Jack Richards (cricketer, born 1918)

{{Short description|English cricketer}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2020}}

{{Use British English|date=August 2020}}

{{Infobox cricketer

| name = Jack Richards

| image =

| country = England

| full_name = John Lawson Richards

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1918|10|06|df=y}}

| birth_place = Williton, Somerset, England

| death_date = {{Death date and age|1944|11|02|1918|10|06|df=y}}

| death_place = Gelderland, German-occupied Netherlands

| heightft =

| heightinch =

| nickname =

| club1 = Cambridge University

| year1 = 1939

| columns = 1

| column1 = First-class

| matches1 = 1

| runs1 = 0

| bat avg1 = 0

| 100s/50s1 = –/–

| top score1 = 0

| deliveries1 = 50

| wickets1 = –

| bowl avg1 = –

| fivefor1 = –

| tenfor1 = –

| best bowling1 = 0/18

| catches/stumpings1 = 0/0

| date = 6 August

| year = 2020

| source = https://www.espncricinfo.com/england/content/player/19670.html Cricinfo

}}

John Lawson Richards (6 October 1918 – 2 November 1944) was an English first-class cricketer and British Army officer.

Born in Williton in October 1918, Richards was educated at Monmouth School and Selwyn College, Cambridge, where he played several sports, including cricket.{{Cite book |last=McCrery |first=Nigel |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UYQwDwAAQBAJ |title=The Coming Storm: Test and First-Class Cricketers Killed in World War Two |publisher=Pen & Sword |year=2017 |isbn=978-1-52670-695-9 |location=Barnsley |pages=531–535 |author-link=Nigel McCrery}} He entered Selwyn College in 1938, where he read mathematics. Between 24 and 26 May 1939, Richards made his only first-class appearance for Cambridge against Yorkshire, in which he was bowled twice for a duck and did not gain any runs.{{Cite web |title=First-Class Matches played by Jack Richards |url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/32/32338/First-Class_Matches.html |url-access=subscription |access-date=6 August 2020 |publisher=CricketArchive}}{{Cite web |title=Cambridge University v Yorkshire in 1939 |url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/16/16951.html |url-access=subscription |access-date=6 August 2020 |publisher=CricketArchive}}

On 8 June 1940, seven months after the outbreak of the Second World War, Richards was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Royal Engineers, in which he was involved in bomb disposal.{{London Gazette| issue = 34872| date = 1940-06-11| page = 3594| supp = y}} During leave periods in 1941 and 1942, he appeared for Cambridge in six wartime cricket matches.{{Cite web |title=Miscellaneous Matches played by Jack Richards |url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/32/32338/Miscellaneous_Matches.html |url-access=subscription |access-date=6 August 2020 |publisher=CricketArchive}} Richards was killed in the Netherlands on 2 November 1944 and is buried at Jonkerbos War Cemetery.{{CWGC|id=2646777|name=John Lawson Richards|access-date=6 August 2020}}