Bob Appleyard
Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Full name | Robert Appleyard | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Born | Bradford, West Riding of Yorkshire, England | 27 June 1924|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Died | 17 March 2015 Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England | (aged 90)|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Batting | Right-handed | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bowling | Off-break, Right-arm fast-medium | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
International information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
National side | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Test debut | 1 July 1954 v Pakistan | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Last Test | 7 June 1956 v Australia | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Career statistics | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Source: CricInfo, 4 April 2018 |
Robert Appleyard
Career
As a young cricketer Appleyard spent eleven months in hospital after being diagnosed with advanced tuberculosis. Whilst in hospital, Appleyard kept his fingers strong by squeezing a cricket ball under the bed covers. He had to learn to walk again and had the upper half of his left lung removed.
After success in local cricket within Yorkshire, Appleyard was engaged by the county in 1950 at the age of 26 and played three games for them, taking six wickets in two
After one match in 1952, however, a chronic illness kept Appleyard off the field for the rest of that year and all of 1953. Even at the beginning of 1954, he was not expected to play again, but a surprising recovery saw him second in the averages after
In 1955, by then almost exclusively bowling spinners, Appleyard was almost unplayable on the wet wickets early in the summer, but a knee injury wiped out almost all his cricket after the middle of June. He recovered his form well enough in 1956, however, to regain his Test place for the first match as Trent Bridge but did not bowl well enough to challenge Jim Laker for the rest of the summer. Then, in 1957, Appleyard declined so badly that Yorkshire often left him out of their team: he seemed unable to show his old versatility when asked to open the bowling again with Fred Trueman and was not gaining as much penetration on rain-affected surfaces. Appleyard's decline continued in 1958, and Yorkshire dropped him for good in early June, and he never did well enough for the second eleven for them to consider retaining him.
Post-playing career
Appleyard became a successful businessman after retirement from the game and founded a cricket school in
Personal life
As a youth, Appleyard walked into the bathroom of his home in
In 1997 he was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Bradford.[5] He served as President of Yorkshire into his eighties, from 2006 to 2008,[6] and was an Honorary Life Member of the club. Appleyard died aged 90 at his home in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, on 17 March 2015.[7]
References
- ^ ISBN 1-869833-21-X.
- ^ "2nd Test: England v Pakistan at Nottingham, Jul 1–5, 1954". espncricinfo. Retrieved 13 December 2011.
- ^ "Bob Appleyard | England Cricket | Cricket Players and Officials". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 14 March 2014.
- ISBN 0-9531196-9-6.
- ISBN 0-7509-3826-9.
- ^ List Of Yorkshire County Cricket Club Presidents
- Yorkshire Post. Retrieved 17 March 2015.