James Stuart Pressdee (19 June 1933 – 20 July 2016) was a Welsh first class cricketer. He was a left-arm spinner and aggressive right-handed batsman. He also played

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

in the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

and Welsh Football League where he played as a left-back.

Football career

He won a Welsh youth cap at football and was on the books at Swansea Town where provided reliable defensive cover. He turned professional at the Vetch Field in August 1951. He was given his League debut in Swansea's 2–0 defeat at home to Everton in March 1954, making eight

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

appearances before concentrating on his cricket career. He also had spells with Brecon Corinthians and

Llanelly Llanelly ( cy, Llanelli) is the name of a parish and coterminous community in the principal area of Monmouthshire, within the historic boundaries of Brecknockshire, south-east Wales. It roughly covers the area of the Clydach Gorge. The popula ...

in the Welsh Football League.

Cricket career

Pressdee made his debut for

Glamorgan , HQ = Cardiff , Government = Glamorgan County Council (1889–1974) , Origin= , Code = GLA , CodeName = Chapman code , Replace = * West Glamorgan * Mid Glamorgan * South Glamorgan , Motto ...

against

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated Notts.) is a landlocked county in the East Midlands region of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. The traditi ...

at Cardiff Arms Park when just 16 years of age, making him the county's youngest player in the post-war period. A regular in the Glamorgan team from 1955 onwards, Pressdee scored a thousand runs in a season on six occasions, with 1911 in 1962 being his best. He scored 13 centuries including one for North-Eastern Transvaal. Playing 322 games for Glamorgan CCC between 1949 and 1965. Pressdee was an inconsistent bowler. Having taken 71 wickets in 1955, he captured only 54 during the next seven seasons, but then in 1963 and 1964 he came to prominence as an all-rounder, completing the double (1000 runs and 100 wickets) in each season. In 1965, he took 9 for 43 against

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 ...

Swansea Swansea (; cy, Abertawe ) is a coastal city and the second-largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Swansea ( cy, links=no, Dinas a Sir Abertawe). The city is the twenty-fifth largest in ...

. Pressdee emigrated to South Africa in 1965 where he played for North-Eastern Transvaal until 1969–70. He won the South African Cricket Annual Cricketer of the Year award in 1966 after taking 33 wickets. Pressdee returned to Wales in the 1980s and captained the Glamorgan Colts side in the South Wales Cricket Association.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pressdee, Jim 1933 births 2016 deaths Welsh cricketers Northerns cricketers Glamorgan cricketers Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers A. E. R. Gilligan's XI cricketers Swansea City A.F.C. players Brecon Corinthians F.C. players Llanelli Town A.F.C. players English Football League players Welsh men's footballers Wales men's youth international footballers Men's association football fullbacks