John Simpson (English cricketer)

Simpson represented England U19s on tour to India in 2004/05 aged 16 and again in 2005/06 on a tour to Bangladesh. For the 2007 season he joined Lancashire on a scholarship, he played second XI cricket for Lancashire, Durham and Nottinghamshire during the campaign.

In 2009 he made his professional debut when selected for Middlesex's Twenty20 match against Sussex. On 9 April 2010, Simpson made his first-class debut against Worcestershire at New Road. He made 20 in the first and 0 in the second innings as Middlesex were beaten by 111 runs, he did however take 5 catches behind the stumps.

Simpson averaged 18.05 in the 2012 season, with no hundreds or fifties.[1] However, in the opening round of matches of the 2013 County Championship, Simpson made 97 not out for Middlesex.[2]

In 2018, he played for Brothers Union in the 2017–18 Dhaka Premier Division Cricket League in Bangladesh.[3]

Simpson is the grandson and great-grandson of two former professional rugby league footballers who were regarded as two of the best fullbacks in the game at their times. His great-grandfather, Walter Gowers, played as a fullback for Rochdale Hornets during the Interwar period as well as being selected for the Great Britain touring squad to Australasia in 1928 even though he did not actually play at test match level. John's grandfather, Ken Gowers (Walter's son) was the outstanding fullback for Swinton from the 1950s to the 1970s. Ken was one of several Swinton players who were capped for Great Britain during the 1960s when the Lions' ground Station Road was the scene of many great Lions' victories in the club's postwar "swinging sixties" decade. Ken Gowers was also a useful cricketer. He would often change from the oval ball game to the summer game after rugby league fixtures were completed each spring.

John Simpson's father Jack Simpson played Lacrosse for England and Rochdale he played in two world championships.

• John Simpson at ESPNcricinfo
• John Simpson at Cricket Archive