Michael John "Pasty" Harris (born 25 May 1944) is a former 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 who played for various teams. He played from 1964 until 1982 in a 344-game First class career which took him to South Africa and New Zealand.

Early life

Harris was born in

St Just in Roseland St Just in Roseland ( kw, Lannsiek) is a village and civil parish in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The village is south of Truro and north of St Mawes, a small village within the parish of St Just in Roseland. The 2011 Census recorded t ...

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...

, in 1944. His nickname of "

Pasty A pasty () is a British baked pastry, a traditional variety of which is particularly associated with Cornwall, South West England, but has spread all over the British Isles. It is made by placing an uncooked filling, typically meat and vegetab ...

" referred to his Cornish origins.

Playing career

In England he represented

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 ...

, for whom he scored over 15,000 runs, and

Middlesex County Cricket Club Middlesex County Cricket Club is one of eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Middlesex which has effectively been subsumed within the ceremonial ...

, playing as a right-handed batsman and, from 1969 until around 1972, as a useful leg spin bowler. From 1974 to 1977, Nottinghamshire used him as their wicketkeeper, as David Pullan, the incumbent, was a poor batsman. Harris hit nine centuries, equalling the county record, in 1971 when he scored 2238 runs. In 1974, Harris was selected to tour

Rhodesia Rhodesia (, ), officially from 1970 the Republic of Rhodesia, was an unrecognised state in Southern Africa from 1965 to 1979, equivalent in territory to modern Zimbabwe. Rhodesia was the ''de facto'' successor state to the British colony of S ...

with the International Wanderers, a private touring team organised by

Brian Close Dennis Brian Close, (24 February 1931 – 13 September 2015) was an English first-class cricketer. He was picked to play against New Zealand in July 1949, when he was 18 years old. Close went on to play 22 Test matches for England, ...

. A prolific batsman in county cricket, he was selected on standby for the 1974–75 Ashes tour but was superseded by

Colin Cowdrey Michael Colin Cowdrey, Baron Cowdrey of Tonbridge, (24 December 19324 December 2000) was an English first-class cricketer who played for Oxford University (1952–1954), Kent County Cricket Club (1950–1976) and England (1954–1975). Univers ...

Umpiring career

Harris later became an umpire, officiating at

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 ...

level from 1985 to 2008 and at First class level from 1988 to 2008.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Harris, Pasty 1944 births Living people Sportspeople from Cornwall English cricketers English cricket umpires Nottinghamshire cricketers Wellington cricketers Eastern Province cricketers Middlesex cricketers People from St Just in Roseland Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers Wicket-keepers Marylebone Cricket Club President's XI cricketers