Roy Tattersall

Infobox Historic Cricketer
name = Roy Tattersall
nationality = English


picture = cricket no pic.pngcountry = England
country abbrev = ENG
batting style = Left-handed batsman (LHB)
bowling style = Right arm off break (OB)
tests = 16
test runs = 50
test bat avg = 5.00
test 100s/50s = 0/0
test top score = 10*
test balls = 4228
test wickets = 58
test bowl avg = 26.08
test 5s = 4
test 10s = 1
test best bowling = 7/52
test catches/stumpings = 8/0
FCs = 328
FC runs = 2040
FC bat avg = 9.35
FC 100s/50s = 0/1
FC top score = 58
FC balls = 71133
FC wickets = 1369
FC bowl avg = 18.03
FC 5s = 99
FC 10s = 18
FC best bowling = 9/40
FC catches/stumpings = 146/0
debut date = 2 February
debut year = 1951
last date = 15 June
last year = 1954
source = http://content-uk.cricinfo.com/england/content/player/21464.html

Roy Tattersall (born 17 August, 1922, Tonge Moor, Bolton, United Kingdom) is a former Lancashire cricketer who played 16 Tests for England as a specialist off spin bowler. He had an unusual style quite different from the orthodox Jim Laker who kept him out of a Test place for most of his career. Tattersall held his index finger around the seam of the ball and this allowed him to bowl a carefully-disguised away-swinger to supplement his sharp off-break. He was rather faster than Laker, and this served to increase his penetration on the many wet wickets of his home county. Of very small account as a batsman, he did nonetheless help Reg Simpson in a tenth wicket stand of 74 to give England its first victory over Australia since their record win at The Oval in 1938.

Early career

Tattersall, a late developer, began his first-class career in 1948 at a time when English bowling was extremely weak because the war had decimated their pre-war pace attack. He first played for Lancashire in 1948 as a spin and seam bowler, but did not establish himself until 1950 after Roberts, Price and Nutter had left the staff. That year, largely as a result of groundsmen at Old Trafford deciding to eliminate watering of the pitch, Tattersall consistently had pitches tailor-made for him and he did not disappoint, being the leading wicket-taker in first-class cricket with 193 victims for under 14 apiece. this won him the inaugural "Young cricketer of the Year" from the Cricket Writer's Club. Though he was not risked in the Tests against a powerful West Indian batting line-up, Tattersall was chosen as a reinforcement for the Ashes tour that winter. He did modestly in Australia but bowled well enough on the more helpful New Zealand pitches to establish himself in the Test team momentarily.

Test career

Tattersall held his place throughout the 1951 test against South Africa, Series taking 12 for 101 on his home pitch at Old Trafford. In addition he claimed eight for 51 for the MCC against them. Tattersall went to India that winter, and on a "biting" pitch at Kanpur he took eight wickets for 125 runs and helped England gain their only victory of the series. Returning home he found that Laker, Wardle and Roly Jenkins were ahead of him in the selectors eyes. He made only two further appearances in Test cricket. In 1953 against Australia and in 1954 against Pakistan.

County Cricket

Tattersall, however, bowled in excellent form for Lancashire right up to 1957 - taking 100 County Championship wickets every year except 1956 when after an irresistible start he unaccountably lost form In the wet summer of 1958 he failed to reach 100 wickets for the first time since 1949. The eminet Lancashire cricket writer John Kay [Cricketer Spring Annual 1959] felt Tattersall the victim of inconsistent policy at Old Trafford. In 1956, he was left out in mid-season, a move that probably cost the County the championship. [Cricketer Winter Annual 1956] Nonetheless, it was a surprise to see Tattersall and Hilton dropped at the begiining of 1959 for leg-spinner Tommy Greenhough. Though Tattersall was recalled at the beginning of the 1960 season. He and Hilton, however, were rewarded for their service to the county in the 1950s with a remarkably productive "joint benefit" against Yorkshire that was watched by over seventy four thousand spectators. Tattersall was not re-engaged by the county for 1961, but did play for the MCC against his former county (in Lancashire's Centenary Match) with remarkable success, taking six for 63 in the first innings on an unhelpful wicket.In 1961 Tattersall [Cricketer 1961] endured a poor season as a professional in the Birmingham League and dropped out of significant cricket.

References

* Cricketer Spring Annual 1958
* Cricketer 1961
* Cricketer Winter Annual 1956
* [http://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/0/884/t_Bowling_by_Season.html Test Bowling]
* [http://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/0/884/f_Bowling_by_Season.html First-Class Bowling]
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