John Tunnicliffe

John Tunnicliffe, born at Low Town, Pudsey, Yorkshire on August 26, 1866 and died at Westbury Park, Bristol on July 11, 1948, was a cricketer who played for Yorkshire.

County career

Tunnicliffe was a tall, forceful right-handed opening batsman and on his figures one of the best slip fielders of all time. A late starter in first-class cricket, he was a regular in the Yorkshire team from 1893 and between 1895 and 1907 he scored 1,000 runs in every season except 1903. His best year was 1898, when he scored 1,804 runs at an average of 41 runs per innings. That season he made his highest score, contributing 243 in a then-record partnership for any wicket of 554 with Jack Brown against Derbyshire at Chesterfield. That stand is still the third highest for the first wicket and the sixth highest for any wicket in first-class cricket worldwide. Tunnicliffe was named as a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1901.

Almost as important to Yorkshire as his batting was Tunnicliffe's slip fielding. Nicknamed "Long John of Pudsey", he had very long arms that enabled him to bring off catches others would not have attempted. In 498 first-class matches, he took 694 catches: in a few of his early games in 1891 and 1892, he appears to have acted as wicketkeeper, but thereafter he was at slip. His 70 catches in the 1901 season was a record that stood until Walter Hammond caught 78 in 1928. His ratio of catches to matches is 1.393:1, which compares favourably with both Hammond (1.291:1) and John Langridge (1.365:1).

Retirement

Tunnicliffe retired after the 1907 season and became cricket coach at Clifton College. He later served on the Gloucestershire County Cricket Club committee when his son was the county secretary.