Chris Balderstone

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Chris Balderstone England (ENG)
Batting style	Right-hand bat
Bowling type	Slow left-arm orthodox
	Tests	First-class
Matches	2	390
Runs scored	39	19034
Batting average	9.75	34.11
100s/50s	-/-	32/103
Top score	35	181*
Balls bowled	96	19224
Wickets	1	310
Bowling average	80.00	26.32
5 wickets in innings	-	5
10 wickets in match	-	-
Best bowling	1/80	6/25
Catches/stumpings	1/-	210/-
Test debut: 22 July 1976 Last Test: 12 August 1976 Source: [1]

John Christopher Balderstone (born November 16, 1940, Longwood, Huddersfield, died March 6, 2000, Carlisle, Cumberland) was an English cricketer and umpire. He in played in two Tests in 1976 and umpired two ODIs from 1994 to 1998. He was also a professional footballer, playing in midfield for Huddersfield Town, Carlisle United, and Doncaster Rovers.

[edit] Cricket career

Balderstone first appeared in first-class cricket for Yorkshire in 1961, and across the 1960s made occasional appearances for the county as a slow left arm spin bowler and a lower-order batsman. His football career, however, took precedence and he did not appear in more than 11 matches in any season for Yorkshire. When he followed Ray Illingworth to Leicestershire in 1971, his career batting average was less than 18 runs per innings.

Better things were suggested in two, again, short seasons in 1971 and 1972, and Balderstone took the Gold Award as Leicestershire won its first-ever trophy, the Benson and Hedges Cup, at Lord's in 1972. Then in 1973 Balderstone played his first full season of cricket and jumped right to the front-rank of English batsmen, making 1,222 runs at an average of 42. He passed the 1,000-run mark in 10 of the next 12 seasons, batting either in the middle order or as an opening batsman. His runs were an important part of Leicestershire's first County Championship success in 1975, and he chipped in with 43 useful wickets in that season too. On the day Leicestershire won the Championship, September 15, 1975, Balderstone was batting at close of play against Derbyshire at Chesterfield, changed into his football kit to play for Doncaster Rovers in an evening match 30 miles away (a 1-1 draw with Brentford, and then returned to Chesterfield to complete a century the following morning and took three wickets.

The following year, Balderstone, by now 35, was called into the England Test team to face the West Indies in two matches. Against the pace of Andy Roberts and Michael Holding he struggled, like many other English batsmen: his four innings produced only 39 runs, and in the second match he was bowled twice by Holding without scoring.

Having had a delayed cricket career, Balderstone played on for Leicestershire into his mid-40s without noticeably losing batting form or his fielding athleticism, though he bowled only occasionally after 1980. He retired after a disappointing season in 1986 and two years later became a first-class umpire, standing in two one-day internationals in the mid-1990s.

[edit] Football career

His football career started with Huddersfield Town where he was signed by Bill Shankly in May 1958. He had to wait until Denis Law left the club for Manchester City for a first team opportunity and made his first team debut in March 1959 and scored in a 2-1 defeat away to Cardiff City.

In June 1965 he moved to Carlisle United for £6,000, again scoring on his debut, in a 4-1 home win over Norwich City. He stayed with Carlisle for the next 11 years, helping them win promotion from the Third Division to the First Division, briefly topping the Football League after the first 3 games of the 1975-76 season.

However, Carlisle were relegated at the end of the season and Balderstone joined Doncaster Rovers. In 1977 he moved to Queen of the South and later played for non-league Enderby Town.

He died in 2000, having suffered from cancer.