William Birkett also known as William Burkitt, was an English

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 who represented 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...

 in 1898 and 1901.

Birkett was born at Unstone

Unstone

Unstone is a village in the English county of Derbyshire. It is in the North East Derbyshire district of the county. Unstone is situated approximately one mile south east of Dronfield, and is also close to the town of Chesterfield. The village has a population of over 1,000 residents...

, near Dronfield

Dronfield

Dronfield is a town in North East Derbyshire in the North Midlands region of England. It comprises the three communities of Dronfield, Dronfield Woodhouse and Coal Aston. It is sited in the valley of the small River Drone, and lies between the town of Chesterfield and the city of Sheffield. The...

, Derbyshire

Derbyshire

Derbyshire is a county in the East Midlands of England. A substantial portion of the Peak District National Park lies within Derbyshire. The northern part of Derbyshire overlaps with the Pennines, a famous chain of hills and mountains. The county contains within its boundary of approx...

, the son of John Burkitt a farmer, and his wife Ann. He made his Derbyshire debut in a single match in 1898. He appeared in three matches in the 1901 season. Birkett's top score was an innings of 10 in August 1901 in a draw against 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...

. Birkett scored three consecutive duck

Duck (cricket)

In the sport of cricket, a duck refers to a batsman's dismissal for a score of zero.-Origin of the term:The term is a shortening of the term "duck's egg", the latter being used long before Test cricket began...

s in his final three innings for Derbyshire, and did not appear again for the side.

Birkett was an occasional bowler and took three first class wickets at an average of 38.33. He was a lower-order batsman, and played seven innings in four first class matches for a total of 20 runs.

Birkett was a farmer and died aged at Grange Farm, Norton, Sheffield

Sheffield

Sheffield is a city and metropolitan borough of South Yorkshire, England. Its name derives from the River Sheaf, which runs through the city. Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, and with some of its southern suburbs annexed from Derbyshire, the city has grown from its largely...

.

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