Saturday, January 31

William John Edrich (1916-1986) Test Cap # 300

Full name William John Edrich
Born March 26, 1916, Lingwood, Norfolk
Died April 24, 1986, Whitehill Court, Chesham, Buckinghamshire (aged 70 years 29 days)
Major teams England, Middlesex, Norfolk
Batting style Right-hand bat
Bowling style Right-arm fast

The England side that regained the Ashes at The Oval in 1953,
Bill Edrich,a;llso member of the team / © The Cricketer International

Profile

Bill Edrich, who died at Chesham as the result of an accident on April 24, 1986, aged 70, was a cricketer who would have been the answer to prayer in the troubled England sides of today. Endlessly cheerful, always optimistic and physically courageous, he was a splendid hitter of short-pitched fast bowling and took the blows he received as a part of the game. When he made 16 in an hour and three-quarters on a hideous wicket at Brisbane in the first innings of the first Test in 1946-47, an innings which Wisden's correspondent described as one of the most skilful batting displays I have ever seen, it was reckoned that he was hit ten times by Lindwall, Miller and Toshack. So far from being demoralised by this experience, he scored in the series 462 runs with an average of 46.20, and that for a side which lost three Tests, two of them by an innings, and drew the other two. Moreover, his cricket did not end with his batting. Though he stood only 5ft 6in tall, and had a low, slinging action,

he could off a run of eleven strides bowl genuinely fast for a few overs. Admittedly it was a terrible proof of the weakness of English bowling after the war that at this period he often had to open in Test matches. It is barely credible that in 1950, when his 22 wickets in the season cost him just under 50 runs each, he opened in both of West Indies' innings at Lord's. In fairness it must be added that Walcott, who made 168 not out in the second innings, was missed off him in the slips at 9. Still, in a reasonably strong side he was a valuable change as a fifth or sixth bowler, always apt to upset a good batsman by his unexpected speed. Like many natural athletes, he originally made a reputation as a tireless outfielder, but he was soon found to be too valuable in the slips to spend much time elsewhere. One way and another he was always in the game, always trying his hardest.

Bill Edrich runs the ball down to third man during his double hundred,
© ESPNcricinfo Ltd

He came of a Norfolk farming family, which sometimes produced its own XI. Three of his brothers played with some success in first-class cricket and his cousin, John, had later a distinguished Test match career. Bill Edrich first appeared for Norfolk in 1932 at the age of sixteen, and by 1936 had scored 1,886 runs for them in the Minor Counties Championship alone, not to mention an innings of 111 against the 1935 South African side. By then he had begun to qualify for Middlesex, and in 1936 he made three hundreds in first-class cricket for MCC and came second in the first-class averages with an average of 55. So it was no surprise when next year, in his first full season of first-class cricket, he scored 2,154 runs with an average of 44.87, heading the batting, and was picked for Lord Tennyson's side in India.

Full name Cyril Washbrook
Born December 6, 1914, Barrow, Clitheroe, Lancashire
Died April 27, 1999, Sale, Cheshire (aged 84 years 142 days)
Major teams England, Lancashire
Batting style Right-hand bat
Bowling style Right-arm medium

Profile

Cyril Washbrook, who died on April 27, 1999, aged 84, was an always staunch and sometimes brilliant opening batsman for Lancashire and England. He flourished either side of the Second World War, and his name will for ever be paired in history with that of Len Hutton, with whom he opened for England 51 times. Their average partnership was 60, which from this distance seems like unparalleled riches, although they played in often perilous times for England. In the popular imagination, he is remembered for two other things. One was his comeback in 1956 when, as a selector, he made a dramatic return to the Test team, aged 41. The other was the jaunty angle of his cap which hinted at a carefree nature. In fact, he was a diffident man, and he masked this by acquiring a rather forbidding exterior as he gained authority.

His cricket, however, gave pleasure right from the start. In his second match for Lancashire, as an 18-year-old in 1933, Washbrook made 152, and Neville Cardus wrote in the Manchester Guardian: He looks like a cricketer, has a cricketer's face and wears his flannels like a cricketer. He went on to become the very embodiment of a Lancashire cricketer, and remained deeply associated with the county until his sad and lingering final illness.

Washbrook was born in Barrow, near Clitheroe, but his family moved to Shropshire. From Bridgnorth Grammar School, he might have gone to either Warwickshire or Worcestershire or, since he had many gifts, Wolves or West Bromwich Albion. But when he arrived at Old Trafford, the old opener Harry Makepeace, now coach, took him under his wing as his protégé and successor. After his brilliant start, however, Washbrook fell back somewhat and it was 1935 before he finally established himself in the side, hitting 1,724 runs and coming fifth in the national averages. He was still dropped once from the side in 1936, to Cardus's disgust. A year later he made his England debut, alongside Denis Compton, at The Oval against New Zealand in 1937. But he made only nine and eight not out, and missed the opportunity for the then infinitely greater honour of a Test against Australia the following year.

Full name Austin David George Matthews
Born May 3, 1904, Penarth, Glamorgan, Wales
Died July 29, 1977, Penrhyn Bay, Llandudno, Caernarvonshire, Wales (aged 73 years 87 days)
Major teams England, Glamorgan, Northamptonshire
Batting style Right-hand bat
Bowling style Right-arm fast-medium
Other Coach

Profile

Austin David George Matthews, who died in hospital on July 29, aged 72, had a career which was almost unique. Born at Penarth and educated at St. David's, Lampeter, he played for Northamptonshire from 1927 to 1936 and at that time was merely a useful member of one of the weakest county sides, who could not on his performances have kept his place for a leading county. His 567 wickets had cost him 26.45 runs each and he had made a couple of centuries. In 1937 he went to coach cricket and rugby at Stowe and threw in his lot with Glamorgan, making his first appearance at the end of July.

Cover of Denis Compton by Tim Heald
© ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Full name Denis Charles Scott Compton
Born May 23, 1918, Hendon, Middlesex
Died April 23, 1997, Windsor, Berkshire (aged 78 years 335 days)
Major teams England, Europeans (India), Holkar, Middlesex
Batting style Right-hand bat
Bowling style Slow left-arm chinaman

Profile

Denis Compton, who died on April 23, 1997, aged 78, was not just a great cricketer but a character who transcended the game and became what would now be called a national icon. In the years after the war, when the British were still finding the joys of victory elusive, the exuberance of Compton's batting and personality became a symbol of national renewal. Almost single-handed (though his pal Bill Edrich helped), he ensured that cricket returned to its pre-war place in the nation's affections. Only Ian Botham has ever come remotely close to matching this achievement.

Compton was a remarkable batsman: loose-limbed with broad shoulders and powerful forearms. He could play all the strokes, though he rarely straight-drove. What made him special was his audacity: he would take risks, standing outside the crease even to quickish bowlers, challenging them to bowl anything other than the length he wanted. He took 622 wickets, mostly with his chinamen, and any other player might have turned this skill into a career; Compton regarded them as a bit of a party trick. His running between the wickets was never good, but it seemed to get worse after he retired and became the source of a thousand after-dinner jokes. In reality, it was never a disastrous weakness.

Denis Compton goes out to bat,
© ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Denis Compton was born in Hendon, on May 23, 1918, and described his childhood as both poorish and happy. His father was a self-employed decorator who became a lorry driver when his business foundered. He was also a keen cricketer, as was Leslie, Denis's elder brother. They played against the lamp-posts in Alexandra Road and at Bell Lane Elementary School, and Compton's talent was obvious at once. At 12, he was playing for his father's team, and North London Schools against South London Schools at Lord's. He made 88. Two years later, watched by Sir Pelham Warner, he made 114 at Lord's for the Elementary Schools against C. F. Tufnell's XI and led his team to a crushing victory. He joined the Lord's staff in 1933, and three years later got a game for the county, as an 18-year-old against Sussex in the Whitsun match. Compton batted at No. 11: he scored 14 in an important last-wicket stand with Gubby Allen that gave Middlesex first-innings points; the umpire Bill Bestwick supposedly said later that he only gave Compton lbw because he was desperate for a pee.

