Bernard Joseph Michael Maher (born 11 February 1961) was an English professional cricketer and a fly-fishing international. He was born in

Hillingdon Hillingdon is an area of Uxbridge within the London Borough of Hillingdon, centred 14.2 miles (22.8 km) west of Charing Cross. It was an ancient parish in Middlesex that included the market town of Uxbridge. During the 1920s the civil pari ...

West London West London is the western part of London, England, north of the River Thames, west of the City of London, and extending to the Greater London boundary. The term is used to differentiate the area from the other parts of London: Central London, N ...

. As a cricketer, he was a right-handed batsman and a

wicket-keeper In cricket, the wicket-keeper is the Cricket player, player on the fielding (cricket), fielding side who stands behind the wicket, ready to stop Delivery (cricket), deliveries that pass the batsman, and take a Caught, catch, Stumped, stump the ...

who played first-class cricket for

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 ...

from 1981 and 1995. He played age-group cricket for

Middlesex County Cricket Club Middlesex County Cricket Club is one of eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Middlesex which has effectively been subsumed within the ceremonial ...

. In 1977, when he played for Middlesex's Second XI, before pursuing his academic studies. He began reading

Economics Economics () is a behavioral science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interac ...

and

Accountancy Accounting, also known as accountancy, is the process of recording and processing information about economic entities, such as businesses and corporations. Accounting measures the results of an organization's economic activities and conveys ...

Loughborough University Loughborough University (abbreviated as ''Lough'' or ''Lboro'' for Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a public university, public research university in the market town of Loughborough, Leicestershire, England. It has been a university sinc ...

in 1978 graduating with a BSc in 1981. Captaining Loughborough University, against Derbyshire in 1981, he was asked to play a series of 2nd team games. And his 1st class debut was against

Gloucestershire County Cricket Club Gloucestershire County Cricket Club, founded in 1870, is one of 18 first-class cricket, first-class county cricket, county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the Historic counties of England, hist ...

in July 1981, and Derbyshire signed him on a two-year contract. Against the

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

's tourists in 1986, Maher scored 126, and there were other hundreds against

Leicestershire County Cricket Club Leicestershire County Cricket Club is one of eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Leicestershire. It has also been representative of the coun ...

Surrey County Cricket Club Surrey County Cricket Club (Surrey CCC) is a first-class club in county cricket, one of eighteen in the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Surrey, including areas that now form South Londo ...

, and

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

. After his retirement from cricket in 1995, he continued commentating for

BBC Radio BBC Radio is an operational business division and service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a royal charter since 1927. The service provides national radio stations cove ...

and, after his cricketing days came to a close, worked as a financial consultant, and a fly-fishing instructor. He is the owner of a day ticket fishing business in Ashover and works as a fly fishing guide.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Maher, Bernie 1958 births English cricketers Derbyshire cricketers Living people Wicket-keepers People from Hillingdon Cricketers from the London Borough of Hillingdon 20th-century English sportsmen