Neil Stanley

Neil Alan Stanley (16 May 1968 – 7 August 2024) was an English cricketer. Stanley was a right-handed batsman who bowled right-arm medium pace. He was born in Bedford and educated at Bedford Modern School.

Stanley made his debut in county cricket for Bedfordshire in the 1987 Minor Counties Championship. He made four appearances in 1987, and an appearance each in MCCA Knockout Trophy in 1988 and 1989. In 1988, he played three Youth One Day Internationals for England Young Cricketers, making an appearance each against Australia Young Cricketers, Pakistan Young Cricketers and New Zealand Young Cricketers.

Stanley made his first-class debut for Northamptonshire against Oxford University in 1988. He made twenty further first-class appearances for the county, the last of which came against Surrey in the 1992 County Championship. In his twenty-one first-class matches, he scored 1,019 runs at an average of 32.87, with a high score of 132. This score, which was his only first-class century, came against Lancashire in a partnership worth 236 runs with Allan Lamb. His List A debut for Northamptonshire came against Yorkshire in the 1988 Benson & Hedges Cup. He made fourteen further List A appearances for the county, the last of which came against Somerset in the 1993 AXA Equity & Law League. In his fifteen appearances in that format for Northamptonshire, Stanley scored 103 runs at an average of 10.30, with a high score of 18. He left Northamptonshire at the end of the 1993 season.

He rejoined his native county for the 1994 season, playing Minor counties cricket for Bedfordshire from 1994 to 2002, making a further 36 Minor Counties Championship With the ball, he took 9 wickets at a bowling average of 30.55, with best figures of 3/48.

Stanley died on 7 August 2024, at the age of 56.