| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Full name | Roland Oliver Jenkins | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 24 November 1918 Rainbow Hill, Worcester, England | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Died | 22 July 1995 (aged 76) Worcester, England | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Batting | Right-handed | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bowling | Legbreak, googly | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| International information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| National side | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Test debut | 16 December 1948 v South Africa | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Last Test | 19 June 1952 v India | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Career statistics | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Source: CricInfo, 26 June 2021 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Roly Jenkins (24 November 1918[1] – 22 July 1995) was an English cricketer from the period immediately after World War II, almost exclusively for Worcestershire County Cricket Club as a leg spinner. Along with Doug Wright and Eric Hollies, Jenkins was a star of the last generation of English leg-spinners before a more defensive mindset, followed by failed rule changes like a standard 75 yards (68.6 m) boundary[2] and then the advent of one-day cricket, all but killed off home grown wrist spinners.
Cricket writer, Colin Bateman, noted, "true to the leg-spinner's image, Roly Jenkins was one of the game's great characters and entertainers whose performances ebbed and flowed with how the mood took him. In an era when wrist-spinners flourished, Roly was one of the bigger spinners of the ball, if not always the most accurate".[1]