Alan Ratcliffe (31 March 1909 – 21 August 1967) was an English

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by str ...

er. Ratcliffe was 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 ...

. He was born in

Dulwich Dulwich (; ) is an area in south London, England. The settlement is mostly in the London Borough of Southwark, with parts in the London Borough of Lambeth, and consists of Dulwich Village, East Dulwich, West Dulwich, and the Southwark half ...

, Surrey. His early education was undertaken at Rydal School, Ratcliffe made his first-class debut for

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

against the touring

West Indians A West Indian is a native or inhabitant of the West Indies (the Antilles and the Lucayan Archipelago). For more than 100 years the words ''West Indian'' specifically described natives of the West Indies, but by 1661 Europeans had begun to use ...

in 1928. He later made 3 further first-class appearances for Wales, the last of which came against the

Marylebone Cricket Club Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) is a cricket club founded in 1787 and based since 1814 at Lord's Cricket Ground, which it owns, in St John's Wood, London. The club was formerly the governing body of cricket retaining considerable global influence ...

in 1930. He scored 227 runs for Wales, which came at an

average In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7 ...

of 32.42, with a high score of 73. Ratcliffe undertook his studies at

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III of England, Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world' ...

in 1930, it was in that same year that he made his debut for

Cambridge University Cricket Club Cambridge University Cricket Club, first recorded in 1817, is the representative cricket club for students of the University of Cambridge. Depending on the circumstances of each individual match, the club has always been recognised as holding ...

in a first-class match against

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other English counties, functions have ...

, the same season in which he made his debut for

Denbighshire Denbighshire ( ; cy, Sir Ddinbych; ) is a county in the north-east of Wales. Its borders differ from the historic county of the same name. This part of Wales contains the country's oldest known evidence of habitation – Pontnewydd (Bontnewy ...

in the Minor Counties Championship, with him playing 4 further matches for the Welsh county up to 1931. He represented Cambridge University in first-class cricket on another 32 occasions, with his final match for the university coming against

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to th ...

in 1932. In his 33 first-class appearances, he scored 1,545 runs at an average of 30.29. He made 7 fifties and 5

centuries A century is a period of 100 years. 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. A centennial or ...

, with a high score of 201. This score, which was his only career double century, came against Oxford University at Lord's. This innings exceeded the highest score made in a

university match The University Match in a cricketing context is generally understood to refer to the annual fixture between Oxford University Cricket Club and Cambridge University Cricket Club. From 2001, as part of the reorganisation of first-class cricket, ...

by 29 runs, beating the previous high score held by

John Marsh John Marsh may refer to: Politicians * John Marsh (MP fl. 1394–1397), MP for Bath * John Marsh (MP fl. 1414–1421), MP for Bath *John Allmond Marsh (1894–1952), Canadian Member of Parliament * John Otho Marsh Jr. (1926–2019), American c ...

. This record though stood for only one day, as the next day the

Nawab of Pataudi The term Nawab of Pataudi refers to the lineage of rulers of the former princely Pataudi State in Northern India. Pataudi was established in 1804 by the British East India Company, when Faiz Talab Khan, an Afghan Muslim Pashtun of the Barech ...

broke this record by scoring 238

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

for Oxford University. While at Cambridge, he also made the first of first-class appearances for the

against the

Army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

. His performances for Cambridge University caught the eyes of Surrey, who signed him. He made his debut for Surrey midway through the 1932 season against

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English cities on its south coast, Southampton and Portsmouth, Hampshire ...

. He made 6 further first-class appearances for Surrey, the last of which came against Leicestershire in the 1933 County Championship. His time at Surrey was less successful than his endeavours at Cambridge, with him scoring just 142 runs at an average of 17.75, with a high score of 34. He left Surrey at the end of the 1933 season, later joining Buckinghamshire in 1937, making his debut for the county in that seasons Minor Counties Championship against

Bedfordshire Bedfordshire (; abbreviated Beds) is a ceremonial county in the East of England. The county has been administered by three unitary authorities, Borough of Bedford, Central Bedfordshire and Borough of Luton, since Bedfordshire County Council ...

. He made 11 further appearances for Buckinghamshire, the last of which came against Hertfordshire in 1939. During this period, two further first-class appearances came for the Marylebone Cricket Club, in 1938 against Yorkshire and in Cambridge University in 1939. Following

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, he made one further first-class appearance, for an Over-33 team against an Under-33 team at Lord's in 1945, although this final appearance came with no success. Ratcliffe died in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

, Ontario, Canada on 21 August 1967.

References

External links

Alan Ratcliffe
at

ESPNcricinfo ESPN cricinfo (formerly known as Cricinfo or CricInfo) is a sports news website exclusively for the game of cricket. The site features news, articles, live coverage of cricket matches (including liveblogs and scorecards), and ''StatsGuru'', a ...

Alan Ratcliffe
at CricketArchive {{DEFAULTSORT:Ratcliffe, Alan 1909 births 1967 deaths People from Dulwich Cricketers from the London Borough of Southwark People educated at Rydal Penrhos Alumni of the University of Cambridge English cricketers Wales cricketers Denbighshire cricketers Cambridge University cricketers Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers Surrey cricketers Buckinghamshire cricketers