club
Leicestershire County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh national cricket structure, representing the historic county of Leicestershire. It has also been representative of the county of Rutland....
in the 1982 Benson and Hedges Cup; he picked up the wickets of ex-Test cricket
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...
ers Chris Balderstone
Chris Balderstone
John Christopher Balderstone was an English professional in cricket and football, and one of the last sportsmen to combine both sports over a prolonged period. He played football as a midfielder for Huddersfield Town, Carlisle United, Doncaster Rovers and Queen of the South...
and Roger Tolchard
Roger Tolchard
Roger William Tolchard is an English former cricketer, who played in four Tests and one One Day International for England in the late 1970s.-Life and career:Tolchard was a wicket-keeper...
.
External links
- Statistical summary from CricketArchiveCricketArchiveCricketArchive is a website that aims to provide a comprehensive archive of records relating to the sport of cricket. It claims to be the most comprehensive cricket database on the internet, including scorecards for all matches of first-class cricket , List A cricket , Women's Test cricket and...