John Simpson (English cricketer)

John Andrew Simpson (born 13 July 1988 in Bury, Greater Manchester) is a cricketer who played for England in the 2006 U-19s World Cup in Sri Lanka and is currently with Middlesex County Cricket Club. Simpson is a wicket-keeper and left-handed batsman who won the Denis Compton Award in 2004.

Simpson represented England U19s on tour to India in 2004/05 aged 16 and again in 2005/06 on a tour to Bangladesh. For the 2007 season he joined Lancashire on a scholarship, he played second XI cricket for Lancashire, Durham and Nottinghamshire during the campaign.

In 2009 he made his professional debut when selected for Middlesex's Twenty20 match against Sussex. On 9 April 2010, Simpson made his first-class debut against Worcestershire at New Road. He made 20 in the first and 0 in the second innings as Middlesex were beaten by 111 runs, he did however take 5 catches behind the stumps.

Simpson averaged 18.05 in the 2012 season, with no hundreds or fifties. However, in the opening round of matches of the 2013 County Championship, Simpson made 97 not out for Middlesex.

John Simpson is the grandson and great-grandson of two former rugby league players who were regarded as two of the best full backs in the game at their times. His great-grandfather, Walter Gowers, played at full back for Rochdale Hornets during the interwar years as well as being selected for the national touring squad to Australasia in 1928 even though he did not actually play at test match level. John's grandfather, Ken Gowers (Walter's son) was the outstanding full back for Swinton from the 1950s to the 1970s. Ken was one of several Swinton players who were capped for Great Britain during the 1960s when the Lions' ground Station Road was the scene of many great Lions' victories in the club's postwar "swinging sixties" decade. Ken Gowers was also a useful cricketer. He would often change from the oval ball game to the summer game after rugby fixtures were completed each spring.