Donald Vincent Brennan (10 February 1920 – 9 January 1985) 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 striki ...

er, who played in two

Tests Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film), ...

in 1951. For his county

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

he was their regular wicket-keeper between 1947 and 1953, taking a total of 380 dismissals in those seven seasons. A poor batsman, he

averaged In mathematics and statistics, the arithmetic mean ( ) or arithmetic average, or just the ''mean'' or the ''average'' (when the context is clear), is the sum of a collection of numbers divided by the count of numbers in the collection. The colle ...

10.52 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 ...

with only a single fifty in 232 appearances. Cricket correspondent, Colin Bateman, noted after Brennan had replaced

Godfrey Evans Thomas Godfrey Evans (18 August 1920 – 3 May 1999) was an English cricketer who played for Kent and England. Described by ''Wisden'' as 'arguably the best wicket-keeper the game has ever seen', Evans collected 219 dismissals in 91 Test match ...

in the

England cricket team The England cricket team represents England and Wales in international cricket. Since 1997, it has been governed by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), having been previously governed by Marylebone Cricket Club (the MCC) since 1903. Engla ...

, that "there can be few higher tributes to his 'keeping skills than that".

Life and career

Born in Eccleshill,

Bradford Bradford is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Bradford district in West Yorkshire, England. The city is in the Pennines' eastern foothills on the banks of the Bradford Beck. Bradford had a population of 349,561 at the 2011 ...

, Yorkshire, Brennan played Bradford League cricket for his home town before his break into first-class cricket in 1947. Brennan played two second XI matches in 1946, but first team opportunities were blocked by

Paul Gibb Paul Antony Gibb (11 July 1913 – 7 December 1977) was an English cricketer, who played in eight Tests for England from 1938 to 1946. He played first-class cricket for Cambridge University, Yorkshire and Essex, as a right-handed opening or mid ...

, Arthur Wood and Kenneth Fiddling. However, all three had left the club by the start of the 1947 season, leaving Brennan and Harry Crick in competition for the keeper spot. Brennan made his first-class debut, aged 27, 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 ...

(MCC) in Yorkshire's opening fixture of the season, but Crick was selected for five of the six Championship matches in May, thereafter Brennan was a regular, finishing the season with twenty three appearances to Crick's five outings. Brennan was awarded his

cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. Caps typically have a visor, or no brim at all. They are popular in casual and informal se ...

in his maiden season. He was Yorkshire's only ever-present in the 1948 County season, scoring 104 runs at 4.95 and taking 43 dismissals. He was also a regular in both the 1949 and 1950 seasons, despite

Jack Firth Jack Firth (27 June 1917 – 7 September 1981) was an English first-class cricketer, who played eight games for Yorkshire County Cricket Club in 1949 and 1950, and 223 matches for Leicestershire from 1951 to 1958. He also appeared in two games ...

, Yorkshire's second choice keeper, averaging more with the bat in his limited opportunities. Brennan's batting progressed in 1951, his average increasing twofold to 15.81 from 7.80 of the previous season.First-class Batting and Fielding in Each Season by Don Brennan
CricketArchive, retrieved 19 December 2008 The improvement came at the right time as he was selected by England, to replace

, for the fourth Test with

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 ...

.Player Profile

Cricinfo 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 d ...

, retrieved 19 December 2008 Brennan made his debut on his home ground,

Headingley Headingley is a suburb of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, approximately two miles out of the city centre, to the north west along the A660 road. Headingley is the location of the Beckett Park campus of Leeds Beckett University and Headingle ...

, alongside fellow debutants

Frank Lowson Frank Anderson Lowson (1 July 1925 – 8 September 1984) was an English cricketer, who played in seven Tests for England from 1951 to 1955. In first-class cricket, Lowson amassed 15,321 runs at an average of over 37, but had drifted away from ...

and

Peter May Peter May may refer to: *Peter W. May, American businessman *Peter May (cricketer) (1929–1994), English Test cricketer *Peter May (writer) Peter May (born 20 December 1951) is a Scottish television screenwriter, novelist, and crime writer. H ...

. Brennan conceded just one bye in South Africa large first innings total of 538, in England's innings he scored 16 in three-quarters of an hour, before being bowled by

Tufty Mann Norman Bertram Fleetwood "Tufty" Mann (28 December 1920 – 31 July 1952) was a South African cricketer who played in 19 Test matches from 1947 to 1951. Tall, thin and bespectacled, Tufty Mann was a lower-order right-handed batsman and a slow ...

. Brennan's second Test came three weeks later at

The Oval The Oval, currently known for sponsorship reasons as the Kia Oval, is an international cricket ground in Kennington, located in the borough of Lambeth, in south London. The Oval has been the home ground of Surrey County Cricket Club since ...

, he took his one Test dismissal in the first innings, with a stumping off the bowling of

Jim Laker James Charles Laker (9 February 1922 – 23 April 1986) was an English professional cricketer who played for Surrey County Cricket Club from 1946 to 1959 and represented England in 46 Test matches. He was born in Shipley, West Riding of York ...

. However, in his only innings, he was dismissed for a duck. He was chosen for the MCC's tour of India and Pakistan that winter, however

Dick Spooner Richard Thompson Spooner (30 December 1919 – 20 December 1997) was an English cricketer who played for Warwickshire and England. A latecomer who did not play first-class cricket until he was 28, Spooner was a quick-witted left-handed batsman ...

was selected as keeper for all five Tests. On the tour he scored the only fifty of his first-class career, notching up 67 not out against

Maharashtra Maharashtra (; , abbr. MH or Maha) is a states and union territories of India, state in the western India, western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. Maharashtra is the List of states and union te ...

. Brennan played two more seasons of county cricket, in 1952 he scored 242 runs at 11 with 62 dismissals. In 1953, he scored 379 runs at 14.03, and took 51 dismissals. Brennan retired at the end of that season to pursue business commitments with his family textile business. Also after retiring he served on the Yorkshire committee. In 1964, he played a single match for the MCC against Yorkshire.Yorkshire v MCC, Other First-Class matches in England 1964
CricketArchive, retrieved 19 December 2008 He died in

Ilkley Ilkley is a spa town and civil parish in the City of Bradford in West Yorkshire, in Northern England. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, Ilkley civil parish includes the adjacent village of Ben Rhydding and is a ward within the ...

, Yorkshire, following a long illness.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Brennan, Don 1920 births 1985 deaths England Test cricketers English cricketers Yorkshire cricketers People from Eccleshill, West Yorkshire Sportspeople from the City of Bradford Cricketers from West Yorkshire Gentlemen cricketers Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers North v South cricketers Gentlemen of England cricketers Wicket-keepers