William McLean Gifford (born 10 October 1985) 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 who has played first-class cricket for Loughborough UCCE and one

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 ...

game for Worcestershire. He is, as '' Wisden'' put it, "no known relation" to former Worcestershire captain Norman Gifford.

Early life and career

Gifford was educated at

Malvern College Malvern College is an Independent school (United Kingdom), independent coeducational day and boarding school in Malvern, Worcestershire, Malvern, Worcestershire, England. It is a public school (United Kingdom), public school in the British sen ...

, where he was captain of the First XI cricket team, and played against a Worcestershire Development XI in 2000. In 2002 he scored 104 for Worcestershire Under-19s against their

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counterparts, putting on 292 for the fourth wicket with Craig Everett (215 not out). In 2003 and 2004 Gifford made a number of appearances for Worcestershire Second XI, his innings including 104 against Gloucestershire II in May 2004. In 2004–05 he was selected for the England Under-19s' tour of India, playing in two Youth

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and four Youth

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Loughborough UCCE

In April 2005, Gifford made his first-class debut, captaining Loughborough UCCE against

Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...

at Hove, scoring 19 and 12 in a drawn game. He played seven further first-class matches for Loughborough UCCE between then and May 2007, including leading the side to an eight-wicket victory over Worcestershire at Kidderminster in May 2005. His highest score of 71 was made against Yorkshire at Headingley in May 2007; Yorkshire won by a single run. Gifford was not captain in this match.

Worcestershire and after

Gifford made only one first-team appearance for Worcestershire, when he played in a List A game at Worcester against West Indies A in July 2006, scoring just 1. While at Worcestershire, he played club cricket for Kidderminster Victoria in the Cockspur Cup, hitting 94 in a narrow quarter-final defeat by Kibworth. Although he scored 125 for Worcestershire II against

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 ...

seconds in early August 2007, the following month Worcestershire announced that his summer scholarship deal would not be upgraded to a full contract. Gifford played for Esher against Mitcham in the 2008 Cockspur Cup.

Notes

References

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gifford, Will 1985 births Living people Alumni of Loughborough University Cricketers from Sutton Coldfield English cricketers Loughborough MCCU cricketers People educated at Malvern College Worcestershire cricketers