Jack Bryan

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

John Lindsay Bryan ( born May 26, 1896 and died at Eastbourne, Sussex on April 23, 1985, was a cricketer who played for Cambridge University and Kent.

Jack Bryan was a left-handed opening batsman and an occasional bowler of highly-spun leg breaks and googlies. He played for Kent's second eleven before the First World War, and then again in 1919, before he went to Cambridge. So strong was the Cambridge side of 1920 that he was not picked for any first-class matches. But he scored a century for Kent after the term ended, and in 1921, his most successful year, he scored more than 900 runs for the university and won a Blue. In the season as a whole he finished with 1,858 runs at an average of more than 50, with five centuries. This record led to him being selected as a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in the 1922 edition of the almanack.

1921 proved, though, to be the only full season of first-class cricket that Bryan played. Becoming a schoolmaster at St Andrew's School in Eastbourne, he was able to play for Kent only in the second half of each season from 1922, though he occasionally played earlier matches in the Gentlemen v Players series. He never reached 1,000 runs in a season again, but he continued through the 1920s to make centuries and to average, in several seasons, around 35 runs per innings. He was very strong playing in front of the wicket, and tended to build his innings cautiously at first, though he could score very fast later in longer innings.

Bryan's nearest approach to Test cricket came when he was picked for the 1924-25 MCC tour to Australia, taking leave of absence from his teaching job. But with Jack Hobbs and Herbert Sutcliffe in the side, plus other opening batsmen available, he was not selected for any of the Test matches.

Bryan faded from the first-class cricket scene in the early 1930s, making his final appearance for Kent in 1932 and playing his last first-class match the following year. In all, he scored more than 8,000 first-class runs at an average of 36 runs per innings.

His brothers Ronald and Godfrey also played for Kent: all three Bryans played in the match against Lancashire at Dover in August 1925, with Jack captaining the Kent side.