Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Full name | Brian Leonard Reynolds | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Born |
Kettering, Northamptonshire, England |
10 June 1932|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Died | 7 February 2015 | (aged 82)|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Nickname | Bronk | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Height | 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Batting style | Right Handed | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bowling style | Right Arm Off Break | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Role | Batsman | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Domestic team information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Years | Team | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
1950–70 | Northamptonshire | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Career statistics | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Source: CricketArchive, 15 June 2010
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Brian Leonard Reynolds (10 June 1932 – 7 February 2015) was a professional Cricketer who spent his entire career at Northamptonshire.
Reynolds was born 10 June 1932, Kettering, Northamptonshire
As with Dennis Brookes, it is impossible to evaluate Brian Reynolds' contribution to Northamptonshire solely in terms of his performances for the first team. They are impressive enough, but all the runs and catches, the twenty stumpings as stand-in wicket-keeper and overlook these at you peril, the four wickets., must be supplemented with thirteen seasons' work as Chief Coach in charge of the Second XI, and a further eleven years in the specially-created role of Cricket development Officer.
In John Arlott's words: 'In his own mind he is not only a cricketer, he is a Northamptonshire cricketer.' It is quite impossible to imagine the ever-loyal Reynolds following his agent's advice and moving to another county for a smarter car or a fatter wage packet; for that matter, it is equally impossible to imagine him employing an agent in the first place.
He joined the Northamptonshire staff in 1950 and made his championship debut that summer, no qualification period was necessary for a Kettering boy, born and bred, against Sussex at Northampton. After national service and an opportunity to demonstrate his shoemaking skills at the Festival of Britain, he returned to the County Ground and broke through in 1956 by passing 1,000 runs for the first time to earn his county cap. Reynolds missed the entire 1959 season thanks to a football injury (he appeared for both Kettering Town and Peterborough United, later qualifying as a referee) but was hardly ever absent from the Northamptonshire side between 1960 and 1968, when he ceased to be automatic choice.
Forming a reliable opening partnership with Michael Norman, Reynolds topped 1,500 runs in five consecutive summers. His best return was 1,843 in 1962, closely followed by 1,809 the year after. He also remained one of the fittest members of the staff, and his running between the wickets was being compared favourably with that of some of his younger colleagues as he moved into his mid-thirties. There was, in short, no more dedicated professional on the circuit.