Mel Ryan
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Melville Ryan (23 June 1933 – 16 November 2015) was an English professional
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 for
Yorkshire County Cricket Club Yorkshire County Cricket Club is a professional Cricket club based in Yorkshire, England. The team competes in the County Championship, the top tier of English First-class cricket. Nicknamed "Vikings". Yorkshire also competes in T20 Blast, O ...
from 1954 to 1965. He was born in
Huddersfield Huddersfield is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees in West Yorkshire, England. It is the administrative centre and largest settlement in the Kirklees district. The town is in the foothills of the Pennines. The River Holme's confl ...
, and died in the Kirkland Hospice at
Dalton Dalton may refer to: Science * Dalton (crater), a lunar crater * Dalton (program), chemistry software * Dalton (unit) (Da), a.k.a. unified atomic mass unit * John Dalton, chemist, physicist and meteorologist * 12292 Dalton, an asteroid Ent ...
in Huddersfield. Ryan was a right-arm
fast-medium bowler Fast bowling (also referred to as pace bowling) is a type of bowling in cricket, in which the ball is delivered at high speed. The fastest bowlers bowl the ball at over . Practitioners of fast bowling are known as fast bowlers or quicks. Also i ...
who took 413
wicket In the sport of cricket, the term wicket has several meanings: * It is either of the two sets of three Stump (cricket), stumps and two Bail (cricket), bails at each end of the Cricket pitch, pitch. The Fielding (cricket), fielding team's playe ...
s in 150
first-class matches First class (or 1st class, Firstclass) generally implies a high level of service, importance or quality. Specific uses of the term include: Books and comics * ''First Class'', a comic strip in ''The Dandy'' (1983-1998) * ''X-Men: First Class' ...
at an average of 22.92 runs per wicket. He took five wickets in an
innings An innings is one of the divisions of a cricket match during which one team takes its turn to bat. Innings also means the period in which an individual player bats (acts as either striker or nonstriker). In cricket and rounders, "innings" is ...
twelve times with best figures of 7/45. He achieved ten wickets in a match twice with a best return of 10/77. A right-handed tail-end batsman, he scored 682 career runs with a highest score of 26 *. He was generally an
outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to catch ...
and completed 59
catches Catch may refer to: In sports * Catch (game), children's game * Catch (baseball), a maneuver in baseball * Catch (cricket), a mode of dismissal in cricket * Catch or reception (gridiron football) * Catch, part of a rowing stroke * Catch wrestlin ...
.


