{{Short description|English cricketer}} {{EngvarB|date=August 2013}} {{Use dmy dates|date=January 2024}} {{Infobox cricketer | name = Brian Timms | image = | country = England | fullname = Brian Stanley Valentine Timms | nickname = | birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1940|12|17|df=yes}} | birth_place = Ropley, Hampshire, England | family = | heightft = | heightinch = | batting = Right-handed | bowling = | role = Wicket-keeper | club1 = Hampshire | year1 = 1959–1968 | club2 = Warwickshire | year2 = 1969–1971 | columns = 2 | column1 = First-class | matches1 = 232 | runs1 = 3,657 | bat avg1 = 15.76 | 100s/50s1 = 1/8 | top score1 = 120 | hidedeliveries = true | catches/stumpings1 = 456/70 | column2 = List A | matches2 = 16 | runs2 = 152 | bat avg2 = 19.00 | 100s/50s2 = –/1 | top score2 = 55 | catches/stumpings2 = 12/2 | date = 21 February | year = 2010 | source = http://www.cricinfo.com/ci/content/player/21543.html Cricinfo }}
'''Brian Stanley Valentine Timms''' (born 17 December 1940) is an English former first-class cricketer who played as a wicket-keeper for Hampshire from 1959 to 1968 and Warwickshire from 1969 to 1971.
==Cricket career== ===Hampshire=== Timms was born in December 1940 in Ropley, Hampshire. He began his cricket career at Hampshire as an apprentice to wicket-keeper Leo Harrison, who Timms would replace after he retired.<ref name="HCCC">{{cite web|url=https://www.utilitabowl.com/cricket/news/born-on-this-day-17th-december/|title=Born On This Day: 17th December|website=www.utilitabowl.com|date=17 December 2020|access-date=27 May 2024}}</ref> He played for Hampshire in the inaugural season of the Second XI Championship in 1959,<ref name="HCCC"/> and in that same season he played two first-class matches against Cambridge University and Oxford University.<ref name="FCM">{{cite web|url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/6/6887/First-Class_Matches.html|title=First-Class Matches played by Brian Timms|publisher=CricketArchive|access-date=27 May 2024|url-access=subscription}}</ref> Harrison was injured in 1960, and as a result Timms made seventeen first-class appearances, sixteen of which came in the County Championship.<ref name="FCM"/> In his first Championship match against Nottinghamshire, he claimed six dismissals from behind the stumps in the Nottinghamshire first innings.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000736/19600706/204/0016|title=Hampshire wicketkeepers great promise|work=Portsmouth Evening News|page=16|date=6 July 1960|access-date=27 May 2024|url-access=subscription|via=British Newspaper Archive}}</ref> Following the end of the 1960 season, Timms was injured in a motor vehicle accident when the light van he was driving crashed. He sustained facial injuries, for which he was treated at the Royal Hampshire County Hospital.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0001973/19601021/197/0013|title=Cricketer hurt|work=Hampshire Telegraph|location=Portsmouth|page=13|date=21 October 1960|access-date=27 May 2024|url-access=subscription|via=British Newspaper Archive}}</ref> Harrison was again injured for part of the 1961 season,<ref name="HCCC"/> as Hampshire chased their first County Championship title, with Timms deputising in two Championship matches in June.<ref name="FCM"/> He played a further six matches in 1962, with Harrison retiring at the end of that season.<ref name="HCCC"/>
With Harrison's retirement, Timms became Hampshire's regular wicket-keeper. He played thirty times in 1963, scoring 414 runs at an average of 12.17, while in his capacity as wicket-keeper he took 57 catches and made thirteen stumpings. He played the same amount of matches the following season, scoring 595 runs and recording three half centuries, while taking 58 catches and completing nineteen stumpings.<ref name="FCBAS">{{cite web|url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/6/6887/f_Batting_by_Season.html|title=First-Class Batting and Fielding in Each Season by Brian Timms|publisher=CricketArchive|access-date=27 May 2024|url-access=subscription}}</ref> He played a further thirty first-class matches in 1965, and although he scored fewer runs (384 at an average of 12.80), he did take more catches behind the stumps, with 73.<ref name="FCBAS"/> Against the touring South Africans he made 80 runs, sharing in a partnership of 143 with Geoff Keith (101) to help Hampshire recover from 121 for 6 in their first innings.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0001916/19650814/014/0001|title=Tourist spinner shakes Hants|work=Star Green 'Un|location=Sheffield|page=1|date=14 August 1965|access-date=27 May 2024|url-access=subscription|via=British Newspaper Archive}}</ref> During the 1965 season, he also made his debut in List A one-day cricket against Norfolk at Southampton in the 1st round of the 1965 Gillette Cup.<ref name="LAM">{{cite web|url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/6/6887/List_A_Matches.html|title=List A Matches played by Brian Timm|publisher=CricketArchive|access-date=27 May 2024|url-access=subscription}}</ref> Over the proceeding three seasons, he made nearly sixty further first-class appearances for Hampshire,<ref name="FCM"/> and eight further one-day appearances.<ref name="LAM"/> He remained consistent in first-class cricket, scoring over 1,500 runs from 1966 to 1968, whilst also facilitating over fifty dismissals behind the stumps in each of those seasons.<ref name="FCBAS"/> Against Nottinghamshire in the 1967 County Championship, he broke his nose midway through the match when keeping to Peter Sainsbury, with Danny Livingstone deputising for Timms for the remainder of the match.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0004722/19670526/010/0010|title=Hampshire v. Nottinghamshire|work=Nottingham Guardian|page=10|date=26 May 1967|access-date=30 May 2024|url-access=subscription|via=British Newspaper Archive}}</ref>
Timms retired from playing at the end of the 1968 season, in order to concentrate on business commitments.<ref name="HCCC"/> In 208 first-class matches for Hampshire, he scored 3,236 runs at an average of 15.70; he made seven half centuries,<ref name="FCBAT">{{cite web|url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/6/6887/f_Batting_by_Team.html|title=First-Class Batting and Fielding For Each Team by Brian Timms|publisher=CricketArchive|access-date=27 May 2024|url-access=subscription}}</ref> alongside a single century score of 120 against Oxford University in Hampshire's opening match in 1966.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/27/27994.html|title=Oxford University v Hampshire, University Match 1966|publisher=CricketArchive|access-date=27 May 2024|url-access=subscription}}</ref> In one-day cricket, he scored 118 runs at an average of 19.66,<ref name="LABAT">{{cite web|url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/6/6887/a_Batting_by_Team.html|title=List A Batting and Fielding For Each Team by Brian Timms|publisher=CricketArchive|access-date=27 May 2024|url-access=subscription}}</ref> making one half century against Sussex in the quarter-final of the 1967 Gillette Cup.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/28/28825.html|title=Sussex v Hampshire, Gillette Cup 1967 (Quarter-Final)|publisher=CricketArchive|access-date=27 May 2024|url-access=subscription}}</ref> He was succeeded as Hampshire's wicket-keeper for the 1969 season by Bob Stephenson.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.utilitabowl.com/cricket/news/born-on-this-day-19th-november/|title=Born On This Day: 19th November|website=www.utilitabowl.com|date=19 November 2020|access-date=27 May 2024}}</ref> Later in life, he would become a vice-president of Hampshire.<ref name="HCCC"/>
===Warwickshire=== Shortly after retiring from the professional game, Timms was approached by Warwickshire to deputise for Alan Smith when he was on Test selection duty; he did not however formally join the staff at Warwickshire.<ref name="HCCC"/> He first represented Warwickshire against Northamptonshire in the 1969 County Championship,<ref name="FCM"/> covering for Smith until 1971. During that period, he made 24 first-class and seven one-day appearances.<ref name="FCM"/><ref name="LAM"/> In first-class cricket for Warwickshire, he scored 421 runs at an average of 16.19, recording one half century, while as wicket-keeper he took 54 catches and made ten stumpings.<ref name="FCBAT"/> In one-day matches, he scored 34 runs and took six dismissals behind the stumps.<ref name="LABAT"/>
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== *{{cricinfo|id=21543}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Timms, Brian}} Category:1940 births Category:Living people Category:People from Ropley Category:Cricketers from Hampshire Category:English cricketers Category:Wicket-keepers Category:Hampshire cricketers Category:Warwickshire cricketers Category:English cricket administrators Category:20th-century English sportsmen