John Lyon (cricketer)
| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Full name | John Lyon | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Born |
17 May 1951 St Helens, Lancashire, England |
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| Died | 1 January 2010 (aged 58) Krugersdorp, Gauteng, South Africa |
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| Height | 5 ft 7.5 in (1.71 m) | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Batting style | Right-handed | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Role | Wicketkeeper | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Domestic team information | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | |||||||||||||||||||||
| 1973–1979 | Lancashire | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Career statistics | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Source: Cricinfo, 4 January 2010 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
John Lyon (17 May 1951 – 1 January 2010) was a first-class cricketer who played for Lancashire between 1973 and 1979.
A wicket-keeper and a lower order right-handed batsman, Lyon played for Lancashire's second eleven in the Minor Counties Championship and the Second Eleven Championship from 1970, while playing club cricket for St Helens Recreation in the Liverpool and District Cricket Competition. He worked as a glass cutter at Pilkington, the glass company whose headquarters are in St Helens.
In 1973, Lyon made his first-class debut for Lancashire in the match against Oxford University, and later that season played in two County Championship games. The following year, 1974, when the regular Lancashire wicket-keeper Farokh Engineer was playing for the Indian touring team, Lyon stepped up to take part in 16 first-team matches, "keeping wicket with distinction and also playing several innings of importance and promise", Wisden noted. His highest score of the season was 48 in the match against the Indian tourists; Engineer did not play in that game.
In the winter of 1974-75, Lyon joined the unofficial tour of South Africa organised by Derrick Robins, which played matches against South African provincial sides despite the ban on official sporting contact because of the apartheid policies. Lyon played in only one first-class match on the tour.
Engineer resumed as Lancashire's first-choice wicket-keeper in 1975 and 1976, leaving Lyon playing mostly for the second team. But in his one first-class match of 1976, against Somerset at Weston-super-Mare, he went in as nightwatchman after 21 wickets had fallen on the first day and Jack Simmons, opening Lancashire's second innings, had been forced to retire hurt after being hit over the eye. Lyon survived that night and went on the next day to make 60, his first innings of more than 50.
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