Cricket career

Born in
Huddersfield Huddersfield is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees in West Yorkshire, England. It is the administrative centre and largest settlement in the Kirklees district. The town is in the foothills of the Pennines. The River Holme's confl ...
, Mel Ryan was keen on playing both
football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...
and
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 ...
as a boy. In 1947, when he was 14,
Yorkshire County Cricket Club Yorkshire County Cricket Club is a professional Cricket club based in Yorkshire, England. The team competes in the County Championship, the top tier of English First-class cricket. Nicknamed "Vikings". Yorkshire also competes in T20 Blast, O ...
invited him to their coaching classes at
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 ...
, but they saw him as a promising
batsman In cricket, batting is the act or skill of hitting the cricket ball, ball with a cricket bat, bat to score runs (cricket), runs and prevent the dismissal (cricket), loss of one's wicket. Any player who is currently batting is, since Septembe ...
rather than as a bowler. Through his teens, Ryan played for the former Bradley Mills club in the
Huddersfield Cricket League The Huddersfield ECB Premier League is the premier cricket competition in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England. The league has been in existence since 1891 with teams representing suburbs of Huddersfield and villages in the Huddersfield distri ...
and then for Eccleshill in the
Bradford League The Bradford League was a football competition based in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. It sat at level 14 of the English football league system. The league was a feeder to the West Riding County Amateur Football League – in 2006 Dudley Hill ...
. Ryan joined Yorkshire as a player in 1954, aged 21, and went on to play for them in 150
first-class matches First class (or 1st class, Firstclass) generally implies a high level of service, importance or quality. Specific uses of the term include: Books and comics * ''First Class'', a comic strip in ''The Dandy'' (1983-1998) * ''X-Men: First Class' ...
until 1965. He also played for the Yorkshire Second XI (1954–1962), the
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 ...
(1957–1958) and the
International Cavaliers The International Cavaliers were an ''ad hoc'' cricket team made up of famous cricketers in order to encourage local cricket. Their teams included many prominent cricketers from the 1940s, 1950s, 1960s and 1970s as many retired veterans and talented ...
(1966). His first-class debut was for Yorkshire against
Combined Services The Combined Services cricket team represents the British Armed Forces. The team played at first-class level in England for more than forty years in the mid-twentieth century. Their first first-class match was against Gentlemen of England at Lo ...
at
St George's Road Cricket Ground, Harrogate St George's Road Cricket Ground in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England, that hosted 98 first class matches between 1882 and 2000. It hosted a woman's Test match starting on 1 August 1998 between England women and Australia women. It had a ...
, 21–23 July 1954. The match was a high-scoring draw with no play on the third day but Ryan took 3/84 and enjoyed early success when he had opener John Murray caught by
Brian Close Dennis Brian Close, (24 February 1931 – 13 September 2015) was an English first-class cricketer. He was picked to play against New Zealand in July 1949, when he was 18 years old. Close went on to play 22  Test matches for England, ...
for 2. That was his only first team appearance in his debut season; he also played in six matches for the Second XI in the
Minor Counties Championship The NCCA 3 Day Championship or National County Championship is a season-long competition in England and Wales that is contested by the members of the National Counties Cricket Association (NCCA), the so-called national counties (previously ca ...
. Ryan played in five first team matches and six Second XI matches in 1955, taking sixteen first-class wickets. He made his
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 ...
debut on 6 August against
Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It borders Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, and South Yorkshire to the north, Nottinghamshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south-east, Staffordshire to the south a ...
at Park Avenue, Bradford, taking 4/44 and 0/16 as Yorkshire won by an innings and 94 runs. In 1956, he played in six matches for the first team and four for the Second XI, taking nineteen first-class wickets. Ryan was a member of the Second XI team which won the Minor Counties Championship in 1957 and 1958, playing in ten and nine matches respectively, including the two Championship Challenge matches. In 1958, playing against
Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Staffordshire and Leicestershire to the north, Northamptonshire to the east, Ox ...
at
Edgbaston Edgbaston () is a suburb of Birmingham, West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. It lies immediately south-west of Birmingham city centre, and was historically in Warwickshire. The Ward (electoral subdivision), wards of Edgbaston and Nort ...
, Ryan achieved his career-best bowling figures of 7/45 in Warwickshire's second innings. He took five of the last six wickets as Warwickshire collapsed from 188/4 to 229 all out. He made only occasional appearances for Yorkshire's first team until 1961 when he became a regular choice, usually opening the bowling with
Fred Trueman Frederick Sewards Trueman, (6 February 1931 – 1 July 2006) was an English cricketer who played for Yorkshire County Cricket Club and the England cricket team. He had professional status and later became an author and broadcaster. Acknowled ...
. Ryan was awarded his
county cap In sport, a cap is a player's appearance in a game at international level. The term dates from the practice in the United Kingdom of awarding a cap to every player in an international match of rugby football and association football. In the e ...
in 1962. Yorkshire enjoyed considerable success during Ryan's career, winning four
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 ...
titles between
1959 Events January * January 1 – Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance. * January 2 – Soviet lunar probe Luna 1 is the first human-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reaches the ...
and
1963 Events January * January 1 – Bogle–Chandler case: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation scientist Dr. Gilbert Bogle and Mrs. Margaret Chandler are found dead (presumed poisoned), in bushland near the Lane Cove ...
. He was not a first team regular in 1959 when
Ronnie Burnet John Ronald Burnet OBE (11 October 1918 – 6 March 1999) was an English first-class cricketer and the last amateur captain of Yorkshire County Cricket Club. Yet despite this, and his modest playing record, he is remembered as a success in that ...
led Yorkshire to their first title since
