Jim McConnon was an English

English people

The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...

 cricket

Cricket

Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...

er, who played in two Tests

Test cricket

Test cricket is the longest form of the sport of cricket. Test matches are played between national representative teams with "Test status", as determined by the International Cricket Council , with four innings played between two teams of 11 players over a period of up to a maximum five days...

 in 1954 as an off-spin bowler. He played for Glamorgan

Glamorgan County Cricket Club

Glamorgan County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh national cricket structure, representing the historic county of Glamorgan aka Glamorganshire . Glamorgan CCC is the only Welsh first-class cricket club. Glamorgan CCC have won the English County...

 from 1950 to 1961, albeit missing the 1956 season when he decided to play in the Lancashire League. His 819 first-class

First-class cricket

First-class cricket is a class of cricket that consists of matches of three or more days' scheduled duration, that are between two sides of eleven players and are officially adjudged first-class by virtue of the standard of the competing teams...

 wickets cost less than 20 runs each.

Life and career

James Edward McConnon was born in Burnopfield

Burnopfield

Burnopfield is a village in County Durham, in England. It is situated north of Stanley, close to the River Derwent and is 564 feet above sea level.A village with local school, churches and newsagents...

, County Durham

County Durham

County Durham is a ceremonial county and unitary district in north east England. The county town is Durham. The largest settlement in the ceremonial county is the town of Darlington...

. His was a late conversion to cricket, having played football for Aston Villa

Aston Villa F.C.

Aston Villa Football Club is an English professional association football club based in Witton, Birmingham. The club was founded in 1874 and have played at their current home ground, Villa Park, since 1897. Aston Villa were founder members of The Football League in 1888. They were also founder...

 and Newport County. A knee injury resulted in McConnon switching sports and, for a short time, his lovely bowling action utilising long spinner's

Spin bowling

Spin bowling is a technique used for bowling in the sport of cricket. Practitioners are known as spinners or spin bowlers.-Purpose:The main aim of spin bowling is to bowl the cricket ball with rapid rotation so that when it bounces on the pitch it will deviate, thus making it difficult for the...

 fingers threatened Jim Laker

Jim Laker

James "Jim" Charles Laker was a cricketer who played for England in the 1950s, known for "Laker's match" in 1956 at Old Trafford, when he took nineteen wickets in England's victory against Australia...

's role in the England team.

McConnon's selection for the Ashes tour of 1954-55 was controversial in that it meant that Laker was not taken. As it was McConnon broke a finger during the tour, and he returned home early. He claimed 100 wickets in a season three times, with 136 at 16.07 in 1951 being his best. Against the South African tourists

South African cricket team in England in 1951

The South African cricket team toured England in the 1951 season to play a five-match Test series against England.England won the series 3-1 with 1 match drawn.-South African team:...

 in that year he took 6 for 27 including a hat-trick

Hat-trick

A hat-trick or hat trick in sport is the achievement of a positive feat three times during a game, or other achievements based on threes. The term was first used in 1858 in cricket to describe HH Stephenson's feat of taking three wickets in three balls. A collection was held for Stephenson, and he...

, helping Glamorgan to an unlikely victory.

McConnon had three children; Michael, Catherine and Christopher, with his wife Pauline.

McConnon died in Altrincham

Altrincham

Altrincham is a market town within the Metropolitan Borough of Trafford, in Greater Manchester, England. It lies on flat ground south of the River Mersey about southwest of Manchester city centre, south-southwest of Sale and east of Warrington...

, Greater Manchester

Greater Manchester

Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county in North West England, with a population of 2.6 million. It encompasses one of the largest metropolitan areas in the United Kingdom and comprises ten metropolitan boroughs: Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford, Wigan, and the...

, at the age of 80.