John Robert Ashman (20 May 1926 – 4 March 2019) was an English cricketer, who played

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 ...

for

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...

and

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Shropshire, Staffordshire, and the West Midlands (county), West ...

in the early 1950s. Having played for Yorkshire's Second XI since the age of 20, Ashman was given his first-class debut against

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

Headingley Headingley is a suburb of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, approximately two miles out of the city centre, to the north west along the A660 road. Headingley is the location of the Beckett Park campus of Leeds Beckett University and Headingley ...

in June 1951. He took four wickets in the match, including that of

Test Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film) ...

player Arthur McIntyre in both innings, but was then returned to the seconds. Indeed, this was the only first-team appearance he made for Yorkshire, and after a year out the following season he moved to Worcestershire for 1953. Ashman came straight into the first team at New Road for the tour match against the

Australians Australians, colloquially known as Aussies, are the citizenship, citizens, nationality, nationals and individuals associated with the country of Australia. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or ethno-cultural. For most Aust ...

in late April. Although he took no wickets in a high-scoring draw, he was retained for the

County Championship The County Championship, currently known for sponsorship reasons as the Rothesay County Championship, is the only domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales. Established in 1890, it is organised by the England and Wales Cri ...

match 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 ...

which followed. In this he returned an excellent match analysis of 36-24-36-5, and this set him up well to keep his place for the season. In all he took 41 first-class wickets at an

average In colloquial, ordinary language, an average is a single number or value that best represents a set of data. The type of average taken as most typically representative of a list of numbers is the arithmetic mean the sum of the numbers divided by ...

of 43.85, with a best return of 5–40 against

Glamorgan Glamorgan (), or sometimes Glamorganshire ( or ), was Historic counties of Wales, one of the thirteen counties of Wales that existed from 1536 until their abolishment in 1974. It is located in the South Wales, south of Wales. Originally an ea ...

in mid-May; Worcestershire lost this game by a single run. In 1954, Ashman played ten further games for the county, mostly in the middle of the season, but he did not have as much success as he had the previous year. He did record a career-best 7 for 111 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 ...

, and 3 for 80 against their Cambridge counterparts, but these two performances aside he could not manage more than a single wicket in an innings. The disastrous game against Surrey at

The Oval The Oval, currently named for sponsorship reasons as the Kia Oval, is an international cricket ground in Kennington, located in the borough of Lambeth, in south London. The Oval has been the home ground of Surrey County Cricket Club sinc ...

in late August, when Worcestershire were humiliatingly dismissed for 25 and 40, proved to be his last in first-class cricket (Ashman took the single wicket of

Bernie Constable Bernard Constable (19 February 1921 – 14 May 1997) was an English first-class cricketer who played for Surrey from 1939 to 1964. He was a member of the Surrey team that won seven successive County Championships from 1952 to 1958. Career Cons ...

), although he did turn out a couple of times for the Second XI in 1955. Ashman died in Southbourne, West Sussex in March 2019 at the age of 92.Ancestry LifeStory: John Robert Ashman
/ref>

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ashman, John 1926 births 2019 deaths English cricketers Cricketers from Rotherham Worcestershire cricketers Yorkshire cricketers English cricketers of 1946 to 1968 20th-century English sportsmen