Dennis Breakwell (born 2 July 1948 to John (Jack) Breakwell and Florence Emily Talbot), is a former English

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is of three or more days scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officially adju ...

er who made over 400 appearances between 1969 and 1984 playing for

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 ...

and

Somerset County Cricket Club Somerset County Cricket Club is one of eighteen 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, historic county of Somer ...

s. A left-handed batsman and

slow left-arm orthodox Left-arm orthodox spin or left-arm off spin, also known as slow left-arm orthodox spin bowling, is a type of spin bowling in cricket. Bowlers using this technique bowl with their left-arm and a finger spin action. Their normal delivery spins ...

bowler, Breakwell developed into 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 ...

as his career progressed, and he featured in a series of strong sides at Northampton alongside

Colin Milburn Colin Milburn (23 October 1941 – 28 February 1990) was an English cricketer, who played in nine Test matches for England, before an accident led to the loss of much of his sight and prompted his retirement. Cricker writer Colin Bateman commen ...

and

Sarfraz Nawaz Sarfraz Nawaz Malik ( Punjabi, ) (born 1 December 1948) is a former Pakistani Test cricketer and politician, who was instrumental in Pakistan's first Test series victories over India and England. Between 1969 and 1984, he played 55 Tests and 4 ...

and at Somerset alongside

Joel Garner Joel Garner (born 16 December 1952) is a former West Indian cricketer, and a member of the highly regarded late 1970s and early 1980s West Indies cricket teams. Garner is the highest ranked One Day International bowler according to the ICC bes ...

Viv Richards Sir Isaac Vivian Alexander Richards (born 7 March 1952) is a retired Antiguan cricketer who represented the West Indies cricket team between 1974 and 1991. Usually batting at number three in a dominant West Indies side, Richards is widely ...

and

Ian Botham Ian Terence Botham, Baron Botham (born 24 November 1955) is an English cricket commentator, member of the House of Lords, a former cricketer who has been chairman of Durham County Cricket Club since 2017 and charity fundraiser. Hailed as one of ...

, rooming with the latter two in his early days at the club. Following the end of his playing career he became coach and head groundsman at

King's College, Taunton King's College is an independent co-educational day and boarding school in Taunton, Somerset, England, providing education for 2 to 18-year-olds. Set across two sites, it is surrounded by Somerset countryside. A member school of the Woodard Co ...

coaching among others England batsman

Jos Buttler Joseph Charles Buttler (born 8 September 1990), known as Jos Buttler, is an English international cricket, cricketer and former captain of the England cricket team, national team. He plays for Lancashire County Cricket Club, Lancashire in dom ...

and Somerset's

Alex Barrow Alexander William Rodgerson Barrow (born 6 May 1992) is an English cricketer who most recently played for Somerset County Cricket Club. He made his first team debut for the county in the 2011 County Championship against Hampshire. Alex has ris ...

and

Tom Webley Thomas Webley (born 2 March 1983) is an English cricketer. Webley is a left-handed batsman who bowls slow left-arm orthodox. Born in Bristol before moving to the village of Corfe Mullen in Dorset, Webley had been educated at King's College, a ...

. Breakwell's only first-class century came against the New Zealanders at Taunton in July 1978. His best bowling figures, 8 for 39, came when Northamptonshire beat Kent by an innings and 54 runs at Dover in 1970: his victims included

Mike Denness Michael Henry Denness (1 December 1940 – 19 April 2013) was a Scottish cricketer who played for England national cricket team, England, Scotland national cricket team, Scotland, Kent County Cricket Club, Kent and Essex County Cricket Club, Es ...

Colin Cowdrey Michael Colin Cowdrey, Baron Cowdrey of Tonbridge, (24 December 1932 – 4 December 2000) was an English cricketer who played for Kent County Cricket Club from 1950 to 1976, and in 114 Test matches for England from 1954 to 1975. He was born i ...

, John Shepherd,

Alan Knott Alan Philip Eric Knott (born 9 April 1946) is a former cricketer who represented England at international level in both Tests and One-Day Internationals (ODI). Knott is widely regarded as one of the most eccentric characters in cricket and as o ...

and

Derek Underwood Derek Leslie Underwood (8 June 1945 – 15 April 2024) was an English international cricketer. In retirement he became president of the Marylebone Cricket Club The Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) is a cricket club founded in 1787 and based s ...

. Breakwell was hit for six consecutive sixes (not in the same over) by South African all-rounder

Mike Procter Michael John Procter (15 September 1946 – 17 February 2024) was a South African cricketer, whose involvement in international cricket was limited by South Africa's banishment from world cricket in the 1970s and 1980s. A fast bowler and hard- ...

in the Gloucestershire versus Somerset County Championship match at Taunton on the 27th of August, 1979.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Breakwell, Dennis 1948 births Living people English cricketers Northamptonshire cricketers Somerset cricketers Sportspeople from Brierley Hill T. N. Pearce's XI cricketers Cricketers from Staffordshire 20th-century English sportsmen