{"id":122073,"date":"2025-09-06T01:39:09","date_gmt":"2025-09-06T01:39:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/122073\/"},"modified":"2025-09-06T01:39:09","modified_gmt":"2025-09-06T01:39:09","slug":"tributes-after-death-of-0-not-out-off-137-cricketer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/122073\/","title":{"rendered":"Tributes after death of 0 not out off 137 cricketer"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dan MartinBBC News, East Midlands<\/p>\n

\"IanIan Bestwick<\/p>\n

Darley Abbey Cricket Club said it was devastated by Ian Bestwick’s death<\/p>\n

Tributes have been paid after the death of a club cricketer who hit worldwide fame with a defiant innings in which he faced 137 balls without scoring a run.<\/p>\n

Ian Bestwick, who played for Darley Abbey Cricket Club in Derbyshire, gained global attention for his resolute knock in which he finished not out<\/a> in August 2024. <\/p>\n

Mr Bestwick, known to teammates as “Beast”, died aged 49 on 25 August, the club said.<\/p>\n

Club chairman David Jepson said he was “greatly saddened” by the father of three’s “sudden and untimely” death. <\/p>\n

In a post on the club’s Facebook page, Mr Jepson said: “Ian made his debut for the club in 2008 and across the next 17 years became a highly valued and very supportive club member. <\/p>\n

“He cared particularly about the traditions of the game and understood the values, friendship, camaraderie and cohesion that amateur clubs and organisations such as ours can bring to the local community.<\/p>\n

“His contribution was not merely to play, but to support in any way possible the best interests of the club.”<\/p>\n

\"DarleyDarley Abbey Cricket Club<\/p>\n

Mr Bestwick’s teammates held a minute’s applause for him before they played at the weekend<\/p>\n

Mr Jepson added: “On many occasions he turned down the opportunity of a game so that others, particular junior players, might play in his place, and instead he would volunteer to umpire, or score.<\/p>\n

“Ian was a lively presence – he loved real ale – and he was always prepared to contribute to a debate and listen to an alternative point of view, regardless of his own personal ideals.”<\/p>\n

Mr Jepson said the club was doing all it could to support his wife and children.<\/p>\n

Mr Bestwick’s teammates honoured him with a minute’s applause before a match at the weekend.<\/p>\n

‘Determined not to score’<\/p>\n

The batter’s remarkable scoreless stint at the crease, for the club’s 4th XI, brought him unexpected attention from far and wide.<\/p>\n

At the time, he told the BBC the response to the match had “gone crackers”.<\/p>\n

“It’s gone round the world,” he said. “It has been mentioned in Australia, Pakistan, Qatar.<\/p>\n

“I have had friend requests from around the globe.”<\/p>\n

Mr Bestwick took his steely stand after the opposition – Mickleover 3rd XI – posted a total of 271.<\/p>\n

Darley Abbey finished on just 21-4 after 45 overs – which meant the game ended in a draw.<\/p>\n

Mr Bestwick said: “We had been in the field for three hours chasing leather all over the place.<\/p>\n

“They came off and were dejected, [but] at the end it was like we had won a cup or something.<\/p>\n

“The atmosphere in our dressing room was second to none. It was brilliant.”<\/p>\n

He added: “Towards the end it became a thing where I was determined not to score.”<\/p>\n

Mr Bestwick was a senior trade union representative for Unite at Rolls-Royce.<\/p>\n

A post on the Rolls-Royce and Associates staff forum said: “Ian was a hugely influential character in the company and with the colleagues he represented. <\/p>\n

“He cared deeply about the business and provided helpful and considered challenge around actions to help improve it.<\/p>\n

“Ian will be missed by everyone that had the pleasure to work with him.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dan MartinBBC News, East Midlands Ian Bestwick Darley Abbey Cricket Club said it was devastated by Ian Bestwick’s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":122074,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[564],"tags":[64,63,740,85],"class_list":["post-122073","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cricket","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-cricket","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122073","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=122073"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122073\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/122074"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=122073"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=122073"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=122073"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}