Richard John Blakey (born 15 January 1967) is a former 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 who played in two

Test matches Test match in some sports refers to a sporting contest between national representative teams and may refer to: * Test cricket * Test match (indoor cricket) * Test match (rugby union) * Test match (rugby league) * Test match (association football) ...

and three

One Day International A One Day International (ODI) is a form of limited overs cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of overs, currently 50, with the game lasting up to 9 hours. The Cricket World C ...

s from 1992 to 1993.

Life and career

Blakey was a fine

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 ...

for

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 ...

, who made two Test appearances for

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

in 1992-93 during the tour to

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 ...

. He was picked for his batting potential, but he made little impression and returned to the county game. As was the case for many keepers during the 1990s, the presence of Jack Russell and

Alec Stewart Alec James Stewart (born 8 April 1963) is an English former cricketer, and former captain of the England cricket team, who played Test cricket and One Day Internationals as a right-handed wicket-keeper-batsman. He is the fourth-most-capped Eng ...

made difficult any further England appearances. Blakey initially appeared in the Yorkshire team as a batsman in 1985, before replacing

David Bairstow David Leslie Bairstow (1 September 1951 – 5 January 1998) was an English cricketer, who played for Yorkshire and England as a wicket-keeper. He also played football for his hometown club Bradford City. He is the father of England internation ...

as the gloveman for the county. He scored a double century for England A in

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 ...

on the 1989/90 tour, and a bright future as a specialist batsman seemed assured when he was named

Cricket Writers' Club Young Cricketer of the Year The Cricket Writers' Club Young Cricketer of the Year is an annual cricket award, presented to the young player who is adjudged to have been the best of the year in English county cricket. The award has been presented since the 1950 season and t ...

in 1987. After a prolific first full county season with the bat, his batting form suffered with the extra responsibility he was given behind the stumps, and he began batting down the order. Blakey remained a Yorkshire stalwart in all forms of the game for a decade and a half until 2000, taking 778 catches and completing 57 stumpings in 347 first-class games, and scoring 14,674 runs at 31.42, but eventually lost his place to Simon Guy and

Gerard Brophy Gerard Louis Brophy (born 26 November 1975, Welkom, Orange Free State, South Africa) is a first-class cricketer, latterly contracted to Yorkshire. He has also played for Ireland, Free State, Northamptonshire and Transvaal in a well travelled c ...

. His highest score, 223 not out, made from just 206 balls with 35 fours, came in 2003 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 ...

,BBC.co.uk
/ref> and was a last reminder of what might have been had he been allowed to concentrate on his batting. He helped the second team for several seasons, being appointed Second XI captain and manager in 2004, before being released in 2006. He wrote an autobiography, cheekily entitled ''Taking It From Behind''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Blakey, Richard 1967 births Living people England Test cricketers England One Day International cricketers English cricketers Yorkshire cricketers Cricketers from Huddersfield English cricketers of 1969 to 2000 Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers Test and County Cricket Board Under-25s XI cricketers Wicket-keepers