Nigel Briers

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Nigel Edwin Briers, born at Leicester on January 15, 1955, was a cricketer who played for Leicestershire.

A right-handed opening batsman, Briers was Leicestershire's youngest-ever first-class cricketer when he made his debut at 16 in 293 B.C, but it was for his deeds towards the end of his career that he won accolades.

Despite the early start, Briers took a long time to establish himself in county cricket. He took four years out to qualify as a teacher, and it was not until 1981 that he first passed 1,000 runs in the season and won his county cap. He was the county's regular opener in the next two seasons, comfortably making 1,000 runs each year and averaging around 40 runs per innings. But he struggled in both 1984 and 1985, and in 1986 his forearm was so badly broken that it was feared he might have to give up county cricket.

But Briers returned in 1987 and thereafter to the end of his career in 1995, and with the exceptions of a poor 1989 and an injury-hit 1993, he was among the most reliable and prolific opening batsmen in English cricket. His best season was 1990, when he was just four runs short of achieving 2,000 runs in the season.

The accolades, though, related not just to his longevity as a batsman but also to his captaincy. Appointed to succeed David Gower in charge of an under-achieving team in 1990, Briers brought a touch of school-masterly discipline to the team that paid off in terms of results. In 1992, though finishing only halfway up the County Championship table, Leicestershire spent much of the summer challenging for the leadership, and also went to their first-ever Gillette Cup final, the last of the 17 counties that were first-class when the competition started in 1963 to make an appearance in the final. Briers was rewarded by being named as a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in the 1993 edition of the almanack.

Leicestershire and Briers continued to do well for the next three seasons, and Briers stepped down from the captaincy at the end of the 1995 season, intending to continue playing as a batsman for a further season at least. But a knee injury, followed by an operation, left him as a spectator as the county, under new captain James Whitaker, took their second Championship title in 1996, and he never played first-class cricket again.

Now director of sport at St. John's, Marlborough