Ray Julian

Raymond "Ray" Julian (born 23 August 1936) is a former English cricketer who played first-class and List A cricket for Leicestershire between 1953 and 1971. He continued in cricket after his playing days were over by standing as an umpire in first-class, List A and one-day international matches between 1972 and 2001. He was born at Cosby, Leicestershire.

Playing career

Julian was a right-handed lower-order batsman and a wicketkeeper. He made his first-class debut for Leicestershire as a 16-year-old in a single match against Gloucestershire in May 1953. There were a few more games, plus a period of National Service, over the next few years, but he did not displace Jack Firth as Leicestershire's first choice wicketkeeper until Firth retired at the end of the 1958 season.

From 1959 to 1965, Julian was Leicestershire's main wicketkeeper, though his indifferent batting and Leicestershire's perennially long tail in this period meant that other wicketkeepers such as John Mitten and Geoffrey Burch were tried, though not usually for long. His best season as a wicketkeeper was 1961, when he received his county cap and took 72 catches with 7 stumpings. As a batsman, he scored 561 runs in 1960 with an average of 12.46 and a highest score of just 44: the high aggregate reflects the fact that he went in at No 8 because in Terry Spencer, John Savage and Brian Boshier or Peter Broughton, there were usually three even worse batsmen than he was, and Leicestershire usually batted twice in each match. His highest score, one of only two innings over 50, was 51, made against Worcestershire in 1962 as a high-scoring match petered out to a draw.