Steve Wilkinson (cricketer)

Steve Wilkinson

Personal information
Full name	Stephen George Wilkinson
Born	12 January 1949 Hounslow, Middlesex, England
Batting style	Right-handed
Bowling style	Slow left-arm orthodox spin
Role	Batsman
Relations	Cousin, Phil Bainbridge
Domestic team information
Years	Team
1971–74	Somerset
First-class debut	24 May 1972 Somerset v Yorkshire
Last First-class	28 May 1974 Somerset v Gloucestershire
List A debut	16 May 1971 Somerset v Derbyshire
Last List A	19 May 1974 Somerset v Sussex
Career statistics
Competition First-class List A Matches 18 25 Runs scored 452 327 Batting average 20.54 16.35 100s/50s –/2 –/1 Top score 69 70 Balls bowled 12 – Wickets – – Bowling average – – 5 wickets in innings – – 10 wickets in match – – Best bowling 0/9 – Catches/stumpings 11/– 6/–
Source: CricketArchive, 14 May 2011

Stephen George Wilkinson (born 12 January 1949) is a former cricketer who played first-class and List A cricket for Somerset between 1971 and 1974.^[1] He was born at Hounslow, then in Middlesex, now in London.

Wilkinson played as a right-handed opening or middle-order batsman. He appeared in second eleven matches for Middlesex in 1967 and then for Somerset in Minor Counties second eleven games in 1971. After one limited-overs appearance for the Somerset first team in 1971, he played nine first-class matches in 1972, batting mostly at No 3. He scored consistently but not prolifically, and passed 50 only twice in all of his 18 first-class matches, both times in his first season. In his second match, he made 69 against Surrey at The Oval, putting on 157 for the second wicket with Roy Virgin.^[2] In his next match he made 50 against Essex.^[3] But thereafter his highest first-class score was only 33. He was out of form in first-class cricket in 1973, though made his highest limited-overs score, 70, in the match against Gloucestershire at Somerset's ground in Bristol, the Imperial Athletic Ground, that year.^[4] He played only a handful of matches in 1974 and left the Somerset staff at the end of the season.

Wilkinson's batting style was upright, orthodox and technically correct – too correct for his captain, Brian Close: according to one report, Close told him "You play too straight lad", though that was after a straight drive from Wilkinson had got Close run out at the bowler's end.^[5]

References

1. "Steve Wilkinson". www.cricketarchive.com. Retrieved 2011-05-13.
2. "Scorecard: Surrey v Somerset". www.cricketarchive.com. 1972-05-31. Retrieved 2011-05-13.
3. "Scorecard: Essex v Somerset". www.cricketarchive.com. 1972-06-07. Retrieved 2011-05-13.
4. "Scorecard: Somerset v Gloucestershire". www.cricketarchive.com. 1973-05-27. Retrieved 2011-05-13.
5. David Foot & Ivan Ponting. Somerset Cricket: A Post-War Who's Who (1993 ed.). Redcliffe Books. p. 123. ISBN 1-872971-23-7.