Ted Lester

Infobox Recent cricketer


nationality = English
country = England
country abbrev = Eng
name = Ted Lester
picture = Cricket_no_pic.pngbatting style = Right-handed batsman (RHB)
bowling style = Right-arm off-break
FCs = 232
FC runs = 10912
FC bat avg = 34.20
FC 100s/50s = 25/50
FC top score = 186
FC balls = 330
FC wickets = 3
FC bowl avg = 53.33
FC 5s = -
FC 10s = -
FC best bowling = 1-7
FC catches/stumpings = 108/0
List As = 1
List A runs = 0
List A bat avg = 0.00
List A 100s/50s = 0/0
List A top score = 0
List A balls = -
List A wickets = -
List A bowl avg = -
List A 5s = -
List A 10s = -
List A best bowling = -
List A catches/stumpings = 0/0
debut date = 29 August
debut year = 1945
last date = 27 May
last year = 1964
source = http://www.cricketarchive.co.uk/Archive/Players/30/30972/30972.html CricketArchive

Edward Ibson Lester, born at Scarborough on February 18, 1923, was a cricketer who played for Yorkshire.

Ted Lester had a first-class cricket career lasting just 10 years for Yorkshire, but has remained a significant influence in the county cricket club's fortunes as scorer and committee man. He made his debut as an amateur right-handed middle-order batsman immediately after the Second World War, and in 1947 he made three centuries in 11 innings, which left him third in the English national averages behind Denis Compton and Bill Edrich in their year of unparalleled success.

For 1948, Lester joined the Yorkshire staff, and for next seven seasons he made more than 1,000 runs each year except 1951. His best years were 1949, when he scored 1801 runs, and 1952 when, with 1786 at an average little short of 50 runs an innings, he was fourth in the national averages. After further good seasons in 1953 and 1954, though, his batting fell away badly in 1955, and at the end of July he was dropped from the first team. Apart from one match against Scotland in 1956, he never regained his place.

Lester continued, however, to play for Yorkshire's second eleven for the next six seasons, often captaining the side and acting as the senior player alongside a talented group of young players, including John Hampshire, Geoffrey Boycott, Philip Sharpe and Brian Bolus. And there was brief codicil to his first-class career: in 1964, John Hampshire fell ill just before the Gillette Cup one-day match against Middlesex at Lord's and Lester, acting as scorer, was drafted into the side. But Yorkshire lost and Lester, batting at No 9, failed to score.

Thereafter, he became Yorkshire's regular scorer until his retirement in 1988 and an often forthright champion against what he perceived as the undeserved neglect of the scorer's role in cricket competitions.

References

* Wisden, 1946 to 1965 editions
* [http://www.cricketarchive.co.uk/Archive/Players/30/30972/30972.html www.cricketarchive.co.uk]