1949 Events January * January 1 – A United Nations-sponsored ceasefire brings an end to the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947. The war results in a stalemate and the division of Kashmir, which still continues as of 2025 * January 2 – Luis ...
. Ryan played in five matches and took 21 wickets in 1959. He was more involved under Vic Wilson's captaincy in
1960 It is also known as the "Year of Africa" because of major events—particularly the independence of seventeen African nations—that focused global attention on the continent and intensified feelings of Pan-Africanism. Events January * Janu ...
and
1962 The year saw the Cuban Missile Crisis, which is often considered the closest the world came to a Nuclear warfare, nuclear confrontation during the Cold War. Events January * January 1 – Samoa, Western Samoa becomes independent from Ne ...
, taking 37 and 73 wickets respectively. Under Brian Close in 1963, Ryan took 57 wickets. Ryan took
five wickets in an innings In cricket, a five-wicket haul (also known as a "five–for" or "fifer") occurs when a bowler takes five or more wickets in a single innings. This is regarded by critics as a notable achievement, equivalent to a century from a batter. Taking ...
twelve times, his best return being the 7/45 at Edgbaston in 1958. He twice achieved
ten wickets in a match In cricket, a ten-wicket haul occurs when a bowler takes ten wickets in either a single innings or across both innings of a two-innings match. The phrase ten wickets in a match is also used. Taking ten wickets in a match at Lord's earns the bow ...
. Playing for Yorkshire against
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 ...
at
Acklam Park Acklam Park is a rugby union and cricket ground located in Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, England. Initially opened in 1929, the venue has hosted games of Middlesbrough RUFC since the ground's opening in 1929, as well as Middlesbrough Cricket C ...
,
Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ), colloquially known as Boro, is a port town in the Borough of Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, England. Lying to the south of the River Tees, Middlesbrough forms part of the Teesside Built up area, built-up area and the Tees Va ...
on 24–27 June 1961, he took 10/94 in the match with 4/47 and 6/47, Yorkshire winning by 89 runs. His best match return was 10/77 when he took 4/44 and 6/33 for Yorkshire against
Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire to the north, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire to the south-east, Warw ...
at Park Avenue, 15–17 August 1962. Yorkshire won by 116 runs. There was a postscript to the Park Avenue match involving Ryan and Yorkshire's chairman, former club captain
Brian Sellers Arthur Brian Sellers (5 March 1907 – 20 February 1981) was an English amateur first-class cricketer, who played in 334 first-class matches for Yorkshire County Cricket Club between 1932 and 1948, and later became a prominent administrator ...
. Ryan, who was tall and strongly built, had a reputation on the county circuit for being "extremely well-hung". After his match winning performance against Leicestershire, Sellers came into the dressing room and said: "Well done, Mel. Is it thee cock that's done it?" One of his Yorkshire team-mates, fellow fast bowler
Bob Platt Robert Kenworthy Platt (born 26 December 1932) is an English former professional cricketer who played for Yorkshire County Cricket Club from 1955 to 1963. He also played two first-class matches for the Combined Services in 1956 and three for No ...
, described Ryan's bowling action as "a busy and effective run-up (followed by) delivery at a lively pace". Platt said Ryan did not bowl
bouncer A bouncer (also known as a door supervisor) is a type of security guard, employed at licensed or sanctioned venues such as bars, nightclubs, cabaret clubs, strip clubs and casinos. A bouncer's duties are to provide security, to check legal ag ...
s as he relied on accurate
line and length Line and length in cricket refers to the direction and point of bouncing on the pitch of a delivery. The two concepts are frequently discussed together. Line The line of a delivery is the direction of its trajectory measured in the horizontal pl ...
. Ryan told ''Wisden'' that he loved sharing the bowling with Trueman but he (Ryan) would have been much more successful and taken many more wickets "if Fred hadn't been at the other end". Journalist Chris Waters wrote a biography of Trueman and, as part of his research, calculated that Trueman had opened Yorkshire's bowling in 802 innings with 28 "new ball partners". Ryan is second in this list with 126, behind Tony Nicholson with 188. Trueman thought highly of Ryan and specifically mentions his performance in a very close match against
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 ...
at
Old Trafford Old Trafford () is a football stadium in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, and is the home of Manchester United. With a capacity of 74,197, it is the largest club football stadium (and second-largest football stadium overall after W ...
in 1960. Lancashire won by two wickets after scoring the winning run off the final ball of the final over before time expired (all four results had been possible when the over began). Trueman praised a "magnificent" performance by Ryan and his words were echoed after the match by Lancashire's
Brian Statham John Brian Statham, (17 June 1930 – 10 June 2000) was an English professional cricketer from Gorton, in Manchester, who played for Lancashire County Cricket Club from 1950 to 1968 and for England from 1951 to 1965. Yorkshire had scored 154 and 149. Lancashire had scored 226 in their first innings and so needed 78 to win. Trueman and Ryan bowled unchanged through the 31 overs available and, with only one ball left, Lancashire had reached 77/8 and the scores were level. Trueman bowled the last ball to
Jack Dyson Jack Dyson (8 July 1934 – 22 November 2000) was both an English first-class cricketer and a professional footballer. He was born and died in Oldham, Lancashire. He started his sporting career as a footballer and spent four seasons with Manch ...
who managed to deflect it away to the boundary for the winning runs. Ryan had taken 5/50 and Trueman 2/28 to bring Yorkshire that close to winning. Towards the end of his career, Ryan played in three Gillette Cup matches, taking five wickets at 29.80, and scoring seven runs for once out. He retired from first-class cricket in 1965. His final match for Yorkshire was against Northamptonshire at Headingley, 19–22 June 1965. Northamptonshire won by 58 runs. Ryan took 2/35 and 0/6; his final wicket was that of David Steele, whom he
bowled In cricket, the term bowled has several meanings. First, it is the act of propelling the ball towards the wicket defended by a batter. Second, it is a method of dismissing a batter, by hitting the wicket with a ball delivered by the bowler. ...
for 12. Trueman was not playing in this match and Ryan shared the pace bowling with John Waring and Tony Nicholson, who became Ryan's successor in the Yorkshire team.


