Born at Newbury, Berkshire in 1955, Bill Merry was a right-arm medium pace bowler and right-handed lower order batsman. He represented Middlesex in 26 matches between 1979 and 1982 during which time the championship was won twice in 1980 and 1982 not to mention the last Gillette Cup against Surrey at Lord's also in 1980. He bagged 52 wickets (av. 33.15) with a best performance of 4 for 24 versus Somerset at Taunton in 1980 and he scored 50 runs (av. 6.25) with a highest score of 14 n.o. versus Oxford University at the Parks in 1981 and he also held 6 catches. He toured abroad five times with M.C.C. to Bangladesh in 1978/79, East Africa in 1981/82, Derrick Robins XI to New Zealand in 1979/80 and Middlesex to Zimbabwe in 1980/81. He also played minor county championship cricket for Hertfordshire twice between 1976 to 1978 and 1983 to 1991. His last first-class match was for Minor Counties versus New Zealand at Lakenham, Norwich in 1986. He was a member of the Club’s General Committee until 2003.