Next match he was No. 8 and facing Larwood with confidence. Then he was No. 7, scoring 87 against Northamptonshire. In one game, the captain Walter Robins came down the pitch after he had driven a fast bowler for two consecutive fours. You know what to look out for now, don't you? No, skipper. Well, he'll bounce one at you. If he does, I shall hook him. And he did - into the Mound Stand. Before June was out he scored a hundred, in an hour and three-quarters, at Northampton. By the time the season was over and he had passed a thousand runs, Warner, then chairman of the Test selectors, called him the best young batsman who has come out since Walter Hammond was a boy.
But Compton had no time to relax.

In September he made his Football League debut for Arsenal on the left wing against Derby County, scored the opening goal in a 2-2 draw, and was called the success of the afternoon by the Daily Express. Soon he was being marked out as a future England footballer as well as cricketer, despite criticism, which Compton always accepted, that he was inclined to prefer pretty ball-play to anything else. In cricket, the golden youth's progress turned out to be stoppable only by the Germans. In 1937 he scored 1,980 runs and was picked by England against New Zealand at the Oval. He scored 65 and was run out, flukily, while backing up. That year, as Pasty Hendren retired, Bill Edrich qualified for Middlesex. Len Hutton also made his Test debut. Thus started both the great partnership and the great rivalry that were to dominate post-war cricket. The contrast between the serious-minded Hutton and the insouciant Compton would be the great divide in English cricket for years, and small boys of all ages invariably inclined to one or the other.

Full name Arthur William Wellard
Born April 8, 1902, Southfleet, Kent
Died December 31, 1980, Eastbourne, Sussex (aged 78 years 267 days)
Major teams England, Somerset
Batting style Right-hand bat
Bowling style Right-arm fast-medium
Other Coach

Profile

Wellard, Arther Willium, died peacefully in his sleep on December 31, 1980, aged 77. In a career extending from 1927 to 1950 he scored 12,575 runs with an average of 19.73 and took 1,614 wickets at 24.35 - figures which suggest a valuable county all-rounder. In fact he was more than that. Though he was a good enough opening bowler to be selected in that rôle for a Test against Australia, and once took nine for 117 in an unofficial Test in India, it is as a batsman that he will be chiefly remembered. In the course of his career he hit some 500 6s, thus accounting for a quarter of the runs he made. But he was no mere slogger: he had a sound defence and was, for one of his type, remarkably consistent. His record was not boosted by large innings.

Full name James Horace Parks
Born May 12, 1903, Haywards Heath, Sussex
Died November 21, 1980, Cuckfield, Sussex (aged 77 years 193 days)
Major teams England, Canterbury, Sussex
Batting style Right-hand bat

Profile

James Horace Parks, who died on November 21, 1980, aged 77, will be remembered for his feat of scoring 3,003 runs and taking 101 wickets in 1937, a record which, unless the whole pattern of country cricket is radically changed, cannot possibly be equalled. First appearing for Sussex in 1924, he created a sensation by taking seven for 17 in his third match, in the second innings against Leicestershire at Horsham. Naturally, great things were hoped of him, but he was slow to develop and it was not until 1927, when he made 1,036 runs with an average of 23.54 and took 44 wickets at 26.93, that he began to justify the confidence which the country had placed in him. From then until the Second World War he was an indispensable member of the side. In 1928 he made the first of his 41 hundreds and in 1929 helped Bowley to put up 368 in three hours, at that time a Sussex record, for the first wicket against Gloucestershire; his share was 110. In 1935 he did the double and appeared for the Players at Lord's;

that winter he was a member of E. R. T. Holmes's MCC side to Australia and New Zealand, which did not play official Tests. His one Test appearance was against New Zealand at Lord's in 1937, when he opened the batting with Hutton, also making his Test debut, but, though he scored 22 in the first innings and bowled well, he can never have been a strong candidate for a place against Australia. His first-class career ended in 1939. After the War he went to the Lancashire League and later, for a time in the 1960s, was the country coach at Hove.

Full name Leonard Hutton
Born June 23, 1916, Fulneck, Pudsey, Yorkshire
Died September 6, 1990, Kingston Hospital, Kingston-upon-Thames, Surrey (aged 74 years 75 days)
Major teams England, Yorkshire
Batting style Right-hand bat
Bowling style Legbreak

Profile

Len Hutton and Don Bradman pose for a photo
© Getty Images

Sir Len Hutton, who died in hospital at Kingston-upon-Thames on September 6, 1990, aged 74, was one of the greatest batsmen the game has produced in all its long history. In the Hall of Fame he sits at the high table with the élite, and if English cricket alone is taken into consideration he was one of the two most accomplished professional batsmen to have played for his country, the other being Sir Jack Hobbs with Walter Hammond and Denis Compton coming next haud longo intervallo.

Len Hutton and Fred Trueman head,

to the nets at Headingley

He was born at Fulneck near Pudsey into a family in which there was a healthy respect for the old virtues of discipline and self-denial. It was also a keen cricketing family, and the boy seems to have nursed ambitions deep in his heart to become a great player. He devoured anything he could lay his hands on about the art of batting, and by the time he had come to the notice of George Hirst he was already a complete player. Indeed, Hirst proclaimed that there was nothing to teach him; Sutcliffe, more extravagant in his praise, predicted that he would play for England. By 1934, still only 17, he was ready for first-class cricket, and in fourteen matches in the Championship he at once made his mark with five fifties and a maiden first-class century -- an innings of 196 against Worcestershire at Worcester.

Batting with supreme confidence he was last out in a total of 416. He also showed a high degree of skill in batting for four hours on a difficult pitch at Scarborough before being bowled by Goddard for 67. Ill health a year later held him up, but in 1936 he made his 1,000 runs for the first time, often having to bat on rain-affected pitches in that vile summer. Impatient critics complained that he was too defensive. His answer was swift and to the point, and in 1937 he let loose a torrent of runs to show himself magnificently equipped with strokes. Against Derbyshire at Sheffield he made 271 not out, and when Yorkshire entertained Leicestershire at Hull he celebrated his 21st birthday with a fine 153, sharing in an opening partnership of 315 with Sutcliffe. His season's total of 2,888 (average 56.62) was second only to Hammond's. A broken finger in July 1938 put him out of cricket for around six weeks, but in 1939 he was in superlative form with 2,167 runs in the Championship and 2,883 in all matches, including twelve hundreds.

Full name Alfred Richard Gover
Born February 29, 1908, Woodcote, Epsom, Surrey
Died October 7, 2001, South London (aged 93 years 220 days)
Major teams England, Surrey
Batting style Right-hand bat
Bowling style Right-arm fast
Other Coach

Profile

Alf Gover had two long careers in cricket. The first was as a whole-hearted fast bowler for Surrey and, briefly, England; he then turned to coaching, and for around 40 years ran the best-known cricket school in England, at East Hill in Wandsworth, near Clapham Junction in south London.

Gover the bowler sent down brisk outswingers, using an eccentric bowling action - right arm pumping, right foot skipping past left in delivery - that he wouldn't have recommended to his latter-day pupils. But it was mightily effective: he took 200 wickets in both 1936 and 1937, playing half the time on the shirt-front Oval pitches on which Len Hutton was to compile 364 against Australia in 1938.

At a time when England weren't overstocked with fast bowlers it was surprising that Gover won only four Test caps, three of them in his golden years of 1936 and 1937. The final call came after the war, when the 38-year-old Gover opened the bowling against India at his beloved Oval, alongside the new Surrey and England bowling star Alec Bedser.In all Gover took 1555 wickets at 23.63. His best return was 8 for 34, which included four wickets in four balls, for Surrey against Worcestershire at New Road in 1935.

Full name Laurence Barnard Fishlock
Born January 2, 1907, Battersea, London
Died June 25, 1986, Sutton, Surrey (aged 79 years 174 days)
Major teams England, Surrey
Batting style Left-hand bat
Bowling style Slow left-arm orthodox

Profile

Laurie Fishlock died peacefully in hospital after an operation on June 26, 1986, aged 79. For years he was one of the mainstays of the Surrey side; the first left-hand batsman of any prominence they had had since the early 1870s. Season after season he topped their averages, usually with more than 2,000 runs and an average of about 50. He was largely a county player; a little older than most, he was 28 when he got his cap. Four years later came the war, and when first-class cricket was resumed he was 39, an age when men are retiring from Test cricket rather than starting it. So in all he played in only four Tests: two in 1936 against India, another, also against India, in 1946, and one in Australia in 1946-47. In these he did little.

Full name Arthur Edward Fagg
Born June 18, 1915, Chartham, Kent
Died September 13, 1977, Tunbridge Wells, Kent (aged 62 years 87 days)
Major teams England, Kent
Batting style Right-hand bat
Bowling style Right-arm medium
Fielding position Wicketkeeper

Profile

Arthur Fagg signs autographs for children
© Getty image

Arthur Edward Fagg, died at Tunbridge Wells on September 13, aged 62. Although in a career which extended from 1932 to 1957 he scored 27,291 runs with an average of 36.05, made 58 centuries and played five times for England, it cannot be said that he ever fulfilled expectations. In the middle thirties Sutcliffe was dropping out of Test cricket and England was looking for a new opening pair. Fagg and Hutton were at once recognised as obvious candidates and Fagg, a year the senior and by some considered the better prospect, got the first chance, playing in two Tests v. India in 1936 and being picked for the Australian tour that autumn. Halfway through the tour he was invalided home with rheumatic fever, a great setback to his career, and he missed the entire season of 1937. Naturally, in 1938 the selectors were cautious about playing him and, though he had a splendid season, it was not until the final Test that they picked him and then he was one of those left out.

That his health was not fully trustworthy was shown when he refused an invitation for the South African tour that winter. In 1939 he played in one Test v. West Indies. Unfit for the Services during the War, he went as coach to Cheltenham and, when first-class cricket was resumed in 1946, felt so doubtful whether he could stand the strain that he decided to stay there.

Full name Harold Gimblett
Born October 19, 1914, Bicknoller, Somerset
Died March 30, 1978, Dewlands Park, Verwood, Dorset (aged 63 years 162 days)
Major teams England, Somerset
Batting style Right-hand bat
Bowling style Right-arm medium
Other Coach

Profile

To watch Harold Gimblett bat in the years immediately before and after the war was a delight. His debut was straight out of Boys' Own - he smashed 123 in 65 minutes - and within a year his hitting had become the stuff of folklore and he had been picked for England. He played the game "vividly, sturdily, and above all gallantly" (G Moorhouse), his character being shown by hitting three sixes from an over during which his partner appealed against the light. But he was dogged by mental problems which left him a tortured soul, and in the end the pressure all got too much for him and he quit mid season. He committed suicide in 1978.

Harold Gimblett, who died at his home at Verwood, Dorset, on March 30, aged 63, was the most exciting English batsman of his day. Years ago, C. B. Fry wrote of MacLaren, Like all the great batsmen, he always attacked the bowling! If that view was once shared by the selectors, they had abandoned it by Gimblett's time. They preferred soundness and consistency. Watching our batting in Australia in 1946-47, Macartney expressed amazement that both Gimblett and Barnett had been left at home. Gimblett played in three Tests only, two against India in 1936, the first of which at Lord's he finished with a dazzling 67 not out, culminating in five consecutive boundaries, and one against the West Indies in 1939. Those of us who saw the inexpressibly feeble English batting against Ramadhin and Valentine at Lord's in 1950 shown up for what it was by the bold tail-end hitting of Wardle, longed for an hour of Gimblett, and indeed he was picked for the next Test, but was unfortunately ill and unable to play.

Full name Holcombe Douglas Read
Born January 28, 1910, Woodford Green, Essex
Died January 5, 2000, Truro, Cornwall (aged 89 years 342 days)
Major teams England, Essex, Surrey
Batting style Right-hand bat
Bowling style Right-arm fast

Profile

Holcombe Douglas 'Hopper' Read (born 28 January 1910, Woodford Green, Essex, died 5 January 2000, Truro, Cornwall) was an English cricketer who played in one Test in 1935.Read was regarded as the fastest bowler in the world for the brief period he was able to play first-class cricket, and though he could be extremely erratic in length he was still an extremely dangerous bowler on a lively pitch. Originally from Winchester College, Read never went up to either Oxford or Cambridge University but his reputation as a fast bowler in club cricket was such that Surrey gave him a trial against those two Universities in 1933 even though he never claimed qualification to represent Surrey in County Championship matches. Although he took 4 for 26 in the second innings against Cambridge, Surrey did not think it worth having Read properly qualify for them and they raised no objections when Essex asked if he might be available. Read was obviously qualified for Essex: not only was he born there but his father, Arthur Holcombe "Arnold" Read, had played 22 games for their first eleven between 1904 and 1910.

Johnnie Clay in action,© Getty image

Full name John Charles Clay
Born March 18, 1898, Bonvilston, Glamorgan, Wales
Died August 11, 1973, St Hilary, Cowbridge, Glamorgan, Wales (aged 75 years 146 days)
Major teams England, Glamorgan, Wales
Batting style Right-hand bat
Bowling style Right-arm offbreak
Other Administrator

Profile

Johnnie Clay was one of the most dedicated cricketers ever to represent Glamorgan. He first appeared for the county when they acquired first-class status in 1921 and continued with them till 1949; was captain in six seasons and for some time honorary secretary; and at the time of his death was President of the County Club, a position he had held since 1961.At Winchester, where he was in the XI in 1915 and 1916, Johnny Clay, as he was generally known in the cricket world, was a fast bowler, but eventually he took to off-breaks and possessed few equals. Not only did he spin the ball skilfully from his considerable height, but he maintained a splendid length and never wilted under punishment. In his long career he took 1,315 wickets at an average cost of 19.77, three times dismissing over 100 batsmen in a season.His most successful summer was that of 1937, when with the aid of such analyses as nine wickets for 59 runs against Essex at Westcliff and nine for 66-17 for 212 in the match-against Worcestershire at Swansea, he obtained 176 wickets for 17.34 runs each.

Full name Denis Smith
Born January 24, 1907, Somercotes, Derbyshire
Died September 12, 1979, Derby (aged 72 years 231 days)
Major teams England, Derbyshire
Batting style Left-hand bat
Bowling style Right-arm medium
Fielding position Wicketkeeper

Profile

Denis Smith died suddenly at Derby on September 12, aged 72. Born at Somercotes on January 24, 1907, he played for Derbyshire from 1927 until 1951. He was then appointed county coach in succession to Harry Elliott, making a solitary appearance in 1952 in an emergency and finally ending his 44-year connection with the club in 1971, though he was quietly scouting until last year. By 1930 he had developed into a reliable left-handed batsman, scoring 83 and 105 in Payton's benefit match at Trent Bridge. In the next match, his 107 at The Oval was largely responsible for Derbyshire's first victory against Surrey for 26 years. At this time he was opening the innings, and although he dropped down the order at times over the years, he is best remembered as an opener. His ability in this direction was to bring something rare to Derbyshire- success. In four consecutive seasons, Derbyshire were twice third, runners-up in 1935 (which from a playing point of view was a better year than 1936) and champions in 1936.

Tall and elegant in style, he approached the artistry of Frank Woolley, though not possessing the fluency of the Kent player. Usually attractive to watch, Smith's forcing shots were well executed, being severe on anything over-pitched, especially on middle or leg stump, and his runs came at a good rate. Throughout most of the 1930s his usual opening partners were Storer or Alderman - the latter an almost perfect foil to Smith's aggression - and they could be relied on to give the side a sound start. Consistent batting in the early weeks of 1935 gained him Test recognition in two matches against South Africa,

Full name James Morton Sims
Born May 13, 1903, Leyton, Essex
Died April 27, 1973, Canterbury, Kent (aged 69 years 349 days)
Major teams England, Middlesex
Batting style Right-hand bat
Bowling style Legbreak

Profile

Cricket lost a fine cricketer and a real character when J. M. Sims, the former Middlesex and England player, died at Canterbury on April 29. 'Simmo', as he was known to his colleagues in his playing days, will be remembered for his high standards of sportsmanship and particularly for his sense of humour and the delivery of his speech, which came out of the corner of his mouth. Jim was quite devastating on his day with his leg-break and googly - the old 'wozzler', as he called it. He used to revel on a dry, dusty pitch because he bowled his leg-break so quickly. I would compare his pace with that of Chandrasekhar, who caused so much trouble last winter in India and who has a similar dip in his flight. I played most of my career with Jim and so much of the fun which I had was contributed by him. There is a wealth of stories one could tell about him. Once against Gloucestershire he was bowling to that magnificently aggressive batsman,

Full name Joseph Hardstaff
Born July 3, 1911, Nuncargate, Nottinghamshire
Died January 1, 1990, Worksop, Nottinghamshire (aged 78 years 182 days)
Major teams England, Auckland, Europeans (India), Nottinghamshire, Services
Batting style Right-hand bat
Bowling style Right-arm medium

Profile

Joseph Hardstaff, junior, who died in hospital at Worksop on January 1, 1990, aged 78, was one of the most elegant batsmen of his generation. In point of style and suppleness of movement at the crease he could stand comparison with the greatest exponents of the art of batsmanship. He may have lacked the majesty of Hammond or the feline grace of Sobers, but his batting had a certain sheen and glamour about it, all its own. From an early age he had shown clear signs of cricketing ability, receiving invaluable advice from his father, Joe, a highly respected Nottinghamshire and England batsman and later a Test match umpire. When, at the age of sixteen, he was recommended to the Nottinghamshire authorities by Larwood, he proved to be an extremely apt pupil, and in 1930, aged nineteen he seized his chance by making 53 not out in only his second Championship match. There followed three seasons of consolidation, his captain, Arthur Carr, preferring to nurse him along in the lower order. Carr's patience and judgement proved correct;

in 1934 the young man's batting blossomed to the tune of 1,817 runs, including four hundreds. By now he had settled in at No. 4, becoming an integral part of one of the strongest batting sides in the country, and maintaining his form he played in his first Test, against South Africa, in 1935. Chosen for MCC's tour of Australia and New Zealand under E. R. T. Holmes in 1935-36, he was an outstanding success with 1,044 runs in first-class matches, his innings of 230 not out against an Australian XI at Melbourne making such an impression that his future at the highest level seemed assured. Another productive season followed in 1936, including 94 against India at Old Trafford, but on the Ashes tour of 1936-37 his form largely deserted him on the big occasions.

Full name Wilfred Barber
Born April 18, 1901, Cleckheaton, Yorkshire
Died September 10, 1968, Bradford, Yorkshire (aged 67 years 145 days)
Major teams England, Yorkshire
Batting style Right-hand bat
Bowling style Right-arm fast-medium

Profile

Wilf Barber, who died in hospital at Bradford on September 10 after a short illness, aged 66, rendered admirable service as a batsman and first-rate out-fielder, particularly on the leg boundary, while a professional for Yorkshire between 1926 and 1947, during which period the Northern county eight times carried off the Championship. Specially strong in off-side strokes and possessing eminently sound defence, he generally exercised that restraint which one has learned to expect from Yorkshire opening batsmen. With competition so strong at the time, he did not gain a regular place in the side till 1932 when the illness of P. Holmes made way for him, and in scoring 1,000 runs he thoroughly justified that recognition, as Wisden said of him.

Full name N.S Mitchell-Innes
Born September 7, 1914, Calcutta (now Kolkata), Bengal, India
Died December 28, 2006 (aged 92 years 112 days)
Major teams England, Scotland, Oxford University, Somerset
Batting style Right-hand bat

Profile

Mandy Mitchell-Innes was a stylish batsman and useful medium-pacer who was a precocious schoolboy at Sedburgh, making his debut for Somerset while still at school. He then spent for years in the XI at Oxford, captaining them in 1937, and in 1935 he was called up by England for the first Test against South Africa. He made 5 and then had to drop out of the next Test, at Lord's, after a severe bout of hay fever (an affliction which dogged him throughout his career). He never played for England again.

After leaving Oxford his appearances for Somerset were limited by his work overseas in the Sudan Civil Service, but he played when on leave before and after the war. In 1948 he captained Somerset in a somewhat unusual joint arrangement, but his work commitments meant he played only five times. Mitchell-Innes also played for Scotland (scoring 87 against the 1937 New Zealanders) and won a Blue at golf. On the death of the former Surrey and England bowler Alf Gover in October 2001, Mitchell-Innes became England's oldest living Test cricketer. He died on December 28, 2006.Was Test selection once such an autocratic, uncomplicated business as this? In 1935 Norman 'Mandy' Mitchell-Innes, a name barely heard of, was chosen to play for his country against South Africa on the authoritative word of Plum Warner, who had just seen him make a hundred for Oxford University off the tourists' attack.Mandy was clearly a prospect.

Full name D.C Humphery Townsend
Born April 20, 1912, Norton-on-Tees, Co Durham
Died January 27, 1997, Norton-on-Tees, Co Durham (aged 84 years 282 days)
Major teams England, Oxford University
Batting style Right-hand bat
Bowling style Right-arm medium

Profile

David Townsend, who died on January 27, 1997, aged 84, was the last man to play cricket for England without ever playing for a first-class county. Townsend was picked for the 1934-35 tour of West Indies on the strength of his form for Oxford University. He played, opening each time with Bob Wyatt, in the last three Tests of the series, and top-scored with 36 in the second innings of his debut when England were all out for 107. But his highest score otherwise was 16. The Townsends were a cricketing dynasty: six members of the family have played first-class cricket, including David's grandfather Frank, his father Charles, and his son Jonathan; Charles Townsend also played two Tests, in 1899. No other family is known to have produced four generations of first-class cricketers.

Full name Cedric Ivan James Smith
Born August 25, 1906, Corsham, Wiltshire
Died February 8, 1979, Mellor, Lancashire (aged 72 years 167 days)
Major teams England, Middlesex, Wiltshire
Batting style Right-hand bat
Bowling style Right-arm fast
Height 6 ft 3 in

Profile

Jim Smith, Arthur Wellard and Alan Watt in a
discussion,© Getty image

Cedric Ivan James Smith, known universally as Big Jim Smith, died at his home near Blackburn on February 8, aged 72. Born at Corsham, he played for Wiltshire from 1926 until 1933, but, having been on the staff of Lord's since 1926, came to the notice of the Middlesex authorities, who persuaded him to qualify for them. To the general public he was at that time unknown and his first season, 1934, was a triumph. With 172 wickets at an average of 18.88, he came sixth in the first-class bowling averages and played for the Players at Lord's. That winter he was a member of the MCC side to the West Indies,

a great honour for a player with so little first-class experience. He played in all the Tests on this tour and gave some sensational displays of hitting. His only other Test match was against New Zealand at Old Trafford in 1937. He continued as a very valuable member of the Middlesex side until 1939, and in his six seasons for the county he took 676 wickets at 17.75. Standing six feet four inches and immensely strong, he had the cardinal virtue of bowling at the stumps and revelled in long spells of bowling.

The England XII for the Lord's Test of 1932 against India. Back: Eddie Paynter, Wally Hammond, Bill Voce,
Bill Bowes, George Paine (12th man), Les Ames, Percy Holmes: Front: Herbert Sutcliffe, Walter Robins,
Douglas Jardine (captain), Freddie Brown, Frank Woolley, June 25, 1932 © ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Full name George Alfred Edward Paine
Born June 11, 1908, Paddington, London
Died March 30, 1978, Solihull, Warwickshire (aged 69 years 292 days)
Major teams England, Middlesex, Warwickshire
Batting style Right-hand bat
Bowling style Slow left-arm orthodox
Other Coach

Profile

George Paine, who died at Solihull on March 30, aged 69, was for a short time pretty near the full England side as a slow left-hander and would probably have been picked had anything happened to Verity. In 1934, a season not on the whole helpful to bowlers of his type, he headed the first-class averages with 156 wickets at 17.07. His father and grandfather had both been employed at Lord's and he himself, born at Paddington, was engaged on the Lord's staff and in 1926 played five matches for Middlesex. In only one of these did he meet with any success taking five for 77 and three for 25 against Warwickshire, who were so much impressed with his possibilities that, with the consent of Middlesex, they invited him to qualify for them. As a result of this he was a regular member of their side from 1929 to 1938.

Full name John Iddon
Born January 8, 1902, Mawdesley, Lancashire
Died April 17, 1946, Madeley, Staffordshire (aged 44 years 99 days)
Major teams England, Lancashire
Batting style Right-hand bat
Bowling style Slow left-arm orthodox

Profile

John Iddon, the Lancashire allrounder, was killed in a car accident at Crewe on April 17 when returning home from a business visit to the Rolls-Royce works. Born at Mawdesley, near Ormskirk, on January 8, 1903, he came of a cricketing family, his father being professional to the Lancaster club for fourteen years. After doing well for Leyland Motors, Jack Iddon made his first appearance for Lancashire against Oxford University in 1924, and played for the county for fifteen seasons prior to the war. He represented England in five Test matches, four against West Indies during the M.C.C. tour of 1934-35, and once against South Africa at Nottingham the following summer.

A right-handed, hard-driving batsman, Iddon reached a thousand runs in eleven successive seasons up to 1939, obtaining 2,261 in 1934, when Lancashire were Champion County for the fifth time during Iddon's career. Altogether he scored 22,679 runs in first-class cricket and took over 500 wickets. His first century came against Surrey at Old Trafford in 1927, and two years later he played his highest innings, 222 against Leicestershire at Liverpool.Iddon bowled slow left-arm and was particularly effective when the wicket showed signs of wear. On such a pitch at Sheffield in 1937 he accomplished his best performance, taking nine wickets in the Yorkshire second innings for 42 runs and enabling Lancashire to beat their great local rivals after a lapse of five years. In 1936 his benefit realised £1,266.

Iddon did not rejoin Lancashire for the 1946 season, but hoped to play occasionally as an amateur. From 1929 to the time of his death he was technical representative to a firm of brake-lining experts in Manchester. He left a wife and two children. Damages totalling £9,801 were awarded at Stafford Assizes to Mrs. Iddon as compensation.Iddon was the second Lancashire cricketer who met his death in a road accident in recent years. E. A. McDonald, the Australian and Lancashire fast bowler, was knocked down and killed by a motor-car on the Manchester-Chorley Road in 1937.

Test debut West Indies v England at Bridgetown, Jan 8-10, 1935
Last Test England v South Africa at Nottingham, Jun 15-18, 1935
First-class span 1924-1945

Errol Reginald Thorold Holmes (1905-1960) Test Cap # 278

King George VI is introduced to Bernie Constable by Errol Holmes,
© ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Full name Errol Reginald Thorold Holmes
Born August 21, 1905, Calcutta (now Kolkata), Bengal, India
Died August 16, 1960, Marylebone, London (aged 54 years 361 days)
Major teams England, Oxford University, Surrey
Batting style Right-hand bat

Profile

Errol Holmes, the Oxford University, Surrey and England cricketer died in a London hospital after a heart attack on August 16, aged 54. He was one of the most gifted amateur batsman of his day and his passing at such a comparatively early age was widely felt in cricket circles. He had been a most valuable member of both the MCC and Surrey C.C.C. committees.

Born at Calcutta on August 21, 1905, Holmes soon showed an aptitude for cricket at Andrew's School, Eastbourne before becoming one of the greatest cricketers Malvern has produced. Coached by Charles Toppin, he was in the school eleven for four years, 1921-24, and at 16 had a batting average of 60 as well as heading the bowling averages. Definitely fast for a schoolboy, he took all ten wickets in an innings for 36 runs. The next year, when captain, a strain hampered him in bowling but his batting improved out of all knowledge and, scoring 730 runs, he averaged 60.83 per innings. After being captain of cricket for his last two years, he went up to Oxford, promptly gained his Blue and for three seasons was a prominent member of the side, being captain in his final year. He also gained his Association football Blue as a centre-forward and in due course captained the side.

Full name William Eric Hollies
Born June 5, 1912, Old Hill, Staffordshire
Died April 16, 1981, Chinley, Derbyshire (aged 68 years 315 days)
Major teams England, Warwickshire
Batting style Right-hand bat
Bowling style Legbreak googly

Profile

The cap worn by Eric Hollies when he dismissed Don Bradman for a duck,
in his final Test. It is to be auctioned on August 16, 2006, in Australia,
© Getty image

It was a great enough distinction to have bowled Don Bradman for a duck in his final Test innings, yet to remember Eric Hollies for that alone would be like seeing Chaplin as no more than a tramp who once made a dramatic meal of a boot. William Eric Hollies, who was born at Old Hill, Staffs on June 5, 1912 and died on April 17, 1981, aged 68, served Warwickshire from 1932 until 1957, by which time his steady legspinners and topspinners, with the occasional googly, had claimed 2201 wickets for the county, and 2323 in all first-class cricket. These aggregates were considerably higher than the runs he made. His batting, a perennial joke, brought him a career-highest of 47 in over 600 innings. He did once, though, help save a Test against South Africa, with an obstinate last-wicket stand with Jack Martin.

Len Hutton and Walter Keeton walk out to open for England,
England v West Indies, 3rd Test, The Oval, August 1939
© The Cricketer International

Full name William Walter Keeton
Born April 30, 1905, Shirebrook, Derbyshire
Died October 10, 1980, Forest Town, Nottinghamshire (aged 75 years 163 days)
Major teams England, Nottinghamshire
Batting style Right-hand bat

Profile

William Walter Keeton, who died on October 9, 1980, aged 75, was a great servant of Nottinghamshire and one of the many candidates for a place in the England side as an opening bat in the years immediately before the Second World War. In fact he played in only two Tests, v Australia at Leeds in 1934 and v West Indies at The Oval in 1939. Probably most people would reckon that the selectors were right, that he was a good county player but not quite Test class. He had a sound defence, was a fine cutter and also had a good cover drive, but what spectators will chiefly remember is his leg-side play and in particular his mastery of that difficult and neglected stroke, the on-drive. Moreover he was, as befitted a first-class soccer forward, a fine outfield. He first played for his county in 1926, but the Nottinghamshire batsmen of that era retained their skill almost undiminished to a patriarchal age and it was not until 1931 that the premature death of Whysall secured him a serious trial. He made the most of his opportunity, scoring his thousand runs with an average of 30 and making two centuries. For most of the season he had the valuable experience of opening with George Gunn.

Full name John Leonard Hopwood
Born October 30, 1903, Newton Hyde, Cheshire
Died June 15, 1985, Denton, Lancashire (aged 81 years 228 days)
Major teams England, Lancashire
Batting style Right-hand bat
Bowling style Left-arm medium

Profile

John Leonard Hopwood (1903– 1985) was a Lancashire cricketer who was the focal point of the county's last Championship win in 1934. During this period he was an effective if unattractive all-rounder and played twice for England, but no critic expected him to do well given the circumstances under which he had to perform and he proved a failure with both bat and ball.Born 30 October 1903, Newton, Hyde, Cheshire, Hopwood began playing for Lancashire in the 1920s as a solid right-hand batsman, but after playing fairly often for the first team in 1924 and 1925 he dropped out until 1928. In that year, however, he helped the team to their finest record ever in the County Championship with a number of surprising performances as an accurate left arm spinner, the best of which was nine for 74 against Middlesex, five for 71 against Derbyshire and six for 20 against Wales. He also hit a century against Worcestershire.

Full name Kenneth Farnes
Born July 8, 1911, Leytonstone, Essex
Died October 20, 1941, Chipping-Warden, Oxfordshire (aged 30 years 104 days)
Major teams England, Cambridge University, Essex
Batting style Right-hand bat
Bowling style Right-arm fast
Height 6 ft 4 in

Profile

Ken Farnes, the Cambridge, Essex and England fast bowler, was killed during the night of October 20, when the plane in which he was pilot crashed. His death at the age of 30 came as a great shock to countless friends and the whole world of cricket.After training in Canada he desired to become a night-flying pilot, and within four weeks of his return to England he met his disastrous end.Discovered when 19 years of age by Mr. Percy Perrin in an Essex Club and Ground match against Gidea Park in 1930, Kenneth Farnes took five Kent wickets for 36 runs in his second county match and was welcome in the Essex team whenever available. After three years in the Cambridge Eleven, he went as a master to Workshop College, and consequently his appearances in first-class cricket were limited. His University experiences brought continuous improvement. In 1933 his work for Cambridge showed 41 wickets at 17.39 runs apiece, and he was by far the most effective amateur bowler in the country with a record of 113 wickets at 18.38 each. In a drawn match with Oxford seven wickets fell to him at a cost of 71 runs. His best performance that season--11 wickets for 114 runs, 7 for 21 in the second innings--enabled Essex to beat Surrey by 345 runs at Southend, their first success against these opponents since 1914. In ten matches for the County,

Farnes claimed 67 wickets at an average cost of 16.07, and this form brought him the honour of representing England in the first Test against Australia in 1934. Despite his fine performance -- ten wickets for 179 runs -- England lost by 238 runs. Strangely enough, when England won by an innings and 38 runs at Lord's, Farnes did not meet with any reward, Verity taking the honours. Farnes was not called upon again in that series, but in 1938 he took most wickets in Tests against Australia -- 17 at 34.17 each.

Full name William Howard Vincent Levett
Born January 25, 1908, Goudhurst, Kent
Died December 1, 1995, Hastings, Sussex (aged 87 years 310 days)
Major teams England, Kent
Batting style Right-hand bat
Fielding position Wicketkeeper

Profile

One of the great personalities of Kent cricket, `Hopper' (so baptised by Percy Chapman) Levett, died on Nov 30, at the age of 87. In a county famed for its production of high-quality wicketkeepers, his playing days happened to coincide with those of Leslie Ames, whose superior batting not only won him 47 England Test caps but would have earned him a place in any World XI in the 1930s. Nonetheless, Levett the understudy played in 142 matches for Kent between 1930 and 1947, when Ames was on Test duty or laid low with back trouble, and the hop farmer from Godhurst even aspired to an England cap of his own, at Calcutta in 1933-34, under Jardine's captaincy, a drawn match in which Levett held three catches, allowed 15 byes and scored 5 and 2 not out. His old cricket bag, wicketkeeping gloves and assorted gear were sold at auction for £77 only six weeks before his death.

Full name Bryan Herbert Valentine
Born January 17, 1908, Blackheath, Kent
Died February 2, 1983, Otford, Kent (aged 75 years 16 days)
Major teams England, Cambridge University, Kent
Batting style Right-hand bat
Bowling style Right-arm medium

Profile

Valentine, Bryan Herbert, MC, who died on February 2, 1983, aged 75, was a gifted athlete to whom most games came naturally. At Repton he won the public schools lawn tennis with the great H. W. Austin; at Cambridge he got a soccer Blue as a brilliant forward and later he became a scratch golfer. But, happily, it was to cricket that he really devoted himself and he never made the mistake, which so many talented players have made, of being satisfied with what he could achieve without study and effort. He was three years in the Repton XI, but after a splendid season in 1925, his last was spoilt by illness and injury.

After a year spent in duels with the examiners, he made 114 (retired) in 75 minutes in the Freshmen's Match at Cambridge in 1928, but it was not until 1929 that he got a Blue and even then his place was in doubt until the last match at Fenner's, when, against an unusually strong Free Foresters bowling side, which included M. J. C. Allom, R. J. O. Meyer, C. S. Marriott, M. Falcon and A. G. Doggart, he scored 101 in 85 minutes. Meanwhile he had been playing for Kent since 1927, but with only moderate success, and it was not until 1931 that he made his place secure. At this period he was just a promising county cricketer with beautiful strokes, capable of playing a brilliant innings and stronger on the leg than most of his type, but distinctly suspect in defence.By the mid-thirties he had become far sounder, had learned to watch the turning ball and was a potential England player, and this without curbing his instinct to attack. His average rate of scoring throughout his career is said to have been some 50 runs an hour.

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Cricket Legend Norman Gordon: The Only Male Test Player to Reach 100

Norman Gordon, the first Test cricketer to have lived 100 years, is the lone survivor from the final timeless Test, Johannesburg, August 6, 2011.Norman Gordon was the first Test cricketer to have lived 100 years © Getty Images Norman Gordon, the former South Africa fast bowler who was the world's oldest Test cricketer, has died aged 103. Gordon played all five Tests against England in 1938-39, including the famous Timeless Test in Durban that ended in a draw despite stretching for ten days. Gordon, the first Test cricketer to have lived to the age of 100, died in his home in Hillbrow, close to the Johannesburg City Centre, where he has lived for over sixty years. He had spent parts of the last year in and out of hospital with renal problems but was in good health otherwise. He was renowned for his fitness and athleticism during his playing days. He bowled 92.2 eight-ball overs during that timeless Test. He could play only five Tests because his career coincided with World War II. Gordon was the last surviving Test cricketer to have played before World War II. Ali Bacher, the former CSA chief executive and Test player, paid tribute to Gordon. "He always had a smile on his face," he told ESPNcricinfo. "He had one common theme about his life: he always enjoyed the people he met, through cricket and through golf. He lived life to the full." Gordon was an honorary life member of the Houghton Golf Club and a regular visitor there for lunches and suppers.After his death, another former South Africa fast bowler, Lindsay Tuckett, has become the oldest living Test cricketer.

Death In 2026

------ Jan, ------

1-Full name Khawlhring Lalremruata
Born March 09, 1987, Upper Republic
Died January 08, 2026 (aged 38y 305d)
Major teams Mizoram
Batting style Right hand Bat
Fielding Position Wicketkeeper

2-Full name Mohammad Ilyas Mahmood
Born March 19, 1946, Lahore, Punjab
Died January 12, 2026, Lahore, (aged 79y 299d)
Major teams Pakistan,International Wanderers,Lahore,Pakistan International Airlines,Punjab University
Batting style Right hand Bat
Bowling Style Legbreak
Relation Imran Farhat (son-in-law)

Richard Dumbrill / South africa

"Richard Dumbrill is the oldest living Test cricketer from South Africa, aged 87 years and 76 days as of February 3, 2026."

Richard Dumbrill is the oldest living Test cricketer from South Africa, aged 87 years and 76 days as of February 3, 2026." Richard Dumbrill (born 19 November 1938) is a former South African cricketer who played in five Test matches between July 1965 and January 1967.Dumbrill attended Durban High School and played cricket for the South African Schools XI in 1957. He made his first-class debut for Natal in the Currie Cup in the 1960–61 season as a lower middle-order batsman and medium-pace bowler, taking six wickets against Orange Free State.

Cammie Smith / West Indies

Cammie Smith ,Oldest Living Test Cricketer From West Indies 92 years 189 days on 3 feb 2026,

Cameron Wilberforce Smith (born 29 July 1933) is a former West Indian international cricketer from Barbados who played in five Test matches from 1960 to 1962.Smith attended Harrison College in Bridgetown. At the age of 18 he made 80 on his first-class debut, batting at number three for Barbados against British Guiana in 1951–52. In his next match, against Jamaica, he made 140, putting on 243 for the second wicket with Conrad Hunte in an innings victory.He appeared regularly for Barbados through the 1950s as an opener or number three, scoring 116 against Jamaica in 1958 in a match where he also kept wickets (and took six catches).

C. D. Gopinath / india

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C. D. Gopinath,Oldest Living Test Cricketer From India 95y 339days on 3 Feb 2026

Chingleput Doraikannu "C.D." Gopinath pronunciationⓘ (born 1 March 1930) is an Indian former Test cricketer.Gopinath was born in Madras, and graduated from Madras Christian College.Gopinath was a right-handed batsman. He scored 50* and 42 on his Test debut against the England cricket team in 1951–52, batting at No.8 in both innings.[1] He contributed a quick 35 in the final Test of that series when India recorded its first Test victory. He toured England in 1952 and completely failed with the bat. At home he played Tests against Pakistan in 1952–53 and Australia in 1959–60, and toured Pakistan in 1954–55. He was chosen in the team to West Indies in 1952–53 but turned down the invitation.Gopinath captained Madras from 1955–56 to 1962–63, as well as South Zone in the Duleep Trophy.[2] In the 1970s, he served as a national selector under Vijay Merchant and later as the chairman, and managed the 1979 tour to England. He averaged more than 50 in the Ranji Trophy with a highest score of 234.

Neil Harvey / Australia

Neil Harvey Oldest Living Test cricketer from Australia 97 years 118 days on 3 Feb 2026

Robert Neil Harvey (born 8 October 1928) is an Australian former cricketer who was a member of the Australian cricket team between 1948 and 1963, playing in 79 Test matches. He was the vice-captain of the team from 1957 until his retirement. An attacking left-handed batsman, sharp fielder and occasional off-spin bowler, Harvey was the senior batsman in the Australian team for much of the 1950s and was regarded by Wisden as the finest fielder of his era. Upon his retirement, Harvey was the second-most prolific Test run-scorer and century-maker for Australia.One of six cricketing brothers, four of whom represented Victoria, Harvey followed his elder brother Merv into Test cricket and made his debut in January 1948, aged 19 and three months. In his second match, he became the youngest Australian to score a Test century, a record that still stands. Harvey was the youngest member of the 1948 Invincibles of Don Bradman to tour England, regarded as one of the finest teams in history. After initially struggling in English conditions, he made a century on his Ashes debut. Harvey started his career strongly, with six centuries in his first thirteen Test innings at an average over 100, including four in 1949–50 against South Africa, including a match-winning 151 not out on a sticky wicket. As Bradman's team broke up in the 1950s due to retirements, Harvey became Australia's senior batsman, and was named as one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year in 1954, in recognition of his feat in scoring more than 2,000 runs during the 1953 tour of England.

Micky Stewart / England

Don Smith Oldest Living Test Cricketer From England 93 years 140 days on 3 Feb 2026

Michael James Stewar OBE (born 16 September 1932) is an English former cricketer, coach and administrator. A right-handed batsman, Stewart's international career was hampered by illness that curtailed his first overseas tour – serving as vice-captain in India in 1963–64 – and he made only eight Test appearances in all, scoring two half-centuries. His domestic career for Surrey spanned eighteen years, in which he scored over 26,000 first-class runs with forty-nine centuries. He made a century on debut for his county, against Pakistan, and went on to break the then-world record number of catches in a match in 1957 with his strong fielding. He captained Surrey between 1963 and 1972, winning the County Championship in 1971. After retiring, he became a manager at the club and later for England until 1992. He then worked for the ECB until 1997.He was the coach of the English squad which finished as runners-up at the 1987 Cricket World Cup.Stewart was awarded the OBE in 1998 for services to cricket. The cricket writer Colin Bateman commented, "a staunch patriot and the toughest of opponents, he stamped his mark on Test cricket as England's first full-time manager far more emphatically than he did as a player".His son, Alec Stewart, went on to play over 100 Tests for England.

Trevor McMahon / New zealand

Trevor McMahon, Oldest Living Test Cricketer From New Zealand 96 years 87 days on 3 Feb 2026

Trevor George McMahon (born 8 November 1929) is a New Zealand former cricketer. A wicket-keeper, he played for New Zealand in five Test matches between October 1955 and February 1956. Since October 2020, McMahon has been the oldest surviving New Zealand Test cricketer.McMahon was born in Wellington. He studied engineering at Wellington Technical College between 1943 and 1948, playing cricket and rugby for the school. He served an apprenticeship with the railways as a fitter and turner.

Lalith Kaluperuma / Sri Lanka

Lalith Kaluperuma,Oldest Living Test Cricketer From Sri Lanka 76 years 223 days on 3 Feb 2026

Lalith Wasantha Silva Kaluperuma (born 25 June 1949) is a former Sri Lankan international cricketer, who played first-class cricket from 1970 to 1983. He played in Sri Lanka's first Test team in 1982.Kaluperuma was educated at Kalutara Vidyalaya and Nalanda College, Colombo. He played for Bloomfield in Sri Lankan domestic cricket. An off-spin bowler, useful lower-order batsman and fine fieldsman in the gully, he was a regular member of the Sri Lankan team throughout the 1970s. When Sri Lanka toured Pakistan in 1973-74 he took 8 for 50 in the first innings of the match against the North West Frontier Province Governor's XI. In the Gopalan Trophy match in 1975-76 he took 2 for 36 and 8 for 43 to give Sri Lanka victory by 22 runs.

Athanasios John Traicos / ZIMBABWE

Athanasios John Traicos ,Oldest Living Test Cricketer From Zimbabwe 78 years 262 days on 3 Feb 2026

Athanasios John Traicos ,Test Cap No.11 Athanasios John Traicos (born 17 May 1947) is a former cricketer who represented South Africa and Zimbabwe at international level. He was primarily an off spin bowler, and is one of a small number of cricketers to have played at the highest level for more than one country. Traicos was born in Zagazig, Egypt in 1947 where his father Tryphon worked in the family business. He is of Greek descent, his father having been born in Lemnos, Greece and his maternal grandmother in Kalymnos, also in Greece. In September 1948 the family moved to what was then Fort Victoria in Southern Rhodesia. As a child he was known as "Naso", a contraction of his name "Athanasios", but when he started university he adopted the name "John"

Enamul Haque / Bangla Desh

Enamul Haque,Oldest living Test Cricketer From Bangla Desh 53 years 256 days on 3 Feb 2026

Enamul Haque Test Cap No.16 born February 27, 1966 Enamul Haque is a former Bangladeshi cricketer who played in 10 Tests and 29 ODIs from 1990 to 2003. After retiring from competitive cricket he became an umpire made his first appearance in an ODI between Bangladesh and Zimbabwe on December 3, 2006. He is the first Bangladeshi Test-match cricketer to umpire in international cricket. Shabash Moni bhai,was what Khaled Mashud said from behind the stumps, but it immortalised left-arm spinner Enamul Haque (nicknamed Moni) as the one spinner who the team could trust to be steady. Though he played only 10 Tests and 29 ODIs, hardly making a splash, he was around for more than a decade, churning out long spells and eking out late runs with the tail. His lack of variation in bowling, and ultimately his age, put an end to his career in 2003 after a Test against South Africa. He will be remembered as a valiant servant to Bangladesh cricket through the mostly unremarkable period of the 1990s. Soon, though, he took to umpiring in the domestic scene and by 2006, stood in his first ODI in Bogra. In 2012, he made his umpiring Test debut in the New Zealand-Zimbabwe Test, becoming the first Bangladeshi to stand as a neutral umpire.

