Alan Ratcliffe

Who was Alan Ratcliffe?

Alan Ratcliffe was an English cricketer. Ratcliffe was a right-handed batsman. He was born in Dulwich, Surrey.

His early education was undertaken at Rydal School, Ratcliffe made his first-class debut for Wales against the touring West Indians in 1928. He later made 3 further first-class appearances for Wales, the last of which came against the Marylebone Cricket Club in 1930. He scored 227 runs for Wales, which came at an average of 32.42, with a high score of 73.

Ratcliffe undertook his studies at Cambridge University in 1930, it was in that same year that he made his debut for Cambridge University Cricket Club in a first-class match against Yorkshire, the same season in which he made debut for Denbighshire in the Minor Counties Championship, with him playing 4 further matches for the Welsh county up to 1931. He represented Cambridge University in first-class cricket on another 32 occasions, with his final match for the university coming against Oxford University in 1932. In his 33 first-class appearances, he scored 1,545 runs at an average of 30.29. He made 7 fifties and 5 centuries, with a high score of 201. This score, which was his only career double century, came against Oxford University at Lord's. This innings exceeded the highest score made in a university match by 29 runs, beating the previous high score held by John Marsh. This record though stood for only one day, as the next day the Nawab of Pataudi broke this record by scoring 238 not out for Oxford University. While at Cambridge, he also made the first of first-class appearances for the Marylebone Cricket Club against the Army.