Beverley Hamilton Lyon (19 January 1902 – 22 June 1970) was a

cricketer Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by st ...

who played for

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

and

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of Gl ...

. He was a bespectacled middle-order batsman and a fine close fielder who held forthright and, for his time, outspoken views on cricket captaincy and cricket traditions and who was given full rein by his county, Gloucestershire, to express his views as captain for six years from 1929.

Biography

Some of Lyon's views – on Sunday cricket and on a knockout cup, for instance – were by some distance too far ahead of their time. But in 1931, he was involved in a "rule-bending" match against

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other English counties, functions have ...

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in which, after two rain-ruined days, he and the Yorkshire captain agreed to declare their counties' first innings after one ball had been bowled to bring about a result on the second innings.

David Foot David K. Foot is a Canadian economist and demographer. Foot did his undergraduate work at the University of Western Australia and his graduate work in economics at Harvard University, where he was supervised by Martin Feldstein. Following his ...

, ''Beyond Bat & Ball: Eleven Intimate Portraits'', Aurum, London, 1993, pp. 139–56. The rules were changed for the following season to allow for a one-innings match in similar circumstances. Lyon brought Gloucestershire greater success than the county had seen since the days of

W. G. Grace William Gilbert Grace (18 July 1848 – 23 October 1915) was an English amateur cricketer who was important in the development of the sport and is widely considered one of its greatest players. He played first-class cricket for a record-equal ...

. In 1929 and 1930, they won more matches than any other county; in 1930 and 1931, they finished second. Lyon was aided, no doubt, by having

Wally Hammond Walter Reginald Hammond (19 June 1903 – 1 July 1965) was an English first-class cricketer who played for Gloucestershire in a career that lasted from 1920 to 1951. Beginning as a professional, he later became an amateur and was appointed ca ...

, perhaps

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

's finest batsman of the time in the side. And the three years of success coincided as well with the last truly effective years of the great slow left-arm bowler

Charlie Parker Charles Parker Jr. (August 29, 1920 – March 12, 1955), nicknamed "Bird" or "Yardbird", was an American jazz saxophonist, band leader and composer. Parker was a highly influential soloist and leading figure in the development of bebop, a form ...

and the first effective years of Parker's successor, the

off break Off spin is a type of finger spin bowling in cricket. A bowler who uses this technique is called an off spinner. Off spinners are right-handed spin bowlers who use their fingers to spin the ball. Their normal delivery is an off break, which sp ...

bowler

Tom Goddard Thomas William John Goddard (1 October 1900 – 22 May 1966) was an English cricketer and the fifth-highest wicket taker in first-class cricket. Biography Born 1 October 1900 in Gloucester, Goddard joined Gloucestershire in 1922 as a fast bo ...

. But the captaincy of Lyon was regarded as a vital factor, and he was chosen as a ''Wisden'' Cricketer of the Year in 1931. The citation in ''Wisden'' suggested that he might be a future captain of England, but that did not happen. Lyon's Gloucestershire career began in 1921; he also won a

Blue Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RYB colour model (traditional colour theory), as well as in the RGB (additive) colour model. It lies between violet and cyan on the spectrum of visible light. The eye perceives blue when ...

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the Un ...

in 1922 and 1923. He resigned from the Gloucestershire captaincy after three more moderate years from 1932 to 1934, but played intermittently until 1947. He had also 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

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershir ...

in 1920. Lyon's older brother, Malcolm Douglas Lyon, known as Dar, played for

Cambridge University , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

and

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lor ...

. The brothers were on opposing sides in the 1922 Varsity match. And in 1930, in the match between Somerset and Gloucestershire at

Taunton Taunton () is the county town of Somerset, England, with a 2011 population of 69,570. Its thousand-year history includes a 10th-century monastic foundation, Taunton Castle, which later became a priory. The Normans built a castle owned by t ...

, Dar scored 210 after being dropped twice by Goddard, but Bev replied with a century of his own and led his side to victory by eight wickets.

References

*S Canynge Caple (compiler). "Lyon, Beverley Hamilton". The Cricketers' Who's Who. Lincoln Williams (Publishers) Ltd. Adam Street, Adelphi, London. 1934. Pages 104 and 105.

External links

*
"Remembering Bev Lyon, Gloucestershire Cricketer and Co-Founder of Rediffusion Ltd."
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lyon, Bev 1902 births 1970 deaths English cricketers Gloucestershire cricketers Gloucestershire cricket captains Oxford University cricketers Wiltshire cricketers Europeans cricketers Wisden Cricketers of the Year People from Caterham Jewish cricketers English Jews West of England cricketers Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers Non-international England cricketers Gentlemen cricketers Gentlemen of England cricketers Jewish British sportspeople People educated at Rugby School Alumni of The Queen's College, Oxford English cricketers of 1919 to 1945 People from Balcombe, West Sussex Cricketers from West Sussex

Biography

See also

References

External links