Richard Nyren

Richard "Dick" Nyren (c. 1734–1797) was an English professional cricketer who played first-class cricket during the 1760s and 1770s in the heyday of the Hambledon Club. A genuine all-rounder and the earliest known left-hander of note, Nyren was the captain of Hampshire (aka Hambledon) when its team included players like John Small, Thomas Brett and Tom Sueter. Although the records of many matches in which he almost certainly played have been lost, he made 51 known appearances between 1764 and 1784. He was known as the team's "general" on the field and, for a time, acted as the club secretary as well as taking care of matchday catering for many years.

It is possible that Nyren was the player recorded as Nyland of Sussex who played for All-England against Dartford in 1759. He was certainly living in Sussex in 1758, as he married that year at Slindon, and was not definitely resident at Hambledon until 1762. The first confirmed mention of him as a cricketer was in 1764 when he was named as captain of the Hambledon team that defeated Chertsey by 4 wickets at Laleham Burway on 10–11 September.

A number of Hambledon matches were played from 1764 to 1771 but team and performance information has been lost. Nyren was certainly active through this period but there are only two more definite mentions of him before the 1772 season, when the keeping of match scorecards became habitual. On 31 July and 1 August 1769, he captained Hambledon at Guildford Bason against Caterham, Hambledon winning by 4 wickets, "particularly (by) the batting of Messrs Small and Bayton", before an estimated crowd of 20,000.