Colin Tunnicliffe

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Colin Tunnicliffe (born August 11, 1951) was an English cricketer. He was a right-handed batsman and a left-arm medium-fast bowler who played first-class cricket for Derbyshire between 1973 and 1983.

Tunnicliffe had previously represented Derbyshire in one match during the 1971 Second XI Championship, but made his breakthrough with the team in 1973, making his debut in the County Championship in an innings defeat for the men in chocolate, amber and blue. Tunnicliffe was to prove expensive on his debut, taking no wickets for 81 runs.

Derbyshire were to finish 1973 second-bottom in the County Championship table, but worse things were to come in 1974, when the team finished with only one win all season and rooted to the foot of the table.

At this point, Tunnicliffe did not play for the first team in the County Championship again until 1975, and didn't play in the County Championship again until 1977, missing a couple of years of painful performances for the team, but he returned to play in the County Championship once again in a year which appeared to signal an upturn in fortunes for the Peak District team, as they finished in seventh place.

Tunnicliffe continued to play in Derbyshire's first team until 1983, staying on top of his game for much of this period. Added to Derbyshire's lower-order defence of the early-80s, Tunnicliffe was just as effective in the lower-order as he was tenacious as a tailender. He made six half-centuries in his first-class career, including a career-best 91 against Hampshire in his final season.