Edmund John Holden Eckersley, (born 9 August 1989) is 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. He is a right-handed batsman and

wicket-keeper The wicket-keeper in the sport of cricket is the player on the fielding side who stands behind the wicket or stumps being watchful of the batsman and ready to take a catch, stump the batsman out and run out a batsman when occasion arises. Th ...

. He was a core player of

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 ...

from 2011 to 2018. After his release from Leicestershire he signed for

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Career

Eckersley made his

List A List A cricket is a classification of the limited-overs (one-day) form of the sport of cricket, with games lasting up to eight hours. List A cricket includes One Day International (ODI) matches and various domestic competitions in which the numbe ...

debut playing for the

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) in 2008, having previously played for Middlesex Second XI and the MCC Young Cricketers. His debut, against

Bangladesh A The Bangladesh A cricket team, also known as Bangladesh Emerging cricket team, is a cricket team representing Bangladesh, and is the second tier of international Bangladeshi cricket below the full Bangladesh national cricket team. The team played ...

, saw him make three catches as

wicketkeeper The wicket-keeper in the sport of cricket is the player on the fielding side who stands behind the wicket or stumps being watchful of the batsman and ready to take a catch, stump the batsman out and run out a batsman when occasion arises. Th ...

, but he only scored one run. As a member of the MCC Young Cricketers squad, he was chosen to perform 12th man duties in the 2009 Ashes Lord's Test and got the opportunity to field on the fourth day. In 2010, Eckersley was selected as one of 21 players to form the first

Unicorns The unicorn is a legendary creature that has been described since Classical antiquity, antiquity as a beast with a single large, pointed, spiraling horn (anatomy), horn projecting from its forehead. In European literature and art, the unicor ...

squad to take part in the

Clydesdale Bank 40 The ECB40, last known as the Yorkshire Bank 40 (YB40) for sponsorship reasons, was a forty-over limited overs cricket competition for the English first-class counties. It began in the 2010 English cricket season as a replacement for the Pro40 a ...

domestic one day competition against the regular first-class counties. The Unicorns were made up of 15 former county cricket professionals and 6 young cricketers looking to make it in the professional game.Cricinfo staff
Unicorns name squad for Clydesdale Bank 40
13 April 2010,

Cricinfo ESPN cricinfo (formerly known as Cricinfo or CricInfo) is a sports news website exclusively for the game of cricket. The site features news, articles, live coverage of cricket matches (including liveblogs and scorecards), and ''StatsGuru'', a d ...

. Retrieved on 2 May 2010. In 2011, Eckersley was offered a trial at

after some impressive performances in 2010 for the MCC Young Cricketers. He spent most of the season with the Second XI, becoming the team's highest scorer, and was rewarded for this late in the 2011 season with a debut for the Leicestershire First XI, against

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

Grace Road Grace Road, known for sponsorship reasons as the Uptonsteel County Ground, Grace Road, is a cricket ground in Leicester, England. It is the home ground and administrative base of Leicestershire County Cricket Club. History Leicestershire ...

. He then followed that up with some solid batting displays against

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of Gl ...

in particular, making his maiden first-class fifty, and taking four catches as wicketkeeper. He then spent the close season playing for

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Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and Mozam ...

. In the 2012 season he made excellent progress with Leicestershire including a six and a half-hour innings against

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

. His score of 137 not out was part of a second wicket stand of 245 with

Michael Thornely Michael Alistair Thornely (born 19 October 1987) is an English former professional cricketer who last played for Leicestershire County Cricket Club. He is a right-handed batsman and occasional right arm medium pace bowler. Thornely started hi ...

, and was a career best for him at the time. He followed this with an extremely successful 2013 season, for which he was named

CricInfo ESPN cricinfo (formerly known as Cricinfo or CricInfo) is a sports news website exclusively for the game of cricket. The site features news, articles, live coverage of cricket matches (including liveblogs and scorecards), and ''StatsGuru'', a d ...

's breakthrough player of the season. He topped Leicestershire's first-class batting averages, with 1302 runs at 50.07, nearly twice as many runs as any other Leicestershire player. He made four first-class centuries, plus one score of 108 in a 40-over game, and was rewarded with his county cap in September.Leicestershire County Cricket Club's Ned Eckersley rewarded for fantastic summer with County cap
3 September 2013,

Leicester Mercury The ''Leicester Mercury'' is a British regional newspaper for the city of Leicester and the neighbouring counties of Leicestershire and Rutland. The paper began in the 19th century as the ''Leicester Daily Mercury'' and later changed to its pre ...

. Retrieved on 28 September 2013. His season was mired somewhat, however, on 1 September when both he and

Josh Cobb Joshua James Cobb (born 17 August 1990) is an English cricket player. He currently plays for Northamptonshire County Cricket Club. He is a top order batsmen and occasional off spin, off-spinner. He was man of the match in the 2011 Friends Life ...

were arrested by police for being drunk and disorderly in

Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city l ...

city centre. Both received fines.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Eckersley, Ned 1989 births Living people People educated at St Benedict's School, Ealing English cricketers Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers Leicestershire cricketers Durham cricketers Cricketers from Oxford English cricketers of the 21st century Wicket-keepers