Alastair Nigel Bressington (born 28 November 1979) is a former 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 striki ...

er and

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

player. He was a left-handed batsman and a right-arm medium-pace bowler. Bressington was born in

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

, and he was educated at University of Wales Institute, Cardiff.

Cricket career

Bressington played for

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of Gl ...

between 2000 and 2004, participating extensively in Minor Counties trophy and Second XI Championship matches for the team from 1998 to 2004, and playing in the Second XI trophy, making several appearances in the group stages of the competition between 1999 and 2004. Bressington also participated in nine first-class and nine

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 ...

matches for the county, averaging 41.66 and 24.00 with the bat and 34.35 and 37.50 with the ball respectively. In August 2004 Bressington was called up as twelfth man for

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. Upon Graham Thorpe breaking his finger, he was called upon to field for 74 overs and even caught West Indian

wicket-keeper The wicket-keeper in the sport of cricket is the player on the fielding side who stands behind the wicket or stumps being watchful of the batsman and ready to take a catch, stump the batsman out and run out a batsman when occasion arises. Th ...

Carlton Baugh Carlton Seymour Baugh (born 23 June 1982) is a Jamaican cricketer. He attended Wolmer's Schools He is an aggressive right-hand batsman, wicketkeeper and occasional bowler of leg breaks and googlies. His Test debut came during a five-day matc ...

off the bowling of Steve Harmison.

Rugby union career

Bressington was released from Gloucestershire in 2004, whereupon he decided to concentrate more on

. He joined

Stourbridge RFC Stourbridge RFC is a rugby union side based in Stourbridge, West Midlands and play in the fifth tier of the English rugby union league system; Regional 1 Midlands. They play their home games at Stourton Park, which was redeveloped in 2003 to p ...

, where his brother Nathan had played the season before on loan and had eclipsed the club's record for most tries in a season. In the 2006–07 season, Alastair surpassed his sibling's record of seventeen tries in one season with nineteen of his own. Bressington also has the distinction of scoring the most points for Stourbridge in a single game, beating his own record of 31 with 35 against

Westcombe Park Westcombe Park is a largely residential area in Blackheath in the Royal Borough of Greenwich, South East London, England. It is bounded by the main London-Dartford railway line to the north, the Blackwall Tunnel southern approach to the east, th ...

on 25 October 2008. He is currently second on the club's list of all-time league points scorers, behind Ben Harvey. Despite having played most of his rugby union career on the

right-wing Right-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that view certain social orders and hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this position on the basis of natural law, economics, authorit ...

, Bressington is equally adept at full-back which he increasingly proved at Stourton Park over the past few seasons. With a strike-rate of 78%, he was Stourbridge's first-choice goalkicker also. In August 2009, he signed for Stourbridge's National League 1 rivals; Cinderford. Bressington currently teaches at

The King's School, Gloucester The King's School is a co-educational independent day school in Gloucester, in the county of Gloucestershire, England. It traces its heritage to a monastic school founded in the 11th century in the cloisters of Gloucester Cathedral. It became ...

, where he is responsible for organising hockey, cricket and rugby union. Bressington now coaches the Painswick RFC 1st XV squad in Stroud, Gloucestershire.

Family

Alistair's brother

Nathan Bressington Nathan Stewart Bressington (born 7 February 1981) is a rugby union player and former English cricketer. He currently plays for Stourbridge in the National League 2 North. Bressington played as a left-handed batsman and was a right-arm medium ...

played List-A cricket for the Gloucestershire Cricket Board, where he played in the same team as Nathan in two of his appearances for the board.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bressington, Alistair 1979 births Alumni of the University of Worcester English cricketers English rugby union players Gloucestershire Cricket Board cricketers Gloucestershire cricketers Living people Rugby union scrum-halves Saracens F.C. players Cricketers from Bristol Stourbridge R.F.C. players Rugby union players from Bristol