Bob Appleyard

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Bob Appleyard England (Eng)

Batting style	Right-handed batsman (RHB)
Bowling type	Off-break (OB); Right-arm fast-medium (RFM)
	Tests	First-class
Matches	9	152
Runs scored	51	776
Batting average	17.00	8.52
100s/50s	0/0	0/1
Top score	19 not out	63 not out
Balls bowled	1,596	29,980
Wickets	31	708
Bowling average	17.87	15.48
5 wickets in innings	1	57
10 wickets in match	0	17
Best bowling	5/51	8/76
Catches/stumpings	4/0	80/0
Test debut: July 1, 1954 Last Test: June 7, 1956 Source: [1]

Bob Appleyard (Robert Appleyard; born June 27, 1924, Wibsey, Bradford, Yorkshire, England) was one of the best English bowlers of the 1950s, a decade which saw England develop its strongest bowling attack of the twentieth century. Able to bowl fast-medium swingers or seamer and off-spinners with almost exactly the same action, Appleyard was a tragic figure whose career was almost destroyed by injury and illness after an amazing first full season in 1951.

After pronounced success in local cricket within Yorkshire, Bob Appleyard was engaged by the county in 1950 at the age of 26 and played three games for the county, but taking only six wickets in two County Championship games against Surrey and Gloucestershire.

With Alec Coxon departing for league cricket and Brian Close on military service, it was thought that Yorkshire would have an ordinary season in 1951, yet Appleyard's amazing bowling, which saw him take the first 200 wicket aggregate for four years, ensured they remained near the top of the table all by himself. A big man at about 188 centimetres (6 feet one and half inches) and 97 kilograms (over 15 stone), Appleyard was able to bowl both as a paceman and as a spinner with no apparent changes of action, so that he could go through an innings with little rest and possess sting under all conditions of weather and wicket. He was an automatic choice as a Wisden Cricketer of the Year but did not gain representative honours - though these were expected.

However, after one match in 1952 a chronic illness kept Appleyard off the field for the rest of that year and all of 1953. Even at the beginning of 1954, Appleyard was not expected to play again, but a surprising recovery saw him second in the averages after Brian Statham and bowling with superb skill on a perfect pitch at Trent Bridge in his first Test. In the words of Wisden: "His mixture of in-swingers, off-spinners and leg-cutters; his variations of flight and pace, bore the make of a highly-skilled craftsman". As a consequence Appleyard was chosen for the Ashes tour under Len Hutton. He again bowled with superb skill on unusually erratic Australian wickets, most notably in extreme heat at Adelaide in the Fourth Test which clinched the Ashes. After this, Appleyard played the leading role the dismissal of New Zealand at Wellington in March for the lowest score in the long history of Test cricket. On a rain-affected pitch he took 4 for 7 as New Zealand were put out for 26.

In 1955, now almost exclusively bowling spinners, Appleyard was almost unplayable on the wet wickets early in the summer, but unfortunately a knee injury wiped out almost all his cricket after the middle of June. However, he recovered his form well enough in 1956 to regain his Test place for the first match as Trent Bridge but did not bowl nearly well enough to challenge Jim Laker for the rest of the summer. Indeed, in a summer when the vast majority of pitches favoured spin, Appleyard's average was not exceptional. Then, 1957 saw Appleyard decline so badly that Yorkshire often left him out of their team: he seemed unable to show his old versatility when asked to open again with Trueman and was not gaining as much penetration on rain-affected surfaces. In fact, Appleyard declined so badly in 1958 that Yorkshire dropped him for good after early June and he never did well enough for the second eleven for them to consider retaining him, giving a sad end to a short but still brilliant career.

Later, he devoted himself to developing young cricketers, founding a cricket school in Bradford and working with the Sir Leonard Hutton Foundation Scheme for young cricketers. In 1997 he was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Bradford.^[1]

[edit] Trivia

With the death of Alf Gover in 2001, Appleyard became the sole survivor among the 28 bowlers who have taken 200 wickets or more in an English cricket season (the last case was Tony Lock in 1957).

[edit] References

^ Lister, Derek A J (2004). Bradford's Own. Sutton. ISBN 0-7509-3826-9.

[edit] External links

Persondata
NAME	Appleyard, Bob
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Appleyard, Robert
SHORT DESCRIPTION	Cricketer
DATE OF BIRTH	27 June 1924
PLACE OF BIRTH	Bradford, England
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH