Australian Test player Bruce Yardley dies aged 71

AUSTRALIAN Test cricketer Bruce Yardley has died after a long battle with cancer.

A veteran of 33 Test matches, Yardley died, aged 71, in a West Australian hospital on Wednesday.

Yardley took 126 wickets in a Test career spanning five years from 1978.

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The West Australian initially started his cricket career as a medium-pace bowler but later turned to offspin.

A gregarious character, Yardley was also renowned as a brilliant gully fieldsman and handy lower-order batsman.

He scored four Test half-centuries with a top score of 74 and held the record for Australia’s quickest half-century for 38 years after reaching the milestone from 29 balls against he West Indies in 1978.

David Warner eclipsed that record in January 2017.

Yardley, who took 344 wickets in 105 first-class matches, became Sri Lanka’s coach in the late 1990s.

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During that time a melanoma was discovered behind his left eye but it did not spread.

Yardley was again diagnosed with cancer in 2016.