Jim Redman (cricketer)
Encyclopedia
James Redman, born at Bath, Somerset
on 1 March 1926 and died at Salisbury
, Wiltshire
, on 24 September 1981, played first-class
cricket
for Somerset
as a fast-medium bowler between 1948 and 1953.
, he was tried in two matches for Somerset in 1948; the second of these was the match against the Australian team known as the Invincibles, and Redman with three wickets for 78 runs was the most successful of the Somerset bowlers – though an Australian total of 560 for five wickets gave them victory by an innings and 374 runs inside two days.
Redman was used primarily as an opening bowler for a weak side whose principal wicket-takers throughout his career were all spin bowlers. There were six matches and 11 wickets in 1949 and 10 matches with 16 expensive wickets in 1950. Seven of these 16 wickets came in one match against Surrey
at The Oval
, and in the first Surrey innings he took five for 50, the first five-wicket return of his career. Wisden
noted that he bowled "at a fine pace" and that he took four wickets for 18 runs as Surrey fell to 49 for five before a recovery.
In 1951, he played in all but the first of Somerset's County Championship
matches – he appeared in 27 games – and was awarded his county cap
. He took 50 wickets in all at the relatively high average of 33.76. After the third Championship match, Maurice Tremlett
, who had taken eight wickets to that point, did not bowl again during the season, and Redman opened the bowling in every other game with Bertie Buse
, also barely above medium pace; they were backed by the three spin bowlers, Ellis Robinson
, Johnny Lawrence
and Horace Hazell
, and these five bowlers then took all of Somerset's wickets for Championship matches across the whole summer. Redman had limited numbers of successful days: against Nottinghamshire
at Yeovil
he took five wickets for 151 runs after Tremlett had withdrawn from the attack. But his best performance was a month later at Frome: in the Derbyshire
first innings, bowling unchanged with Buse, Redman took seven wickets for 23 runs as Derbyshire were dismissed for just 52 in an hour and 45 minutes. This return, from what Wisden termed "deadly swing bowling by Redman", was the best of his first-class career. In addition to his bowling, Redman also batted usefully in the lower order in 1951, making 472 runs at an average of 13.88. His highest score of the season, and the highest of his career, was 45 against Essex
at Brentwood
.
In 1952, Somerset had what Wisden termed "a disastrous season" and finished at the bottom of the County Championship. Lack of bowling penetration was the main problem, and Redman, who played in 17 Championship games, took only 33 wickets at the average of 35.39. There was only one outstanding performance: in the match against Gloucestershire
at Taunton, he took seven wickets for 49 runs in a rain-spoilt match. Towards the end of the season, Redman lost his regular place in the side as the Cambridge University
batsman Gerry Tordoff
, who bowled a bit, came into the side. Redman left the Somerset staff at the end of the 1952 season.
Redman played only three more times for Somerset as an amateur, all of them matches at the Bath cricket festival in 1953, and he bowled only 18 overs in these matches, taking just two further wickets. He did have a prominent role in one of the season's memorable matches, though: the game against Lancashire
, designated as Bertie Buse's benefit match, was finished inside a single day on a terrible pitch. Somerset's two innings resulted in totals of 55 and 79, and the match lasted up till six o-clock on the first day only because of a second-innings last-wicket stand of 35 between Redman, who made an unbeaten 27 – the only other double-figure score in the match for Somerset was 14 by Harold Stephenson
– and the 17-year-old Brian Langford
. Redman took two wickets in this match but failed in the other two games at Bath, and did not play first-class cricket again.
in the Minor Counties Championship between 1958 and 1964, and in the match against Somerset's Second Eleven in 1962, he made 112.
Somerset
The ceremonial and non-metropolitan county of Somerset in South West England borders Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west. It is partly bounded to the north and west by the Bristol Channel and the estuary of the...
on 1 March 1926 and died at Salisbury
Salisbury
Salisbury is a cathedral city in Wiltshire, England and the only city in the county. It is the second largest settlement in the county...
