James Blandford Ganly (7 March 1904 – 22 July 1976)
/ref> was an Irish

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.

Personal life

Educated at St Columba's College

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 ...

1978
Obituaries
/ref> and

Trinity College Dublin , name_Latin = Collegium Sanctae et Individuae Trinitatis Reginae Elizabethae juxta Dublin , motto = ''Perpetuis futuris temporibus duraturam'' (Latin) , motto_lang = la , motto_English = It will last i ...

,CricketEurope Stats Zone profile
/ref> Ganly was an

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by profession.

Cricket

A right-handed

batsman In cricket, batting is the act or skill of hitting the ball with a bat to score runs and prevent the loss of one's wicket. Any player who is currently batting is, since September 2021, officially referred to as a batter (historically, the ...

and right-arm

fast-medium Fast bowling (also referred to as pace bowling) is one of two main approaches to bowling in the sport of cricket, the other being spin bowling. Practitioners of pace bowling are usually known as ''fast'' bowlers, ''quicks'', or ''pacemen''. T ...

bowler, Ganly played 25 times for the

Ireland cricket team The Ireland cricket team represents all of Ireland in international cricket. The Irish Cricket Union, operating under the brand Cricket Ireland is the sport's governing body in Ireland, and organises the international team. Ireland participa ...

between 1921 and 1937, including 14 first-class matches.First-class matches played by Jim Ganly at Cricket Archive
- 15 in total, 14 for Ireland, one for Dublin University.

Playing career

Ganly made his debut for Ireland shortly after leaving school at the age of 17 in August 1921 against

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

in a first-class match. He was

bowled In cricket, the term bowled has several meanings. First, is the act of propelling the ball towards the wicket defended by a batsman. Second, it is a method of dismissing a batsman, by hitting the wicket with a ball delivered by the bowler. (Th ...

for a

duck Duck is the common name for numerous species of waterfowl in the family Anatidae. Ducks are generally smaller and shorter-necked than swans and geese, which are members of the same family. Divided among several subfamilies, they are a form t ...

in the only Irish innings. He returned to the Ireland side in June 1923, again playing against Scotland in a first-class match, also playing against

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

. In 1924, he played for Ireland a fourth time, again against Wales and also played his only first-class match for

Dublin University The University of Dublin ( ga, Ollscoil Átha Cliath), corporately designated the Chancellor, Doctors and Masters of the University of Dublin, is a university located in Dublin, Ireland. It is the degree-awarding body for Trinity College Dubl ...

in June against

Northamptonshire Northamptonshire (; abbreviated Northants.) is a county in the East Midlands of England. In 2015, it had a population of 723,000. The county is administered by two unitary authorities: North Northamptonshire and West Northamptonshire. It is ...

. He became a more regular fixture in the Irish team from 1925. That year he played against Scotland, the MCC at

Lord's Cricket Ground Lord's Cricket Ground, commonly known as Lord's, is a cricket venue in St John's Wood, London. Named after its founder, Thomas Lord, it is owned by Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and is the home of Middlesex County Cricket Club, the England and ...

and Wales. He scored 62

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 ...

in the second

innings An innings is one of the divisions of a cricket match during which one team takes its turn to bat. Innings also means the period in which an individual player bats (acts as either striker or nonstriker). Innings, in cricket, and rounders, is bot ...

of the match against Scotland, his highest first-class score. The following year, he played against the same three teams, and the match against the MCC in Dublin was his most successful for Ireland, scoring 83 in the first innings and 68 in the second, his top two scores in all matches for Ireland. He continued as a regular in the Irish team between 1927 and 1930, playing against Scotland, the MCC, and the

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greater A ...

, amongst other opponents. He captained Ireland against the West Indies in 1928, a match which Ireland won. It remains their only victory against a Test nation in a first-class match, though they have beaten the West Indies twice since in one-day matches. A match against Julien Cahn's XI in 1930 would be his last for four years. He returned to the Ireland side in August 1934, playing against the MCC in a first-class match before spending a further three years out of the Ireland side. His last two matches for Ireland were two against

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

in September 1937, the first of which was his final first-class match.

Statistics

In all matches for Ireland, Ganly scored 831 runs 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 19.79, with a top score of 83 against the MCC in August 1926. He took nine

wickets In cricket, the term wicket has several meanings: * It is one of the two sets of three stumps and two bails at either end of the pitch. The fielding team's players can hit the wicket with the ball in a number of ways to get a batsman out. ...

at an

of 26.56, with best bowling figures of 2/22 against Scotland in July 1927. He captained Ireland eight times.

Post playing career

Ganly served as president of the

Irish Cricket Union Cricket Ireland, officially the Irish Cricket Union, is the national Sport governing body, governing body for cricket on the island of Ireland (both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland), and oversees the national Ireland cricket team, m ...

in 1965. He died in a shooting accident on 22 July 1976.

Rugby Union

Ganly first played for the

Ireland national rugby union team The Ireland national rugby union team is the men's representative national team for the island of Ireland in rugby union. The team represents both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. Ireland competes in the annual Six Nations Champi ...

in the Five Nations in 1927. He played in all four games, scoring two tries against

and one against

. Later that year, he played in a friendly match against

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, scoring a

penalty Penalty or The Penalty may refer to: Sports * Penalty (golf) * Penalty (gridiron football) * Penalty (ice hockey) * Penalty (rugby) * Penalty (rugby union) * Penalty kick (association football) * Penalty shoot-out (association football) * Penalty ...

.Rugby Union statistics for Jim Ganly at scrum.com
/ref> In the 1928 Five Nations, Ganly again played in all four games and scored two tries against

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

, one against Scotland and one against Wales. He played against France and Scotland in the 1929 championship, and against France in 1930, but did not score in any of those games. He finished his Rugby Union career with a record of seven tries and one penalty from a total of twelve games.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ganly, James Blandford 1904 births 1976 deaths Accidental deaths in Ireland Deaths by firearm in Ireland Dublin University cricketers Ireland international rugby union players Irish cricketers Irish rugby union players Rugby union players from Dublin (city) Cricketers from Dublin (city) Firearm accident victims