Jan Brittin
Outstanding female cricketer who was the leading run-maker during the 1993 World Cup at Lord’s
JAN BRITTIN, who has died of cancer aged 58, was one of England’s finest female cricketers; she was a member of the World Cup-winning side in 1993, when she took the catch that ended the game, and remains the overall leading scorer in women’s Test matches.
Jan Brittin was a link between the amateur days of box-pleated skirts and scant recognition from the authorities, and the modern professional era, complete with coloured clothing and central contracts. Jan Brittin’s first Test series, in 1979, was Rachael Heyhoe Flint’s last. She bowed out after the 1998 Ashes in England, when her opening partner was the 18-year-old Charlotte Edwards, who described her as “my idol growing up”.
Athletically built but not particularly tall, “JB” was a technically correct, side-on batsman. “She was a really elegant, classy cricketer,” said Debbie Hockley, one of the New Zealand side vanquished in that 1993 Lord’s final. “I loved watching her bat, even when she was getting runs against us.”
Clare Connor, the former England captain who is now the ECB’S director of women’s cricket, played her early internationals alongside Jan Brittin, and recalled: “For girls of my generation she was our first real female role model. She batted with grace and timing – a classical opener, so beautiful to watch. She was also a brilliantly athletic cover fielder.”
Janette Ann Brittin was born at Kingston-upon-thames on July 4 1959, the only child of a buyer for an electrical company. She showed early aptitude for several sports – she would later play international indoor hockey too – and shortly after her 16th birthday was opening the batting for the England Junior Women’s team.
While at Chelsea PE College she was fast-tracked into the full national side and made her debut against West Indies while still a teenager, starting at No 7 but soon moving up the order. By her second series, against New Zealand in 1984, she was in her preferred slot as opener, starting with an unbeaten 144 at Headingley. In six matches – three Tests and three one-dayers – Jan Brittin made nearly 600 runs, and found herself on the cover of The Cricketer magazine, an unprecedented honour for a female player at the time.
In 27 Tests – spread over 19 years – Jan Brittin scored 1,935 runs and five centuries, both records which may well stand for ever, as women’s international cricket is now focused on the shorter versions of the game. She also made 2,121 runs, and five more hundreds, in one-day internationals. In her final summer of Tests, against Australia in 1998, she made her highest score of 167 at Harrogate less than a week after amassing 146 in more than eight hours at Guildford. In all in that farewell series she made 450 runs at an average of 112, despite turning 39 shortly before it started.
The highlight of her long career, however, was winning the World Cup at Lord’s in 1993. The fancied Australians had been dumped out after losing to England and also New Zealand, who were favourites for the trophy after winning the group game between the two finalists.
The leading run-maker in the tournament, Jan Brittin led the way again after England were put in. She made 48, the highest individual score of the day, despite going out to bat “with tears in my eyes, caused by the wonderful ovation from the members who lined our path through the Long Room, followed by the crowd’s reception as we walked out”.
A 60-over total of 195 looked underwhelming, but New Zealand collapsed after a reasonable start, losing their last five wickets for 18 runs to be all out for 128. Jan Brittin finished things off by catching Catherine Campbell off the bowling of Suzie Kitson. It was the second World Cup victory for England’s women: they had won the first tournament in 1973 (two years before the inaugural men’s one).
Another triumph followed in Australia in 2008-09, and they maintained their 100 per cent home record by winning the trophy at Lord’s again earlier this year.
Jan Brittin worked for British Airways, who sponsored women’s cricket during her playing days, for 23 years before returning to teaching and coaching at Danes Hill School in Oxshott, Surrey, not far from where she grew up. She also did a lot of coaching at the Oval, where the flag was lowered to half-mast during Surrey’s County Championship match against Yorkshire. She was made an honorary life member of MCC in 2000. Latterly she took up golf, winning trophies off a single-figure handicap at the Pyecombe club in Sussex.
She is survived by her parents and her partner of more than 25 years.