, Wiltshire
Wiltshire
Wiltshire is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset, Somerset, Hampshire, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire. It contains the unitary authority of Swindon and covers...
, on 24 September 1981, played 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...
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...
for Somerset
Somerset County Cricket Club
Somerset County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Somerset...
as a fast-medium bowler between 1948 and 1953.
First-class cricket career
Redman was a right-handed lower order batsman and a right-arm seam bowler, "only a little above medium pace". After playing club cricket for Bath Cricket ClubBath Cricket Club
Bath Cricket Club is an English amateur cricket club based in the city of Bath, Somerset. The club was founded in 1859 and competes in the West of England Premier League, which is an accredited ECB Premier League, the highest level for recreational club cricket in England and Wales.Home matches...
, he was tried in two matches for Somerset in 1948; the second of these was the match against the Australian team known as the Invincibles, and Redman with three wickets for 78 runs was the most successful of the Somerset bowlers – though an Australian total of 560 for five wickets gave them victory by an innings and 374 runs inside two days.
Redman was used primarily as an opening bowler for a weak side whose principal wicket-takers throughout his career were all spin bowlers. There were six matches and 11 wickets in 1949 and 10 matches with 16 expensive wickets in 1950. Seven of these 16 wickets came in one match against Surrey
Surrey County Cricket Club
Surrey County Cricket Club is one of the 18 professional county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Surrey. Its limited overs team is called the Surrey Lions...
at The Oval
The Oval
The Kia Oval, still commonly referred to by its original name of The Oval, is an international cricket ground in Kennington, in the London Borough of Lambeth. In the past it was also sometimes called the Kennington Oval...
, and in the first Surrey innings he took five for 50, the first five-wicket return of his career. Wisden
Wisden Cricketers' Almanack
Wisden Cricketers' Almanack is a cricket reference book published annually in the United Kingdom...
noted that he bowled "at a fine pace" and that he took four wickets for 18 runs as Surrey fell to 49 for five before a recovery.
In 1951, he played in all but the first of Somerset's County Championship
County Championship
The County Championship is the domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales...
matches – he appeared in 27 games – and was awarded his county cap
Cap (sport)
In sports, a cap is a metaphorical term for a player's appearance on a select team, such as a national team. The term dates from the practice in the United Kingdom of awarding a cap to every player in an international match of association football...
. He took 50 wickets in all at the relatively high average of 33.76. After the third Championship match, Maurice Tremlett
Maurice Tremlett
Maurice Fletcher Tremlett was an English cricketer, who played for Somerset, Central Districts and England....
, who had taken eight wickets to that point, did not bowl again during the season, and Redman opened the bowling in every other game with Bertie Buse
Bertie Buse
Herbert Francis Thomas "Bertie" Buse, born at Ashley Down, Bristol, on 5 August 1910 and died at Bath on 23 February 1992, was a cricketer who played 304 first-class matches for Somerset before and after the Second World War.-Cricket career:...
, also barely above medium pace; they were backed by the three spin bowlers, Ellis Robinson
Ellis Robinson
Ellis Pembroke Robinson was a first-class cricketer who took over 1,000 first-class wickets for Yorkshire from 1934 to 1949, and Somerset from 1950 to 1952.-Early life:...
, Johnny Lawrence
Johnny Lawrence
John Lawrence, known as "Johnny", was a diminutive Yorkshire-born all-round cricketer whose middle or lower order batting and leg-break and googly bowling were of great importance to Somerset in the 10 cricket seasons immediately after the Second World War.-Early career and playing style:Born at...
and Horace Hazell
Horace Hazell
Horace Leslie Hazell was a cricketer who played for Somerset County Cricket Club in English first-class cricket....
