Chris Balderstone was a late developer as a cricketer, mainly through
his shadow career as a league soccer player. At one time he played in a
county match for Leicestershire until 6.30p.m. then ran out with
Doncaster Rovers on the same evening. It was difficult for him to
establish himself with Yorkshire between 1961 and 1969 as the county was
packed with Test stars. Fortunately for Balderstone, Raymond
Illingworth rated his cricket enough to take him to Leicestershire,
where he played from 1971 to 1986 and became a prolific batsman, usually
opening the innings.
He was in prime form in 1976 when the first West
Indies pace quartet began cutting swathes through English batting, and
he was called up by England for the fourth Test at Headingley. He batted
stubbornly at number four, scoring 35 in the first innings. Although he
only made 4 in the second knock he had impressed with his courage and
technique and kept his place for the Oval Test, but he made two 0s
there, bowled each time by Michael Holding in the middle of his 14
wicket haul. Chris took his solitary wicket in Test cricket during the
West Indies mammoth first innings total of 687-8 declared when having
Collis King caught by Mike Selvey, his 16 overs returning the figures of
1-80.
Balderstone's football committments, he played for Huddersfield
Town, Carlisle United (see elsewhere on this site), Doncaster and Queen
of the South during his career, gave him no opportunity to take part in
the unofficial Test matches in the English off season, although he did
tour a pre-Test status Zimbabwe in 1981 with a strong side which
included guest appearances from David Steele and John Hampshire as well
as seven home-grown Leicestershire internationals. He scored 79 and 70
at Bulawayo, where he was dismissed by the future England coach Duncan
Fletcher. Chris became a first-class umpire in 1988 and went on to
officiate in numerous Test matches between 1993-96.(Bob Harragan)
Chris Balderstone died suddenly at his home in Carlisle on 6 March 2000
at the age of only 59, having suffered from prostate cancer.
CLICK ON THIS MAN AT THE TOP OF THIS PAGE.
FOOTBALL CAREER:
1958–1965 Huddersfield Town 117 (24)
1965–1975 Carlisle United 376 (68)
1975–1976 Doncaster Rovers 39 (1)
1976–1978 Queen of the South 34 (0)
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