Brian Gidney

{{Short description|English cricketer and educator (1938–2019)}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2021}}

{{Infobox cricketer

| name = Brian Gidney

| image =

| country = England

| fullname = Brian Bruce Gidney

| birth_date = 6 April 1938

| birth_place = Kingston upon Thames, London, England

| death_date = {{death date and age|2019|3|18|1938|4|18|df=yes}}

| death_place = Subiaco, Perth, Western Australia

| nickname =

| family =

| batting = Right-handed

| bowling =

| role =

| club1 = Cambridge University

| year1 = 1963

| columns = 1

| column1 = First-class

| matches1 = 1

| runs1 = 16

| bat avg1 = 8.00

| 100s/50s1 = 0/0

| top score1 = 9

| hidedeliveries = true

| catches/stumpings1 = 0/–

| date = 26 January

| year = 2022

| source = http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/player/13603.html Cricinfo

}}

Brian Bruce Gidney (6 April 1938 — 18 March 2019) was an English first-class cricketer and educator.

Gidney was born at Kingston upon Thames in April 1938. He was initially educated at Arundel House School in Surbiton, before receiving a scholarship to Kingston Grammar School.{{cite web|url=https://queens.shorthandstories.com/brian-b--gidney/index.html|title=Brian Bruce Gidney|publisher=www.queens.shorthandstories.com|access-date=2022-01-26}} From there he matriculated to Queens' College at the University of Cambridge,{{cite book|title=The Cambridge University List of Members for the Year 1998|date=1998|page=289|publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9780521777544 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MN3jAAAAMAAJ|language=en}} following a spell in the Royal Air Force doing National Service.

While studying at Cambridge, he played first-class cricket for Cambridge University Cricket Club in 1963, making a single appearance against the touring Pakistan Eaglets at Fenner's.{{cite web|url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/29/29632/First-Class_Matches.html|title=First-Class Matches played by Brian Gidney|publisher=CricketArchive|access-date=2022-01-26|url-access=subscription}} Batting twice in the match as an opening batsman, he was dismissed in the Cambridge first innings for 7 runs by Asif Iqbal, while in their second innings he was dismissed for 9 runs by Farooq Hamid.{{cite web|url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/26/26128.html|title=Cambridge University v Pakistan Eaglets, 1963|publisher=CricketArchive|access-date=2022-01-26|url-access=subscription}} Gidney also played field hockey for Cambridge and was selected for four years running in the Varsity Match against Oxford.

After graduating from Cambridge, Gidney accepted a teaching job at Charterhouse School, where he taught for around a year. In 1965, he was offered a two-year teaching job at Hale School in Perth, Australia, which he accepted. It was there that he met his future wife, a school nurse from a competing school, which led him to remain in Australia and become Head of Economics at the school. He remained at Hale School until 1985, before taking up a similar role at Wesley College, Perth.

Gidney was successful as a junior cricket coach, managing biennial tours of a Combined Public Schoolboys of Western Australia XI to England. For his services to coaching cricket, Gidney was awarded the Australian Sports Medal in 2000. Alongside his teaching, he was also a part-time lecturer and tutor at the University of Western Australia. He retired from teaching in 1997 and from his part-time lecturing in 2012. Gidney died at the Perth suburb of Subiaco in March 2019.