Robert Saxton Bestwick (29 September 1899 – 3 July 1980) was an English

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 ...

er who played for

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 ...

between 1920 and 1922. Bestwick was born at

Heanor Heanor (/ˈhiːnə/) is a town in the Amber Valley district of Derbyshire, England. It lies north-east of Derby and forms, with the adjacent village of Loscoe, the civil parishes in England, civil parish and town council-administered area of He ...

, the son of

Billy Bestwick William Bestwick (24 February 1875 – 2 May 1938) was an English cricketer who played for Derbyshire County Cricket Club, Derbyshire between 1898 and 1926. He was a medium-fast bowler who took over 1,400 wickets in his career, including 10 in ...

. His father was a miner who was also a leading bowler for Derbyshire in spite of his reputation as a bad boy of cricket. Bestwick junior made his debut for Derbyshire in May 1920 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 ...

when he made 2 and 6 at the tail end, but failed to take a wicket. He played one more game that season and was absent from the game in 1921. He reappeared again in 1922, sharing the bowling with his father in two matches. In the first of these, against Warwickshire, there was a unique father and son occurrence when for six overs Bestwick and his father bowled together against

Willie Quaife William George Quaife (17 March 1872 – 13 October 1951) was a cricketer who played for Sussex, Warwickshire and England. He also played representative hockey for the Midlands.At the age of 56 years and 139 days, Quaife is the oldest cricketer ...

and his son

Bernard Quaife Bernard William Quaife (24 November 1899 – 27 November 1984) was an English first-class cricketer who played more than 300 matches between the wars. He played first for Warwickshire, but later found much more success at Worcestershire, where ...

. After taking the wicket of the elder Quaife and another player, Bestwick junior did not strike in either subsequent match and was out with low scores, His father survived him in the game until 1925. Bestwick was a right-hand batsman and played nine innings in five first-class matches with an average of 3.62 and a top score of 10. He was a right-arm fast-medium bowler and took 2 first-class wickets at an average of 75.50 and a best performance of 2 for 47.Robert Bestwick at Cricket Archive
/ref> Bestwick died at

Saint Ouen, Jersey St Ouen (Jèrriais: ''Saint Ouën'', ) is one of the twelve parishes of Jersey in the Channel Islands. It is around north-west of St Helier. It has a population of 4,097. The parish is the largest parish by surface area, covering 8,525 vergées ...

at the age of 80.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bestwick, Robert 1899 births 1980 deaths Derbyshire cricketers English cricketers Cricketers from Derbyshire Sportspeople from Heanor English cricketers of 1919 to 1945 20th-century English sportsmen