Ken Shuttleworth (cricketer)

Kenneth Shuttleworth (born 13 November 1944, St Helens, Lancashire, England)^[1] is an English former cricketer. He played five Test matches and one One Day International for England in the early 1970s.

Life and career

Shuttleworth made his first-class cricket debut in 1964 when he was aged nineteen, tall, raw, but genuinely a fast bowler. He took fifty wickets in 1967, but really started to burst through in 1968, when Brian Statham was fading from the scene. His best season was in 1970, when he took seventy-four wickets at 21.60 runs each, and played for England against The Rest of the World, at Lord's. He went to Australia with Ray Illingworth's Ashes-winning team and started his Test career with five for 47 at Brisbane.^[2] He played five times in all for England - four of them that winter in Australia and New Zealand, the other against Pakistan in 1971 - and took twelve wickets at 35.58 each.

Despite having a bowling action to rival Fred Trueman's, Shuttleworth was a great worrier, and when not taking wickets regularly tinkered with his technique.^[1]

Shuttleworth's career never took off as it might have done and loss of form, plus persistent injuries, forced him to leave Lancashire in 1975 and join Leicestershire, where he played forty-one matches between 1977 and 1980. In twelve seasons with Lancashire, Shuttleworth played in 177 matches and took 484 wickets at a cost of 22.92 each. He played in 105 limited-overs matches for the county and took 147 wickets at 18 apiece.

Once his first-class career was over, Shuttleworth played sporadically for Staffordshire.

References