Robin Ian Henry Benbow Dyer (born 22 December 1958) is a schoolmaster and 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 who was, until December 2022, the Headmaster of

Ampleforth College Ampleforth College is a co-educational Private schools in the United Kingdom, fee-charging boarding and day school in the English Public school (United Kingdom), public school tradition. It opened in 1803 as a boys' school. It is near the villa ...

, a co-educational Catholic boarding school in North Yorkshire. Dyer was born in

Hertford Hertford ( ) is the county town of Hertfordshire, England, and is also a civil parish in the East Hertfordshire district of the county. The parish had a population of 26,783 at the 2011 census. The town grew around a Ford (crossing), ford on ...

. He was educated at West House School, Birmingham (1966 - 1972) before moving to

Wellington College Wellington College may refer to: New Zealand * Wellington College, Wellington, New Zealand * Wellington College of Education, now the Faculty of Education of Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand * Wellington Girls' College, Wellington, N ...

(Sep 1972 - Dec 1977) where he captained the College cricket team. Heading to

Durham University Durham University (legally the University of Durham) is a collegiate university, collegiate public university, public research university in Durham, England, founded by an Act of Parliament (UK), Act of Parliament in 1832 and incorporated by r ...

( Collingwood College) in 1978, he again captained the cricket team, having already made appearances for the

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 ...

2nd XI. He graduated from Durham in 1981 with a degree in Politics. He appeared in 65

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' ...

as a right-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 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. ...

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 scored 2,843 runs, making three first-class hundreds and 18 fifties, with a highest score of 109 *. He took no

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 (albeit, with a best performance of none for 2) and held 39 catches. In one day cricket, he played 42 matches for Warwickshire, making one century and two scores of fifty, and played in the 1984

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 ...

final at Lord's, when Warwickshire lost to Lancashire. After leaving Warwickshire in 1986 Dyer became a

schoolmaster A schoolmaster, or simply master, is a male school teacher. The usage first occurred in England in the Late Middle Ages and early modern period. At that time, most schools were one-room or two-room schools and had only one or two such teacher ...

, returning to his alma mater

to teach Politics. He was a Housemaster there from 1990 to 2002 and was promoted to Second Master in 2002, continuing until 2019 and serving as Acting Master in the

Michaelmas term Michaelmas ( ) term is the first academic term of the academic year in a number of English-speaking universities and schools in the northern hemisphere, especially in the United Kingdom. Michaelmas term derives its name from the Feast of St M ...

of 2005 and again in the

Lent term Lent term, named for Lent, the six-week fasting period before Easter, is the name of the winter academic term at the following British universities: *University of Cambridge *Canterbury Christ Church University * University of Lancaster *Univer ...

of 2014. He worked on the project to create Wellington College International Tianjin and its sister schools in Shanghai and also on the partnership with the Wellington College Academy. He was also in charge of the cricket 1st XI from 1989 to 2003. In July 2019, Dyer retired from Wellington College after some 33 years, but was promptly appointed as Headmaster of

- an appointment that would necessitate him steering the College through turbulent times. With the turnaround completed in November 2022, Gordon Rayner, The Daily Telegraph, 12 November 2022
"Ampleforth College saved from 'death row' after abuse scandal battle with Ofsted"
accessed 29 November 2024, he retired in December 2022.

References

1958 births English cricketers Headmasters of Ampleforth College Warwickshire cricketers Living people Alumni of Collingwood College, Durham 20th-century English sportsmen {{england-cricket-bio-1950s-stub