George Robert Byrne (28 May 1892 – 23 June 1973) 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: a right-handed batsman and right arm medium-pace bowler who played 12 times 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 ...

, playing for both

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avon an ...

and

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a county in the West Midlands of England. The area that is now Worcestershire was absorbed into the unified Kingdom of England in 927, at which time it was constituted as a county (see His ...

. Born in

Northfield Northfield may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Northfield, Aberdeen, Scotland * Northfield, Edinburgh, Scotland * Northfield, Birmingham, England * Northfield (Kettering BC Ward), Northamptonshire, England United States * Northfield, Connec ...

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

, Byrne made his debut for Warwickshire against

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, historic county in South East England, southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the Ceremonial counties of ...

in late July 1912, returning figures of 3-9 (which were to remain his career best) in the first innings; two of these wickets came in his first over, his first victim being future

Test 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), ...

batsman Frank Mann. With the bat he was rather less successful, making 8 and 4. He played a further seven games for Warwickshire that season, and though managed only another three wickets he ended with a

bowling average In cricket, a player's bowling average is the number of runs they have conceded per wicket taken. The lower the bowling average is, the better the bowler is performing. It is one of a number of statistics used to compare bowlers, commonly use ...

of just 14.00. He did not contribute much with the bat: in all of 1912 he scored only 36 runs in 12 innings for a batting average of a 3.00. He also took the only catch of his entire career, to dismiss

Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...

opener Robert Relf off the bowling of

Willie Quaife William George Quaife (17 March 1872 – 13 October 1951) was a cricketer who played for Sussex, Warwickshire and England. At the age of 56 years and 139 days, Quaife is the oldest cricketer to score a century in a County Championship match, do ...

. Byrne played four more first-class matches in his career, two apiece in 1914 and 1921, but these appearances were for Worcestershire. His figures for the county are less than impressive (28 runs at 3.50; one wicket at 155.00), but nevertheless he might have played more for them had he not been constrained by his career as an officer in the Army.''Obituaries in 1973''.

Wisden Cricketers' 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 ...

, 1974. His only wicket for Worcestershire came on his debut for the county, against

Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ; postal abbreviation Leics.) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East Midlands, England. The county borders Nottinghamshire to the north, Lincolnshire to the north-east, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire t ...

in July 1914, when he dismissed

Arthur Mounteney Arthur Mounteney (11 February 1883 – 1 June 1933) was an English professional footballer and cricketer. Mounteney was born in Loughborough, Leicestershire. He played as an inside forward for Leicester Fosse, Birmingham, Preston North End a ...

. He died in

Torteval, Guernsey Torteval (Guernésiais: Tortévas) is the smallest of the ten parishes of Guernsey, one of the western parishes. Its name comes from the Guernésiais words for "twisting valley". The parish is split in two by the parish of St. Pierre du Bois, wi ...

at the age of 81. His uncle, James Byrne, had a more substantial first-class career, captaining Warwickshire between 1903 and 1907.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Byrne, George 1892 births 1973 deaths English cricketers English people of Irish descent Warwickshire cricketers Worcestershire cricketers Cricketers from Birmingham, West Midlands English cricketers of 1890 to 1918 English cricketers of 1919 to 1945