Neil Anthony Riddell (born 16 July 1947) 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. Riddell was 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 right-arm

medium pace 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 ...

. He was born at

Staindrop Staindrop is a village and civil parish in County Durham, England. It is situated approximately north east of Barnard Castle, on the A688 road. According to the 2011 UK census the population was 1,310, this includes the hamlets of Cleatlam ...

, County Durham.

Early career

Riddell made his debut for

Durham Durham most commonly refers to: *Durham, England, a cathedral city in north east England **County Durham, a ceremonial county which includes Durham *Durham, North Carolina, a city in North Carolina, United States Durham may also refer to: Places ...

in the 1972

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 ...

against

Cumberland Cumberland ( ) is an area of North West England which was historically a county. The county was bordered by Northumberland to the north-east, County Durham to the east, Westmorland to the south-east, Lancashire to the south, and the Scottish ...

. 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 Durham throughout the remainder of the 1970s. In the

1973 Gillette Cup The 1973 Gillette Cup was the eleventh Gillette Cup, an English limited overs county cricket tournament. It was held between 30 June and 1 September 1973. The tournament was won by Gloucestershire County Cricket Club who defeated Sussex County C ...

Riddell 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 Durham against

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 ...

, in what was a famous victory over their

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 ...

opponents. He made seven further List A appearances for Durham in the 1970s. In 1976 he made his first-class debut for 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 ...

against the touring

West Indians A West Indian is a native or inhabitant of the West Indies (the Antilles and the Lucayan Archipelago). According to the ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED''), the term ''West Indian'' in 1597 described the indigenous inhabitants of the West Ind ...

, and in the same year in which he made his debut for Minor Counties East in a List A match in the

Benson & Hedges Cup The Benson & Hedges Cup was a one-day cricket competition for first-class counties in England and Wales that was held from 1972 to 2002, one of cricket's longest sponsorship deals. It was the third major one-day competition established in Engla ...

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 ...

. He played for Minor Counties East from 1976 to 1978, making nine List A appearances, scoring a total of 205 runs 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 25.62, with a high score of 109

not out In cricket, a batsman is not out if they come out to bat in an innings and have not been dismissed by the end of an innings. The batsman is also ''not out'' while their innings is still in progress. Occurrence At least one batter is not out at ...

. This score was his only List A

century A century is a period of 100 years or 10 decades. Centuries are numbered ordinally in English and many other languages. The word ''century'' comes from the Latin ''centum'', meaning ''one hundred''. ''Century'' is sometimes abbreviated as c. ...

and came against Northamptonshire on debut for the team in 1976. In 1979, he made four List A appearances for

Minor Counties North 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 ...

in the Benson & Hedges Cup.

Durham captaincy

He was appointed Durham

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

in 1980. In 1981, he played for the Minor Counties in List A cricket for the first time, making his debut in that format for the team against

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...

in the Benson & Hedges Cup. He played List A cricket for the Minor Counties in the Benson & Hedges Cup until 1986, making 21 appearances. In these, he scored a total of 462 runs at an average of 23.10, with a high score of 74, one of four half centuries he made for the team. He also made two further first-class appearances for the Minor Counties in this decade, against the touring Zimbabweans in 1985 and the touring

New Zealanders New Zealanders are people associated with New Zealand, sharing a common History of New Zealand, history, Culture of New Zealand, culture, and language (New Zealand English). People of various ethnicities and national origins are citizens of Ne ...

in 1986. All the while he continued to play Minor counties cricket for Durham throughout this decade, which included making his

MCCA Knockout Trophy The National Counties Cricket Association Knockout Cup was started in 1983 as a knockout one-day competition for the National Counties in English cricket. At first it was known as the ''English Industrial Estates Cup'', before being called the ...

debut in 1983 against

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Merseyside to the north-west, Greater Manchester to the north-east, Derbyshire to the east, Staffordshire to the south-east, and Shrop ...

. He made twelve further List A appearances for Durham, with his final appearance coming in the

1990 NatWest Trophy The 1990 NatWest Trophy was the 10th NatWest Trophy. It was an English limited overs county cricket tournament which was held between 27 June and 1 September 1990. The tournament was won by Lancashire who defeated Northamptonshire by 7 wickets i ...

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 ...

. In total, Riddell made twenty List A appearances for Durham, scoring a total of 347 runs at an average of 18.26, with a high score of 52. He remained Durham captain throughout the 1980s, and finally retired from

county cricket Inter-county cricket matches have been played since the early 18th century, involving teams that are representative of the historic counties of England and Wales. Two county championship competitions have existed since the late 19th century at ...

at the end of the 1990 season, having played 175 Minor Counties Championship matches and fourteen MCCA Knockout Trophy matches. Under his captaincy Durham won the Minor Counties Championship three times (1980, 1981 and 1984) and the MCCA Knockout Trophy in 1985. Two years after his retirement, Durham had been granted first-class status and were admitted to the County Championship.

References

External links

Neil Riddell
at

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Neil Riddell
at CricketArchive {{DEFAULTSORT:Riddell, Neil 1947 births Living people People from Staindrop Cricketers from County Durham English cricketers Durham cricketers Durham cricket captains Minor Counties cricketers People educated at Barnard Castle School 20th-century English sportsmen