da bet7: John Lyon, the former Lancashire wicket keeper, died in South Africa over the Christmas holidays.
Cricinfo staff04-Jan-2010John Lyon, the former Lancashire wicket keeper, died in South Africa over the Christmas holidays. He was 58.Lyon played 84 matches for Lancashire between 1973 and 1979, initially as a replacement for Farokh Engineer before becoming the first choice for his last three seasons, taking 159 catches and making 12 stumpings. Although he was a limited lower-order batsman, he did score a first-class hundred against Warwickshire in 1979 along with Bob Ratcliffe, who also made his only first-class century.Lyon then had a marked impact on Irish cricket, initially with Bangor and then Clontarf where he proved highly successful as a coach.He subsequently emigrated to South Africa where he ran a sports bar while continuing to coach.