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| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Full name | Jack Birkenshaw | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | (1940-11-13)13 November 1940 (age 85) Rothwell,Leeds, Yorkshire, England | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Batting | Left-handed | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bowling | Right-arm off-break | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| International information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| National side | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Test debut | 25 January 1973 v India | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Last Test | 5 April 1974 v West Indies | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Umpiring information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tests umpired | 2 (1986–1988) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ODIs umpired | 6 (1983–1988) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Career statistics | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Source:ESPNcricinfo,19 August 2019 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Jack Birkenshaw,MBE (born 13 November 1940)[1] is a former Englishcricketer, who later stood as anumpire and worked as a coach. Cricket writer Colin Bateman stated, "Jack Birkenshaw was the epitome of a good all-round county cricketer: a probingoff-spinner who used flight and guile, a handy batsman who could grind it out or go for the slog, a dependable fielder and great competitor."[1]
Born on 13 November 1940,[2] inRothwell, nearLeeds, Yorkshire, Birkenshaw attended John Lawrence cricket school at Rothwell from the age of seven, and when aged 14 he appeared forRothwell Grammar School and Yorkshire Schools.[citation needed] He was also a stand-off in the school rugby team. He played cricket for Lofthouse, Farsley and Leeds.
Birkenshaw played a singleCounty Championship match forYorkshire at the age of 17 in 1958,[2] taking the wicket ofJim Parks in both innings, but did not make anotherfirst-class appearance until 1959. That year he took 40 wickets at anaverage of 27.39, and also played forMinor Counties against the touringIndians; he made a second and final Minor Counties appearance against theSouth Africans the following year. In all, he played thirty games for Yorkshire, but failed to win hiscounty cap, and in 1961 he moved on toLeicestershire.
For a long while Birkenshaw's performances for Leicestershire were rather disappointing. In his first six years at the club he never took more than 27 wickets in a season, and he had to rely on some useful lower-order contributions with the bat to keep his place in the side. He earned a place in the history books by playing (exclusively as a batsman) in the pioneeringMidlands Knock-Out Cuplimited-overs tournament in 1962. However, he was capped by the county in 1965, and greater success was lying ahead.
In 1967, Birkenshaw took 111 wickets – in the previous six seasons combined he had managed 102 in total – at an average of only 21.41. He took five in an innings on five occasions, including 7–86 againstSussex, and gained selection for the International XI that touredPakistan in the winter. 1968 proved another good season for Birkenshaw, as he again took 100 wickets, and punished Sussex again: this time with the bat as he made 101 not out. He made two more centuries the following year, but surprisingly for a man who passed fifty on 57 occasions in first-class cricket, he was to reach three figures just once more in his career. The years between 1969 and 1972 saw Birkenshaw record solid statistics, taking 69, 63, 89 and 90 wickets in successive seasons, and in 1972 he achieved his career-best bowling of 8–94 againstSomerset.
Such performances attracted the interest of theEngland selectors, who had previously stuck byRay Illingworth as their first-choice off-spinner, and Birkenshaw was picked to go toIndia andPakistan in 1972/73. He made 64 on his debut in the fourthTest againstIndia atKanpur, and also claimed three wickets; his first victim in Test cricket wasSunil Gavaskar. Birkenshaw retained his place for the fifth Test atBombay, and opened the batting in the second innings, but lost his place for thePakistan series and played only in the third Test, taking 5–55 and sharing the second-innings wickets equally withNorman Gifford.
Despite another decent domestic season in 1973, Birkenshaw was omitted from the England side for both series that summer (againstNew Zealand andWest Indies), the 41-year-old Illingworth again being the barrier to his selection. However, there was no Illingworth on the winter tour to theCaribbean, and Birkenshaw played in the last two Tests. A total return of 2–96 and 15 runs in three innings was not enough to keep his place for the summer of 1974, and that was as far as his England career lasted.
He played on for Leicestershire for a number of years, helping them win the County Championship in 1975, making his fourth and final first-class hundred, and recording his best bowling figures in one-day cricket, taking 5–20 againstEssex in theSunday League. Oddly, these were the only wickets he took in the 11 one-day games he played that year. In 1976, Birkenshaw made his only one-day hundred, but his unbeaten 101 againstHampshire in the second round of theGillette Cup failed to win the game, Leicestershire falling short of their target by three runs.
Birkenshaw finished with Leicestershire in 1980, but had one final season in the game withWorcestershire. In his penultimate match he made 32 and 54 against theAustralian tourists, and his final first-class match came in late July 1981 againstNorthamptonshire. The first wicket of his first-class career had been that of a famous Test player, and with a pleasing symmetry the last was to be too:Kapil Dev, caught behind for 79. This match was also notable for being the first first-class game to be held atStourbridge in 19 years.
After retirement, Birkenshaw became anumpire, standing in over 250 matches from 1982 to 1988 including two Tests and sixOne Day Internationals, four of the latter being at the1983 World Cup. His last game as an umpire was theRefuge Assurance Cup final in September 1988. He later returned to his old county of Leicestershire as a coach, after a similar spell at Somerset. As coach, he led Leicestershire to the County Championship title in 1996 and 1998. He was elected President ofLeicestershire County Cricket Club, initially at the 2019 AGM.[3]
Birkenshaw was appointedMember of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the2011 Birthday Honours for services to cricket.[4][5]