Edric "Eddie" Leadbeater (15 August 1927 – 17 April 2011) 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 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. He was born in

Lockwood, Huddersfield Lockwood is an area of Huddersfield, in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees, West Yorkshire, England. It is to the southwest of Huddersfield Town Centre, to the west of the River Holme. History Lockwood was originally called ''North Crosla ...

West Riding of Yorkshire The West Riding of Yorkshire is one of three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the administrative county County of York, West Riding (the area under the control of West Riding County Council), abbreviated County ...

, and died in

Huddersfield Huddersfield is a market town in the Kirklees district 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 confluence into ...

. Leadbeater was a right-handed lower order batsman, and a leg-break and googly bowler, who had a couple of good seasons for

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 ...

in 1950 and 1951, but failed to keep his place in the side. He reappeared for

Warwickshire County Cricket Club Warwickshire County Cricket Club is one of eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Warwickshire. Its T20 team is called the Birmingham Bears. Founde ...

in 1957 and 1958, as a possible replacement for

Eric Hollies William Eric Hollies (5 June 1912 – 16 April 1981) was an English cricketer, who is mainly remembered for taking the wicket of Donald Bradman for a duck in Bradman's final Test match innings, in which he needed only four runs for a Test aver ...

, who retired after the 1957 season; but he failed to take enough wickets and his contract was not renewed. Leadbeater's leg-spin was always inclined to be expensive: in his two good seasons for Yorkshire, his wickets cost an average of around 25 runs apiece. His selection to replace Derbyshire's injured Bert Rhodes on the 1951-52

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) tour of India, Pakistan and Ceylon was unexpected, and though he played in two Test matches, he was not a success. Cricket writer, Colin Bateman, noted "Leadbeater was more of an accurate roller, than a traditional leg spinner and his bowling posed few terrors for the Indian batsmen". ''

Wisden Cricketer's Almanack ''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'', or simply ''Wisden'', colloquially the Bible of Cricket, is a cricket reference book published annually in the United Kingdom. The description "bible of cricket" was first used in the 1930s by Alec Waugh in a ...

'' reported that he modified his action to avoid being too expensive on the tour: however, he was never the same bowler again, and the rest of his first-class career produced fewer than 100 wickets. Dropping out of the Yorkshire side, he joined Warwickshire for 1957 and played fairly regularly in 1958 after Hollies retired. Though he took just 49 wickets (and only 25 of them in Championship matches), he scored his only first-class century in what proved to be his last season: going in as a nightwatchman, he made 116 and shared in a second-wicket stand of 209 with Fred Gardner in the match against Glamorgan at Coventry. Leadbeater is a rarity as an England Test cricketer, in that he was never awarded a

county cap In sport, a cap is a player's appearance in a game at international level. The term dates from the practice in the United Kingdom of awarding a cap to every player in an international match of rugby football and association football. In the ea ...

. After leaving first-class cricket, Leadbeater played regularly for Almondbury Cricket Club in the

Huddersfield Cricket League The Huddersfield Cricket League is the premier cricket competition in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England. The league has been in existence since 1891 with teams representing suburbs of Huddersfield and villages in the Huddersfield district a ...

, taking over 1,000 wickets before he retired at the age of 68.

References

Cricketarchive.co.uk
* ''

Wisden ''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'', or simply ''Wisden'', colloquially the Bible of Cricket, is a cricket reference book published annually in the United Kingdom. The description "bible of cricket" was first used in the 1930s by Alec Waugh in a ...

'', 1950 to 1959 editions {{DEFAULTSORT:Leadbeater, Eddie 1927 births 2011 deaths England Test cricketers English cricketers Yorkshire cricketers Warwickshire cricketers Cricketers from Huddersfield Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers