John Newstead

John Thomas Newstead (8 September 1877 – 25 March 1952) was an English first-class cricketer, who played 96 first-class matches for Yorkshire County Cricket Club between 1903 and 1913. An all-rounder who batted in the middle order, he was selected as one of Wisden Cricketers of the Year for 1909.

Life and career Newstead was born in Marton, Middlesbrough, Yorkshire. He learned the game under the tutorship of William Brunton - a North Riding cricketer of good local repute in the days of the England eleven. He made such rapid progress that aged seventeen he was given an engagement with Middlesbrough C.C. He was given two trials for the county in 1903 against Cambridge University and Derbyshire, but he was treated as a batsman and not as a bowler. As a result of the mistake he was not kept on. In 1908 he made 927 runs and took 140 wickets and was a big factor in Yorkshire's regaining the County Championship. A bowler of near medium pace, he also imparted the then fashionable in-duckers, or quick off spin.

However, Newstead's great season proved to be something of a flash in the pan, for he took only 151 further wickets. He lost his place before the end of 1909: he averaged only fourteen with the bat, and did not appear regularly again, making his final first-class, and only appearance of the season, in 1913.