John Thomas Ikin (7 March 1918 – 15 September 1984) 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, who played in eighteen Test matches from 1946 to 1955. A "calm, popular left-hander who also bowled

leg spin Leg spin is a type of spin bowling in cricket. A bowler who uses this technique is called a leg spinner. Leg spinners bowl with their right-arm and a wrist spin action. The leg spinner's normal delivery is called a leg break, which spins fr ...

", Ikin played most of his cricket for

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

. He was a solid left-handed batsman whose statistically modest Test record underplayed his contribution to the team as a sturdy foil to such players as Bill Edrich,

Len Hutton Sir Leonard Hutton (23 June 1916 – 6 September 1990) was an English cricketer. He played as an Batting order (cricket)#Opening batsmen, opening batsman for Yorkshire County Cricket Club from 1934 to 1955 and for England national cricket team ...

and

Denis Compton Denis Charles Scott Compton (23 May 1918 – 23 April 1997) was an English multi-sportsman. As a cricketer he played in 78 Test matches and spent his whole career with Middlesex. As a footballer, he played as a winger and spent most of his ca ...

Life and career

He played minor county cricket for

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, ...

from the age of sixteen, and appeared for

in four games in 1939, taking

George Headley George Alphonso Headley Order of Distinction, OD, Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, MBE (30 May 1909 – 30 November 1983) was a Jamaican cricketer who played 22 Test cricket, Test matches, mostly before World War II. Co ...

's wicket as the first of 339 in first-class matches. After losing perhaps his best years to

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, during which he fought at

Tobruk Tobruk ( ; ; ) is a port city on Libya's eastern Mediterranean coast, near the border with Egypt. It is the capital of the Butnan District (formerly Tobruk District) and has a population of 120,000 (2011 est.)."Tobruk" (history), ''Encyclop� ...

, he resumed his career for Lancashire in 1946 and became a mainstay of the team, recording 1,000 runs in a season eleven times. He toured Australia in the 1946–47 Ashes series, compiling an obdurate 60 at Sydney and featuring in a brave stand of 118 with Norman Yardley in Melbourne. He was involved in a pivotal incident in the first Test at Brisbane when he claimed to have caught

Don Bradman Sir Donald George Bradman (27 August 1908 – 25 February 2001), nicknamed "The Don", was an Australian international cricketer, widely acknowledged as the greatest batsman of all time. His cricketing successes have been claimed by Shane ...

at second slip for 28 from the bowling of Bill Voce, only for the umpire to rule the batsman not out. Bradman went on to make 187. Ikin went on MCC's disastrous 1947/48 tour of the West Indies under

Gubby Allen Sir George Oswald Browning "Gubby" Allen CBE (31 July 190229 November 1989) was a cricketer who captained England in eleven Test matches. In first-class matches, he played for Middlesex and Cambridge University. A fast bowler and hard-hit ...

and was understandably less successful, but he scored 625 runs at an average of 89.28 on the Commonwealth XI tour of India and Ceylon in 1950/51. In Cyril Washbrook's benefit match against the 1948 Australians, Ikin had reached 90 when Bradman instructed

Keith Miller Keith Ross Miller (28 November 1919 – 11 October 2004) was an Australian Test cricketer and a Royal Australian Air Force pilot during World War II. Miller is widely regarded as Australia's greatest ever all-rounder. His ability, irreverent m ...

to bowl. Miller refused, noting that Ikin had been a Rat of Tobruk, but his fast bowling partner

Ray Lindwall Raymond Russell Lindwall (3 October 1921 – 23 June 1996) was an Australian cricketer who represented Australia in 61 Tests from 1946 to 1960. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest fast bowlers of all time. He also played top-flight ...

denied Ikin his century, bowling him for 99. Ikin took a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three Wick ...

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 1949, and recorded his highest score of 192 against

Oxford University The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...

in 1951. Gradually, injury and fragile health took its toll, and Ikin retired at the end of the 1957 season, with 17,968 first-class runs to his name. He resumed his minor county career with success for Staffordshire, playing on until 1968 and served as assistant manager on the 1965/66 MCC tour of Australia. nb. Jack Ikin's benefit match was against county champions Surrey in 1953.

References

External links

* 1918 births 1984 deaths England Test cricketers English cricketers Lancashire cricketers Commonwealth XI cricketers Cricketers from Newcastle-under-Lyme Minor Counties cricketers Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers Staffordshire cricketers Players cricketers North v South cricketers British military personnel of World War II Military personnel from Staffordshire 20th-century English sportsmen {{England-cricket-bio-stub