Johnny Tyldesley
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 England (Eng) |
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| Batting style | Right-handed batsman (RHB) | |
| Bowling type | Unknown | |
| Tests | First-class | |
| Matches | 31 | 608 |
| Runs scored | 1661 | 37,897 |
| Batting average | 30.75 | 40.66 |
| 100s/50s | 4/9 | 86/193 |
| Top score | 138 | 295* |
| Balls bowled | 0 | 296 |
| Wickets | 0 | 3 |
| Bowling average | N/A | 70.33 |
| 5 wickets in innings | 0 | 0 |
| 10 wickets in match | 0 | 0 |
| Best bowling | N/A | 1/4 |
| Catches/stumpings | 16/0 | 376/0 |
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Test debut: February 14, 1899 |
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Johnny Tyldesley (John Thomas Tyldesley; born November 22, 1873, Worsley, Salford, Lancashire; died November 27, 1930, Monton, Salford, Lancashire) was a Lancashire and England cricketers and for many years the finest professional batsman in county cricket.
After developing in the tough background of Lancashire club cricket, Tyldesley caused a sensation when he first played for Lancashire with an innings of 152 on a rain affected pitch at Edgbaston, which was to be the scene of many triumphs for him in later years. Though he did not live up at first to this astonishing beginning, Tyldesley came to the fore in 1898 when, despite poor form by Lancashire, he was the second highest run-scorer in the country and made a superb 200 against Derbyshire at Old Trafford. He debuted for the Players against the Gentlemen that year at Scarborough, and played for England for the first time against South Africa that winter. He hit a decisive 112 in one of the Tests and the following year played his first Ashes Tests at Trent Bridge and Lord's. He failed in these matches, but by this time was established as a top-class batsman with a superb range of strokes and wonderful footwork that made his effective even on pitches where the ball spun like a spinning top as it did after rain in those days.
1901 saw Johnny Tyldesley reach his greatest heights with 3041 runs including several remarkably courageous displays on extremely fiery wickets at Old Trafford early in the year. On the strength of this performance he was nominated as a Cricketer of the Year by Wisden and was chosen to tour Australia, where he was again not at his best in the Tests. However, in 1902 his superb hundred at Edgbaston was critical in placing England in a winning position and for Lancashire his batting, regardless of the weather, was consistently brilliant. He toured Australia in 1903/1904 and, despite again not making a Test hundred, Tyldesley played a brilliant innings on a classic MCG "sticky".
For the rest of the 1900s Tyldesley was, despite the emergence of Hobbs always in the forefront of English professional batting and seldom failed to be near the top of the batting averages, which he headed in the wet summer of 1910 with an average of 46. Though the 1905 Ashes series was his most successful with two centuries, from the following year Tyldesley gradually dropped out of the representative scene, playing his last Test in 1909. However, in 1906 against that year County Champions, Kent, Tyldesley made his highest score of 295 not out and would certainly have made a triple hundred had he not ran out of partners. With Reggie Spooner rarely available owing to business calls between 1907 and 1910, and Archie MacLaren declining, Lancashire were much too dependent upon Tyldesley to make a respectable score and he played superbly especially when one considers the fire in Old Trafford pitches in fine weather at that time. For Lancashire he remained a potent force right up to the outbreak of World War I and even in 1919 made 272 against Derbyshire.
At the end of that season Johnny Tyldesley retired to move into business and coaching. He played one match as Lancashire's first professional captain in 1923 but by then his health was declining. However, as cricket coach he played a major role in Lancashire's Championship successes in the late 1920s. Johnny Tyldesley died shortly after collapsing while at work in November 1930.
His younger brother Ernest Tyldesley (1889-1962) was also a high-class batsman for Lancashire. Though never seen as having the same style as Johnny, he surpassed his younger brother for the county both in aggregate and average - though on generally easier pitches.
