{{Short description|English cricketer}} {{EngvarB|date=August 2013}} {{Use dmy dates|date=January 2024}} {{Infobox cricketer | name = | image = | country = England | fullname = Bernard Gerard Wensley Atkinson | nickname = | birth_date = 11 September 1900 | birth_place = Puddington, Devon, England | death_date = {{Death date and age|1966|9|4|1900|9|11|df=yes}} | death_place = Hampstead, London, England | heightft = | heightinch = | batting = Right-handed | bowling = Right-arm fast-medium | role = | family = Nigel Atkinson (brother) | club1 = Middlesex | year1 = 1933–1934 | clubnumber1 = | club2 = Northamptonshire | year2 = 1922–1925 | clubnumber2 = | columns = 1 | column1 = First-class | matches1 = 22 | runs1 = 554 | bat avg1 = 15.82 | 100s/50s1 = –/2 | top score1 = 94 | deliveries1 = 1,808 | wickets1 = 25 | bowl avg1 = 34.68 | fivefor1 = – | tenfor1 = – | best bowling1 = 4/97 | catches/stumpings1 = 17/– | date = 30 December | year = 2012 | source = http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/player/8817.html Cricinfo }}
'''Bernard Gerard Wensley Atkinson''' (11 September 1900 – 4 September 1966) was an English first-class cricketer. Atkinson was a right-handed batsman who bowled right-arm fast-medium. He was born at Puddington, Devon.
Educated at St Paul's School, London, Atkinson played for the school cricket team from 1916 to 1919, heading the batting averages in his last two years there.<ref name="PRO">{{cite book |editor-first=Norman |editor-last=Preston |editor-link=Norman Preston |title=Wisden Cricketer's Almanack 1967 |edition=104 |year=1967 |publisher=Sporting Handbooks |location=London |isbn=0-850-20015-6 }}</ref> He later attended the University of Cambridge,<ref name="PRO"/> but did not represent the university in first-class cricket. He would make his debut in first-class cricket for Northamptonshire against Kent in the 1922 County Championship. He made ten first-class appearances for the county in that season,<ref name="FCM">{{cite web |url-access=subscription |url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/27/27558/First-Class_Matches.html|title=First-Class Matches played by Bernard Atkinson|publisher=CricketArchive|accessdate=30 December 2012}}</ref> scoring 257 runs at an average of 17.13, with a high score of 91, his only half century score of the season.<ref name="FCBATS">{{cite web |url-access=subscription |url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/27/27558/f_Batting_by_Season.html|title=First-class Batting and Fielding in Each Season by Bernard Atkinson|publisher=CricketArchive|accessdate=30 December 2012}}</ref> As an all-rounder, he also took 5 wickets with the ball, which came at an average of 31.80, with best figures of 2/13.<ref name="FCBOWLS">{{cite web |url-access=subscription |url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/27/27558/f_Bowling_by_Season.html|title=First-class Bowling in Each Season by Bernard Atkinson|publisher=CricketArchive|accessdate=30 December 2012}}</ref> Outside of cricket, he was an educator,<ref name="PRO"/> which may account for his making no appearances for Northamptonshire in first-class cricket in 1923 and 1924. He did however make three first-class appearances for the county in the 1925 County Championship,<ref name="FCM"/> scoring 29 runs at an average of 5.80,<ref name="FCBATS"/> while with the ball he took 2 wickets.<ref name="FCBOWLS"/>
A gap of several years followed before his next appearance in first-class cricket, this time for Middlesex for whom he made his debut against Lancashire in the 1933 County Championship. He played for the county in the 1933 and 1934 seasons, making a total of nine appearances,<ref name="FCM"/> scoring 286 runs at an average of 14.30, with a high score of 91.<ref>{{cite web |url-access=subscription |url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/27/27558/f_Batting_by_Team.html|title=First-class Batting and Fielding For Each Team by Bernard Atkinson|publisher=CricketArchive|accessdate=30 December 2012}}</ref> With the ball, he took 18 wickets at an average of 36.00, with best figures of 4/97.<ref>{{cite web |url-access=subscription |url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/27/27558/f_Bowling_by_Team.html|title=First-class Bowling For Each Team by Bernard Atkinson|publisher=CricketArchive|accessdate=30 December 2012}}</ref> He left the county at the end of the 1934 season to undertake a teaching position at the Edinburgh Academy, while teaching there he played club cricket for Grange Cricket Club,<ref name="PRO"/> also making several minor appearances for Scotland.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://stats.cricketscotland.com/bio/A/atkinson_bgw.html|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130120030840/http://stats.cricketscotland.com/bio/A/atkinson_bgw.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=20 January 2013|title=Player profile: BGW Atkinson|publisher=Cricket Scotland|accessdate=30 December 2012}}</ref>
He died at a hospital in Hampstead, London on 4 September 1966.<ref name="PRO"/> His brother, Nigel Atkinson, also played first-class cricket.
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== *[http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/player/8817.html Bernard Atkinson] at Cricinfo *[https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/27/27558/27558.html Bernard Atkinson] at CricketArchive
{{DEFAULTSORT:Atkinson, Bernard}} Category:1900 births Category:1966 deaths Category:People from Mid Devon Category:People educated at St Paul's School, London Category:Alumni of the University of Cambridge Category:English cricketers Category:Northamptonshire cricketers Category:Middlesex cricketers Category:Schoolteachers from Devon Category:Cricketers from Devon Category:20th-century English sportsmen