, and these five bowlers then took all of Somerset's wickets for Championship matches across the whole summer. Redman had limited numbers of successful days: against Nottinghamshire
Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club
Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Nottinghamshire, and the current county champions. Its limited overs team is called the Nottinghamshire Outlaws...
at Yeovil
Johnson Park, Yeovil
Johnson Park is a multi-purpose sports ground on the northern outskirts of Yeovil, Somerset and is home to the Yeovil Sports and Social Club . Between 1951 and 1967, Somerset County Cricket Club played 12 first-class cricket matches on the ground, and Somerset also played two List A matches there,...
he took five wickets for 151 runs after Tremlett had withdrawn from the attack. But his best performance was a month later at Frome: in the Derbyshire
Derbyshire County Cricket Club
Derbyshire County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the England and Wales domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Derbyshire...
first innings, bowling unchanged with Buse, Redman took seven wickets for 23 runs as Derbyshire were dismissed for just 52 in an hour and 45 minutes. This return, from what Wisden termed "deadly swing bowling by Redman", was the best of his first-class career. In addition to his bowling, Redman also batted usefully in the lower order in 1951, making 472 runs at an average of 13.88. His highest score of the season, and the highest of his career, was 45 against Essex
Essex County Cricket Club
Essex 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 Essex. Its limited overs team is called the Essex Eagles, their team colours this season are blue.The club plays most of its home games...
at Brentwood
Brentwood, Essex
Brentwood is a town and the principal settlement of the Borough of Brentwood, in the county of Essex in the east of England. It is located in the London commuter belt, 20 miles east north-east of Charing Cross in London, and near the M25 motorway....
.
In 1952, Somerset had what Wisden termed "a disastrous season" and finished at the bottom of the County Championship. Lack of bowling penetration was the main problem, and Redman, who played in 17 Championship games, took only 33 wickets at the average of 35.39. There was only one outstanding performance: in the match against Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire County Cricket Club
Gloucestershire 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 Gloucestershire. Its limited overs team is called the Gloucestershire Gladiators....
at Taunton, he took seven wickets for 49 runs in a rain-spoilt match. Towards the end of the season, Redman lost his regular place in the side as the Cambridge University
Cambridge University Cricket Club
Cambridge University Cricket Club is a first-class cricket team. It now plays all but one of its first-class cricket matches as part of the Cambridge University Centre of Cricketing Excellence , which includes Anglia Ruskin University...
batsman Gerry Tordoff
Gerry Tordoff
George Gerald "Gerry" Tordoff played first-class cricket for Somerset, Cambridge University and the Combined Services in the 1950s and early 1960s....
, who bowled a bit, came into the side. Redman left the Somerset staff at the end of the 1952 season.
Redman played only three more times for Somerset as an amateur, all of them matches at the Bath cricket festival in 1953, and he bowled only 18 overs in these matches, taking just two further wickets. He did have a prominent role in one of the season's memorable matches, though: the game against Lancashire
Lancashire County Cricket Club
Lancashire County Cricket Club represents the historic county of Lancashire in cricket's County Championship. The club was founded in 1864 as a successor to Manchester Cricket Club and has played at Old Trafford since then...
, designated as Bertie Buse's benefit match, was finished inside a single day on a terrible pitch. Somerset's two innings resulted in totals of 55 and 79, and the match lasted up till six o-clock on the first day only because of a second-innings last-wicket stand of 35 between Redman, who made an unbeaten 27 – the only other double-figure score in the match for Somerset was 14 by Harold Stephenson
Harold Stephenson
Harold William Stephenson was an English first-class cricketer who played for Somerset. He captained Somerset from 1960 until his retirement in 1964....
– and the 17-year-old Brian Langford
Brian Langford
Brian Anthony Langford , is a former English first-class cricketer who played as an off-spin bowler for Somerset...
. Redman took two wickets in this match but failed in the other two games at Bath, and did not play first-class cricket again.
After first-class cricket
Leaving professional cricket at the end of 1952, Redman went into business and later moved from Bath to Salisbury. He played a few matches for WiltshireWiltshire County Cricket Club
Wiltshire County Cricket Club is one of the county clubs which make up the Minor Counties in the English domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Wiltshire and playing in the Minor Counties Championship and the MCCA Knockout Trophy....
in the Minor Counties Championship between 1958 and 1964, and in the match against Somerset's Second Eleven in 1962, he made 112.