Colin John Tunnicliffe (born 11 August 1951) is a former English

cricket 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 ...

er who played first-class cricket for

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the no ...

between 1973 and 1983.

Biography

Tunnicliffe was born in

Derby Derby ( ) is a city and unitary authority area in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Derwent in the south of Derbyshire, which is in the East Midlands Region. It was traditionally the county town of Derbyshire. Derby gain ...

. He appeared for Derbyshire Juniors from 1968 and played for Derbyshire Second XI in one match during the 1971 Second XI Championship. In the 1973 season he made his debut in the County Championship against

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

when he expensively took no wickets for 81 runs although he was not out in both innings. He played regularly in 1973 and 1974. However, he did not play at all in 1975, and in 1976 played one first-class match and five games in the John Player League. He returned to regular appearances in 1977 and continued to play in Derbyshire's first team and one day competitions until 1983, staying on top of his game for much of this period. He achieved his best bowling performance of 7 for 36 against Essex in 1980. In the 1981 season, Tunnicliffe scored the winning run, which tied the scores with Derbyshire having lost fewer wickets, on the last ball of the

NatWest Trophy The Friends Provident Trophy was a one-day cricket competition in the United Kingdom. It was one of the four tournaments in which the eighteen first-class counties competed each season. They were joined by teams from Scotland and Ireland. Lan ...

final against

Northamptonshire Northamptonshire (; abbreviated Northants.) is a county in the East Midlands of England. In 2015, it had a population of 723,000. The county is administered by two unitary authorities: North Northamptonshire and West Northamptonshire. It is ...

. In his final season in 1983 Tunnicliffe made his top score of 91 against

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...

. Tunnicliffe was a left-arm medium-fast bowler and took 319 first-class wickets with an average of 32.17 and a best performance of 7-36. He also took 190 wickets in one-day competitions, with a best performance of 5 for 24. He was a right-handed batsman and played 176 innings in 150 first-class matches with an average of 14.32 and a top score of 91 not out. Added to Derbyshire's lower-order defence of the early-80s, Tunnicliffe was just as effective in the lower-order as he was tenacious as a tailender. He made six half-centuries in his first-class career. He also played 105 innings in 167 one day matches.Colin Tunnicliffe at Cricket Archive
/ref> After retirement from playing cricket, Tunnicliffe was commercial manager at Derbyshire County Cricket Club and later at Derby County Football Club. Tunnicliffe now lives in Derby.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tunnicliffe, Colin 1951 births English cricketers Living people Derbyshire cricketers Cricketers from Derby