Michael Youll (born 26 April 1939) is a former 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, a left-handed

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 ...

who bowled

left-arm unorthodox spin Left-arm unorthodox spin, also known as slow left-arm wrist spin, is a type of spin bowling in the sport of cricket . Left-arm unorthodox spin bowlers use wrist spin to spin the ball, and make it deviate, or 'turn' from left to right after pit ...

. He was born in

Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne, or simply Newcastle ( , Received Pronunciation, RP: ), is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is England's northernmost metropolitan borough, located o ...

Northumberland Northumberland ( ) is a ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North East England, on the Anglo-Scottish border, border with Scotland. It is bordered by the North Sea to the east, Tyne and Wear and County Durham to the south, Cumb ...

. Youll made his first-class debut for

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 ...

against

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

in 1956. He made three further appearances for Warwickshire, the last of them 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 ...

in 1957. In his four first-class matches, he took 14 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 21.57, with a single

five wicket haul 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 ...

in his debut match in 1956: 5 for 99 in the first innings. In 1957, at the age of 18, he was the leading wicket-taker 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 ...

, with 62 wickets at an average of 16.41. Despite this success, he completely lost his bowling form in 1958 and afterwards played purely as a batsman. He did his

National Service National service is a system of compulsory or voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act ...

in the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

during his time at Warwickshire, and had fewer opportunities thereafter, leaving the county at the end of the 1961 season. Youll joined

in 1962, making his debut in that season's Minor Counties Championship against the Yorkshire Second XI. He played

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 ...

cricket for Northumberland from 1962 to 1981, including over 100 Minor Counties Championship appearances. He made his

List A List A cricket is a classification of the Limited overs cricket, limited-overs (one-day) form of the sport of cricket, with games lasting up to eight hours. List A cricket includes One Day International (ODI) matches and various domestic competit ...

debut for Northumberland against

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (), abbreviated ''Lincs'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands and Yorkshire and the Humber regions of England. It is bordered by the East Riding of Yorkshire across the Humber estuary to th ...

in the

1971 Gillette Cup The 1971 Gillette Cup was the ninth Gillette Cup, an English limited overs county cricket tournament. It was held between 15 May and 4 September 1971. The tournament was won by Lancashire who defeated Kent by 24 runs in the final at Lord's. Form ...

. He made two further List A appearances, both in the

1977 Gillette Cup The 1977 Gillette Cup was the fifteenth Gillette Cup, an English limited overs county cricket tournament. It was held between 29 June and 3 September 1977. The tournament was won by Middlesex County Cricket Club who defeated Glamorgan County Cr ...

. In 1978, when he captained Northumberland, he was the highest scorer in the Minor Counties Championship, with 889 runs at an average of 42.33. His son

Oliver Oliver may refer to: Arts, entertainment and literature Books * ''Oliver the Western Engine'', volume 24 in ''The Railway Series'' by Rev. W. Awdry * ''Oliver Twist'', a novel by Charles Dickens Fictional characters * Ariadne Oliver ...

also played Minor Counties and List A cricket for Northumberland.

References

External links

Michael Youll
at

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Michael Youll
at CricketArchive {{DEFAULTSORT:Youll, Michael 1939 births Living people Cricketers from Newcastle upon Tyne English cricketers Warwickshire cricketers Northumberland cricketers 20th-century Royal Air Force personnel 20th-century English sportsmen