Business career

Ryan's ''Wisden'' obituary mentions his lack of interest in schoolwork because, depending on how his sporting ambitions developed, he knew he would eventually run the family's newsagency business in the Huddersfield area. The business was established by his parents, John and Cora Ryan. When his cricket career ended, Ryan formed a partnership with his brother Granville and nephew John Ryan to run the chain of shops.


Death

Mel Ryan became terminally ill in 2015 and his last days were spent at the Kirkwood Hospice in Dalton, Huddersfield. He died, aged 82, on 16 November 2015 and was survived by his wife June, his daughter and three grandchildren. His Yorkshire team-mate Ken Taylor, also from Huddersfield, paid tribute to him, saying that Ryan was a "straight-talking, kindly and generous man".


References


Sources

* ''
Playfair Cricket Annual ''Playfair Cricket Annual'' is a compact annual about cricket that is published in the United Kingdom each April, just before the English cricket season is due to begin. It has been published every year since 1948. Its main purposes are to revie ...
'', 8th to 16th editions, editor Gordon Ross, Playfair Books, 1955–1963 *


Further reading

* Includes brief mentions of Mel Ryan but does not add anything to the above narrative.


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ryan, Mel 1933 births 2015 deaths English cricketers Yorkshire cricketers Cricketers from Huddersfield International Cavaliers cricketers 20th-century English sportsmen