Christopher Lethbridge (23 June 1961 – 30 January 2025) was an English

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

er. Lethbridge was a right-handed

batsman In cricket, batting is the act or skill of hitting the cricket ball, ball with a cricket bat, bat to score runs (cricket), runs and prevent the dismissal (cricket), loss of one's wicket. Any player who is currently batting is, since Septembe ...

who bowled right-arm

medium pace Fast bowling (also referred to as pace bowling) is a type of bowling in cricket, in which the ball is delivered at high speed. The fastest bowlers bowl the ball at over . Practitioners of fast bowling are known as fast bowlers or quicks. Also ...

. He was born at

Castleford Castleford is a town within the City of Wakefield district, West Yorkshire, England. It had a population of 45,106 at a 2021 population estimate. Historic counties of England, Historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, to the north of the t ...

, Yorkshire. Lethbridge made his first-class debut for

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Staffordshire and Leicestershire to the north, Northamptonshire to the east, Ox ...

against

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...

in the 1981 County Championship. He dismissed Geoffrey Boycott with his maiden fist class delivery. He made 49 further first-class appearances for the county, the last of which came against

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It borders Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, and South Yorkshire to the north, Nottinghamshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south-east, Staffordshire to the south a ...

in the

1985 County Championship The 1985 Britannic Assurance County Championship was the 86th officially organised running of the County Championship. Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, former county in South East England, now ...

. In his 50 first-class matches, he scored a total of 1,033 runs at an

average In colloquial, ordinary language, an average is a single number or value that best represents a set of data. The type of average taken as most typically representative of a list of numbers is the arithmetic mean the sum of the numbers divided by ...

of 22.95, with a high score of 87

not out In cricket, a batsman is not out if they come out to bat in an innings and have not been dismissed by the end of an innings. The batsman is also ''not out'' while their innings is still in progress. Occurrence At least one batter is not out at ...

. This score, which was one of three first-class fifties he made, came against

Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...

in 1982. An

all-rounder An all-rounder is a cricketer who regularly performs well at both batting and bowling. Although all bowlers must bat and quite a handful of batsmen do bowl occasionally, most players are skilled in only one of the two disciplines and are cons ...

, with the ball he took 77 wickets at a

bowling average In cricket, a player's bowling average is the number of runs they have conceded per wicket taken. The lower the bowling average is, the better the bowler is performing. It is one of a number of statistics used to compare bowlers, commonly use ...

of 38.90, with best figures of 5/68. These figures, which were his only first-class

five wicket haul In cricket, a five-wicket haul (also known as a "five–for" or "fifer") occurs when a bowler takes five or more wickets in a single innings. This is regarded by critics as a notable achievement, equivalent to a century from a batter. Taking ...

, came against

Glamorgan Glamorgan (), or sometimes Glamorganshire ( or ), was Historic counties of Wales, one of the thirteen counties of Wales that existed from 1536 until their abolishment in 1974. It is located in the South Wales, south of Wales. Originally an ea ...

in 1982. He made his

List A List A cricket is a classification of the Limited overs cricket, limited-overs (one-day) form of the sport of cricket, with games lasting up to eight hours. List A cricket includes One Day International (ODI) matches and various domestic competit ...

debut for Warwickshire in the

1981 John Player League The 1981 John Player League was the thirteenth competing of what was generally known as the Sunday League. The competition was won for the first time by Essex County Cricket Club Essex County Cricket Club is one of eighteen first-class ...

against

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Shropshire, Staffordshire, and the West Midlands (county), West ...

. He made 55 further List A appearances for the county, the last of which came against

in the 1985 John Player Special League. In his 55 List A matches for Warwickshire, he scored 271 runs at an average of 18.06, with a high score of 57 not out. This score, which was his only one-day half century, came against Somerset in 1982. With the ball, he took 57 wickets at an average of 33.38, with best figures of 5/47. These figures represented his only five wicket haul in List A cricket and came against

Northamptonshire Northamptonshire ( ; abbreviated Northants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Leicestershire, Rutland and Lincolnshire to the north, Cambridgeshire to the east, Bedfordshi ...

in 1982. He left Warwickshire at the end of the 1985 season. He joined

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfor ...

for the 1986 season, making his debut for the county against

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation ''Staffs''.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It borders Cheshire to the north-west, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, ...

in the

Minor Counties Championship The NCCA 3 Day Championship or National County Championship is a season-long competition in England and Wales that is contested by the members of the National Counties Cricket Association (NCCA), the so-called national counties (previously ca ...

. He played

Minor counties The National Counties, known as the Minor Counties before 2020, are the cricketing counties of England and Wales that do not have first-class status. The game is administered by the National Counties Cricket Association (NCCA), which comes unde ...

cricket for Cambridgeshire from 1986 to 1991, making 21 Minor Counties Championship and seven

MCCA Knockout Trophy The National Counties Cricket Association Knockout Cup was started in 1983 as a knockout one-day competition for the National Counties in English cricket. At first it was known as the ''English Industrial Estates Cup'', before being called the ...

appearances. He also made two List A appearances for the county, one in the

1986 NatWest Trophy The 1986 NatWest Trophy was the 6th NatWest Trophy. It was an English limited overs county cricket tournament which was held between 25 June and 6 September 1986. The tournament was won by Sussex who defeated Lancashire by 7 wickets in the fina ...

against Yorkshire and another against Derbyshire in the 1987 NatWest Trophy, taking two wickets. His death is recorded at CricketArchive as having occurred on 30 January 2025.

References

External links

Christopher Lethbridge
at

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Lethbridge, Christopher 1961 births 2025 deaths Cricketers from Castleford English cricketers Warwickshire cricketers Cambridgeshire cricketers English cricketers of 1969 to 2000 20th-century English sportsmen