Robert Neal Abberley (22 April 1944 – 8 August 2011) was an English

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 ...

er. A stalwart county player, he was a right-handed batsman and occasional right arm medium

pace bowler 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 ...

. He was born in

Stechford Stechford is an area of East Birmingham, England, situated about five miles east of the city centre, bordering Ward End, Yardley, Hodge Hill and Kitts Green. Historically it lay within Worcestershire. History Stechford's history is unclear. It ...

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 ...

and educated at Saltley Grammar School. He played for his native

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 ...

from 1964 to 1979. He had a modest batting record (he averaged under 25 as a specialist batsman), and played over 250 times for the "Bears". He made 3 first-class hundreds, with a best of 117

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 ...

against

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

and scored his only one day hundred, 113 not out, against

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...

. He moved into coaching in 1980 after retiring from the game, initially as Warwickshire's Second XI coach and later with a 'roving brief' at all levels in the club. He was particularly involved in the development of Ian Bell and the England team wore black armbands in his honour during the Test against

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

Edgbaston Edgbaston () is an affluent suburban area of central Birmingham, England, historically in Warwickshire, and curved around the southwest of the city centre. In the 19th century, the area was under the control of the Gough-Calthorpe family an ...

in the days following his death.

Playing career

Abberley made his first-class debut for Warwickshire in 1964 against

Cambridge University , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

, scoring a half-century in the drawn match. The following year, he made his

County Championship The County Championship (referred to as the LV= Insurance County Championship for sponsorship reasons) is the domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales and is organised by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). It bec ...

debut 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 ...

, but was unable to bat due to injury.Scorecard for Yorkshire vs Warwickshire 1965
/ref> In 1966, Abberley struck his first-class century, scoring 117 not out against Essex, the highest first-class score of his career. The 1966 season proved to be Abberley's most prolific in first-class cricket, with 1315 runs scored at an average of 28.58. He toured Pakistan with an Under 25 MCC side in 1966/67, in a squad featuring a number of current and future England stars such as Mike Brearley, Dennis Amiss, Alan Knott and Derek Underwood. Abberley scored 92 and 31 in his only match on this tour, against Central Zone.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Abberley, Neal 1944 births 2011 deaths Warwickshire cricketers English cricketers International Cavaliers cricketers Cricketers from Birmingham, West Midlands English cricket coaches People educated at Saltley Grammar School D. H. Robins' XI cricketers English cricketers of 1946 to 1968 English cricketers of 1969 to 2000 Marylebone Cricket Club Under-25s cricketers Marylebone Cricket Club President's XI cricketers