Jack Bryan

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This article is about the English cricketer who played for Kent. For the English footballer, see Jack Bryan (footballer). For English cricketer who played for Gloucestershire, see John Bryan (cricketer). For the documentary director, see Active Measures (film).

Jack Bryan
Personal information
Full name
John Lindsay Bryan
Born(1896-05-26)26 May 1896
leg-break
RoleOpening batsman
RelationsRonnie Bryan (brother)
Godfrey Bryan (brother)
Domestic team information
YearsTeam
1919–1932Kent
1921Cambridge University
Career statistics
Competition First-class
Matches 165
Runs scored 8,702
Batting average 36.25
100s/50s 17/40
Top score 236
Balls bowled 862
Wickets 15
Bowling average 45.00
5 wickets in innings 0
10 wickets in match 0
Best bowling 2/18
Catches/stumpings 89/–
Source: CricInfo, 1 December 2008

John Lindsay Bryan MC (26 May 1896 – 23 April 1985) was an English schoolteacher and cricketer who played for Cambridge University and Kent County Cricket Club. Bryan served in the British Army in both World War I and World War II and won the Military Cross in 1918.

He played for Kent alongside two of his brothers and

Cricketers of the Year
in 1922.

Early life

Bryan was born in Beckenham in Kent, the oldest son of Lindsay and Emily Bryan. His father was a solicitor. Bryan attended St Andrews' Preparatory School in Eastbourne where he captained the school Cricket XI, before winning an academic scholarship to Rugby School in 1911.[1] He captained the Rugby Cricket XI in August 1914 and opened the batting for Lord's Schools against the Rest with George Whitehead who went on the play two matches for Kent later the same month.[1][2][3]

Bryan also played

racquets. He was described by Wisden as "one among many brilliant public school cricketers".[4] He was a member of the Officers' Training Corps at Rugby.[1]

Military service

At the start of

2nd Lieutenant in the 2/5th Manchester Regiment,[5] the regiment his father had been a Lieutenant colonel in.[6]

After training on a machine gun course, he served at

Sinai and Palestine Campaign.[5]

In 1917 Bryan left Egypt for the

pyrexia and was hospitalised for a time. He served on the front line in France and Belgium throughout 1917 and 1918. He was promoted to lieutenant in August 1917 and acting captain in March 1918 during the German spring offensive. He saw action during the Second Battle of the Somme in 1918 and was awarded the Military Cross for the way he led his machine guns at Miraumont in August 1918, although Bryan "played down the award".[5] He saw action throughout the period until the end of the war and was appointed as a company commander during this period.[5]

After the Armistice, Bryan was appointed acting major in the run up to demobilisation. He relinquished his rank in May 1919 but remained a captain in the Territorial Force for some time.[5]

In September 1939 Bryan re-joined the army at the outbreak of

Mentioned in Dispatches during the action. He became an instructor at the Eastern Command Infantry Company Commanders School with the rank of acting Major. From 1942 he served in the Territorial Army Reserve in a variety of roles for the rest of the war. He gave up his commission in 1949.[5]

Cricketing career

Bryan was a left-handed opening batsman. He played for

Bat and Ball Ground in Gravesend.[7]

He went up to

Cambridge University in 1919, reading History and Maths at St John's College, graduating in 1921.[5] He was not able to gain a place in the University cricket team in 1920 but did gain his cricket Blue in 1921, playing 11 first-class matches for the side.[7] Meanwhile, he had been awarded his Kent cap in 1920 and scored 553 runs for the country during the season.[4]

Cricketers of the Year in the 1922 edition.[4][8]

From 1922 onwards Bryan continued to appear for Kent during the school holidays. He was, according to Wisden, "so highly ... regarded" that he was selected three times for the

Ceylon and in first-class matches against Australian State cricket sides and an Australian XI but could not break into the Test side.[3][5][7]

Bryan was well-regarded as an opening batsman. His Wisden obituary calls him a "a model opening bat" who aimed to "lay a good foundation to the innings" before attacking

googlies"[3] He scored over 8,700 runs in first-class cricket including 17 centuries. His highest score was 236 runs made against Hampshire in 1923 at Canterbury, an innings Wisden singled out as an example of his approach to batting.[3][5] He played 119 times for Kent and 11 times for Cambridge as well as making appearances for teams such as the Gentlemen and, eight times, MCC.[7]

He played his final match for Kent in August 1932 against Middlesex at Lord's before playing one more first-class match in 1933 for H. D. G. Leveson Gower's XI against Cambridge University at Eastbourne.[7] He continued to play club cricket until the 1950s for Eastbourne and coached cricket in his teaching post.[5]

Personal life and family

Bryan worked as a school teacher at his old school, St Andrew's, in Eastbourne from 1922.[3][5] He married Irene Pocock in March 1927[5] and together they had one son. He was Master-in-Charge of cricket at the school and was, for a term, Headmaster before having to step down due to his wife's ill-health. He continued to be associated with the school after his retirement.[3]

Two of his brothers, Ronnie and Godfrey, also played first-class cricket for Kent. All three played in just one match together for the county, against Lancashire at Dover in August 1925, with Jack captaining the Kent side.[5] Ronnie shared the Kent captaincy with Bryan Valentine in 1937.[9]

Bryan died after a short illness at Eastbourne in 1985 aged 88, at the time the oldest living Kent player and the last survivor of the Cambridge side of 1922 and the England touring side of 1924/25.[3]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Lewis P (2014) For Kent and Country, pp.122–123. Brighton: Reveille Press.
  2. ^ George Whitehead, CricketArchive. Retrieved 2017-04-06.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Bryan, John Lindsay, Obituaries in 1985, Wisden Cricketers' Almanack, 1986. Retrieved 2017-04-06.
  4. ^ a b c d e JL Bryan, Cricketer of the Year - 1922, Wisden Cricketers' Almanack, 1922. Retrieved 2017-04-06.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Lewis op. cit. pp.123–127.
  6. ^ Lewis op. cit., p.129.
  7. ^ a b c d e f Jack Bryan, CricketArchive. Retrieved 2017-04-06.
  8. ^ a b c d Wilde S (2013) '1922 Five Cricketers of the Year' in Wisden Cricketers of the Year: A Celebration of Cricket's Greatest Players, pp.98–100. A&C Black.
  9. ^ Bryan, Ronald Thurston, Obituaries in 1970, Wisden Cricketers' Almanack, 1971. Retrieved 2016-02-28.

External links

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