Ronald Aspinall (26 October 1918 – 16 August 1999) was an 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 played for

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 ...

, and a cricket

umpire An umpire is an official in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The term derives from the Old French , , and , : (as evidenced in cricke ...

Life and career

Aspinall was born in

Almondbury Almondbury () is a village south-east of Huddersfield town centre in the Kirklees district, of West Yorkshire, England. The population of Almondbury in 2001 was 7,368 increasing to 18,346 at the census. The village is close to Castle Hill, ...

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 ...

West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a Metropolitan counties of England, metropolitan and Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire to the north and east, South Yorkshire and De ...

. A useful lower order right-handed batsman and a fast-medium right arm bowler, Aspinall was 27 before he made his

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 ...

debut in 1946, and four years later his career was over, ended by an

Achilles' tendon The Achilles tendon or heel cord, also known as the calcaneal tendon, is a tendon at the back of the lower leg, and is the thickest in the human body. It serves to attach the plantaris muscle, plantaris, gastrocnemius muscle, gastrocnemius (calf ...

injury. His most successful game came in 1947 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 ...

, when he took 8 for 42 and 6 for 23 to dismiss the home team for 146 and 118 to hand Yorkshire victory by 351 runs. In 1948, he played fairly regularly as the successor to Bill Bowes, opening the Yorkshire bowling with Alec Coxon. Against

Don Bradman Sir Donald George Bradman (27 August 1908 – 25 February 2001), nicknamed "The Don", was an Australian international cricketer, widely acknowledged as the greatest batsman of all time. His cricketing successes have been claimed by Shane ...

's ' Invincibles' in the so-called 'Sixth Test' and he dismissed Bradman in Australia's second innings, caught by

Len Hutton Sir Leonard Hutton (23 June 1916 – 6 September 1990) was an English cricketer. He played as an Batting order (cricket)#Opening batsmen, opening batsman for Yorkshire County Cricket Club from 1934 to 1955 and for England national cricket team ...

for 86, as well as

Sid Barnes Sidney George Barnes (5 June 1916 – 16 December 1973) was an Australian cricketer and cricket writer, who played 13 Test matches between 1938 and 1948. Able to open the innings or bat down the order, Barnes was regarded as one of Aus ...

, Doug Ring, Ernie Toshack and Keith Miller. In the season before his first-class career ended, 1949 English cricket season, 1949, he headed the national bowling averages in England, by taking 30 wickets in just four matches, at an average of less than 10 runs per wicket, before injury finished his season in May. After leaving the first-class game, Aspinall played Minor counties of English and Welsh cricket, Minor Counties cricket for seven seasons for Durham County Cricket Club, Durham from 1951 to 1957. Between 1960 and 1981 he was on the first-class umpires list. Aspinall died in August 1999, in Almondbury, at the age of 80.

References

*''Wisden Cricketer's Almanack, Wisden'' - 1947 to 1951 editions.

External links

* 1918 births 1999 deaths Cricketers from Huddersfield Yorkshire cricketers Durham cricketers English cricket umpires English cricketers 20th-century English sportsmen {{England-cricket-bio-1910s-stub