Alan Hill (born 29 June 1950) is a former English cricketer and umpire who played for

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...

from 1972 to 1986 and for

Orange Free State The Orange Free State ( nl, Oranje Vrijstaat; af, Oranje-Vrystaat;) was an independent Boer sovereign republic under British suzerainty in Southern Africa during the second half of the 19th century, which ceased to exist after it was defeat ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

in 1976/77. Hill was born in

Buxworth Buxworth is a village in the High Peak of Derbyshire, England. The area, which was once an important centre for the limestone industry, became the terminus of the Peak Forest Canal. Its pub, the Navigation Inn, was once owned by ''Coronation Str ...

and began playing for Derbyshire Juniors in 1965. He progressed to the Second XI by 1970 and in 1972 made his first-class debut against Somerset. He was a right-handed batsman, who usually opened for Derbyshire, and an occasional

off-break Off spin is a type of finger spin bowling in cricket. A bowler who uses this technique is called an off spinner. Off spinners are right-handed spin bowlers who use their fingers to spin the ball. Their normal delivery is an off break, which spi ...

bowler. In

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 one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officiall ...

, he hit 65 fifties and 18 hundreds, giving him a career average of 30.89. His occasional off-break bowling took only a modest 9 wickets. Hill is one of only two cricketers to make a century without hitting a

boundary Boundary or Boundaries may refer to: * Border, in political geography Entertainment *Boundaries (2016 film), ''Boundaries'' (2016 film), a 2016 Canadian film *Boundaries (2018 film), ''Boundaries'' (2018 film), a 2018 American-Canadian road trip ...

, a record that he shares with

Paul Hibbert Paul Anthony Hibbert (23 July 1952 – 27 November 2008) was an Australian cricketer who played in one Test in 1977. He was born in Brunswick, Victoria. Hibbert is one of only two men to make a century in first-class cricket without hitting a ...

, making 103 in the match for Orange Free State v

Griqualand West Griqualand West is an area of central South Africa with an area of 40,000 km2 that now forms part of the Northern Cape Province. It was inhabited by the Griqua people – a semi-nomadic, Afrikaans-speaking nation of mixed-race origin, wh ...

in 1976–77. After he retired Hill became an umpire at first-class and

List A List A cricket is a classification of the 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 competitions in which the numbe ...

level, but stopped after only two seasons. He began coaching cricket, working in many schools, and until the end of the 2009 season, was head coach for

Newcastle-under-Lyme School Newcastle-under-Lyme School is a mixed Independent day school in the town of Newcastle-under-Lyme in Staffordshire, England. It came about by a merger of the old Newcastle High School (founded in 1874) with the Orme Girls' School (founded in 187 ...

. His brother, Bernard Hill, made several appearances for the Derbyshire Second XI, but never made it to first-class level.

References

External links

* * Derbyshire cricketers Free State cricketers English cricketers 1950 births Living people English cricket umpires People from High Peak, Derbyshire Cricketers from Derbyshire {{England-cricket-bio-1950s-stub