List Of Shortest Lived Players

Manjural Islam (Ban)aged 22y 316d

A Jackson (Aus)aged23y 164d

BC Hollioake (Eng)aged24y 132d

CM Christiani (WI)aged24y 158d

TN Madondo (Zim)aged24y 201d

GA Kempis (SA)aged24y 288d

Phillip Joel Hughes(Aus)aged 25y 362d

RG Gregory (Aus)aged26y 102d

MP Bowden (Eng)aged26y 110d

OG Smith (WI)aged26y 127d

NA Quinn (SA)aged26y 165d

C Newberry (SA)aged27y ?d

GR Hazlitt (Aus)aged27y 56d

G Coulthard (Aus)aged27y 82d

VM Tancred (SA)aged28y 332d

OC Da Costa (WI)aged29y 20d

JT Cottam (Aus)aged29y 147d

Amar Singh (India)aged29y 169d

EB Lundie (SA)aged29y 181d

MW Booth (Eng)aged29y 204d

KJ Wadsworth (NZ)aged29y 263d

RHM Hands (SA)aged29y 268d

GF Grace (Eng)aged29y 284d

M Baqa Jilani (India)aged29y 347d

FW Milligan (Eng)aged30y 12d

AW Briscoe (SA)aged30y 75d

K Farnes (Eng)aged30y 104d

HB Cameron (SA)aged30y 120d

ACB Langton (SA)aged30y 270d

NBF Mann (SA)aged31y 216d

SG Shinde (India)aged31y 308d

DAR Moloney (NZ)aged31y 338d

WJ Cronje (SA)aged32y 249d

RA Duff (Aus)aged33y 118d

JJ Ferris (Aus/Eng)aged33y 180d

RS Morton (WI)aged33y 226d

KL Hutchings (Eng)aged33y 271d

F Morley (Eng)aged33y 287d

A Cotter (Aus)aged33y 332d

T Bosch (SA)aged33y 337d

WN Slack (Eng)aged34y 34d

GB Street (Eng)aged34y 140d

JW McLaren (Aus)aged34y 330d

JT Brown (Eng)aged35y 76d

J Hunter (Eng)aged35y 154d

R Pilling (Eng)aged35y 229d

PS McDonnell (Aus)aged35y 316d

Note(y) mean year and (d) mean days

Ages current at 04 November 2019

List Of Longest Lived Players

Norman Gorden(SA) -Aged (103y 27d)

EWT Tindill (NZ)-Aged(99y 226d)

FA MacKinnon (Eng)-Aged(98y 324d)

Lindsay Tuckett (SA)-Aged(97y 231d)

JL Kerr (NZ)-Aged(96y 150d)

W Rhodes (Eng)-Aged(95y 252d)

WA Brown (Aus)-Aged(95y 229d)

Lindsay Weir (NZ)-Aged(95y 151d)

SF Barnes (Eng)-Aged(94y 251d)

ESM Kentish (WI)-Aged(94y 201d)

MJ Gopalan (India)-Aged(94y 198d)

RA Hamence (Aus)-Aged(94y 119d)

DW Begbie (SA)-Aged(94y 88d

J Newman (NZ)aged94y 82d

DC Cleverley (NZ)aged94y 55d

RES Wyatt (Eng)aged93y 353d

EJK Burn (Aus)aged93y 307d

RC Allen (Aus)aged93y 305d

Reginald Thomas Simpson 93y 270d)

AR Gover (Eng)aged93y 220d

Arthur Robert Morris(Aus) aged93 y 215 d

HSTL Hendry (Aus)aged93y 206d

EJ Smith (Eng)aged93y 206d

TB Mitchell (Eng)aged93y 145d

CA Snedden (NZ)aged93y 107d

C Ramaswami (India)aged93y ?d

PGH Fender (Eng)aged92y 297d

LS Birkett (WI)aged92y 277d

M.K Mantri(ind)aged 92 y 264 d)

DG Bradman (Aus)aged92y 182d

NS Mitchell-Innes (Eng)aged92y 112d

WRT Solomon (SA)aged92y 80d

F Ridgway (ENG) aged(92y47d)

A Sandham (Eng)aged91y 288d

AV Bedser (Eng)aged91y 274d

H Donnan (Aus)aged91y 275d

AJW McIntyre (Eng)aged91y 226d

FE Woolley (Eng)aged91y 144d

PT Lewis (SA)aged91y 120d

WA Hadlee (NZ)aged91y 117d

WM Wallace (NZ)aged91y 93d

Mohammad Aslam (Pak)aged91y 17d

JCW MacBryan (Eng)aged90y 357d

Robert Appleyard(Eng)aged 90y 263d

H Larwood (Eng)aged90y 250d

SJE Loxton (Aus)aged90y 249d

F Hearne (Eng/SA)aged90y 233d

GAL Hearne (SA)aged90y 231d

S Mushtaq Ali(India)aged90y 183d

VI Smith(SA)aged (90y 183d)

HW Lee (Eng)aged90y 177d

WH Ponsford (Aus)aged90y 169d

D Brookes (Eng)aged90y 131d

LV Maddocks(AUS)(90y 95d)

RT Barber (NZ)aged90y 47d

LA Walcott (WI)aged90y 40d

ELG Hoad (WI)aged90y 35d

H Strudwick (Eng)aged90y 17d

PH Punjabi(India)aged(90y 14d)

A Coxon (Eng)aged90y 4d

This table is sorted by the total number of days, rather than years and part years. AV Bedser (91y 274d) actually lived for 33512 days and so is listed above H Donnan (91y 275d) who lived for 33511 days - the difference arising due to leap years.

Note (y) mean year and (d) mean days

Ages current at 06 Feb 2026

Related Test Players From All Countries

Grandfather, Father and Son

GA Headley (WI), RGA Headley (WI), DW Headley (Eng)

M Jahangir Khan (Ind), Majid Khan (Pak), Bazid Khan (Pak)

Grandfather and Grandsons

VY Richardson (Aus), GS, IM and TM Chappell (Aus)

MF Tremlett and CT Tremlett (Eng)

DCS Compton and NRD Compton (Eng)

Great-Grandfather and Great-Grandson

WH Cooper and AP Sheahan (Aus)

Father and two Sons

GR, MR and SE Marsh (Aus)

L Amarnath, M and S Amarnath (Ind)

WA Hadlee, DR and RJ Hadlee (NZ)

Father and Son

EJ and SE Gregory (Aus)

DL and JM Bairstow (Eng)

BC and SCJ Broad (Eng)

AR and MA Butcher (Eng)

MC and CS Cowdrey (Eng)

J Hardstaff snr and J Hardstaff jnr (Eng)

L and RA Hutton (Eng)

IJ and SP Jones (Eng)

FG and FT Mann (Eng)

JH and JM Parks (Eng)

A and RJ Sidebottom (Eng)

MJ and AJ Stewart (Eng)

FW and MW Tate (Eng)

CL and DCH Townsend (Eng)

DK and AD Gaekwad (Ind)

HS and HH Kanitkar (Ind)

VL and SV Manjrekar (Ind)

MH and AV Mankad (Ind)

Nawab of Pataudi snr (Eng and Ind) and MAK Pataudi (Ind)

Pankaj and Pranab Roy (Ind)

S Wazir Ali (Ind) and Khalid Wazir (Pak)

Yograj Singh (Ind) and Yuvraj Singh (Ind)

WM and RW Anderson (NZ)

WP and GE Bradburn (NZ)

BP and DAJ Bracewell (NZ)

BL and CL Cairns (NZ)

PGZ and CZ Harris (NZ)

AJ and RE Redmond (NZ)

KR and HD Rutherford (NZ)

HG and GE Vivian (NZ)

Hanif Mohammad and Shoaib Mohammad (Pak)

Nazar Mohammad and Mudassar Nazar (Pak)

Majid Khan and Bazid Khan (Pak)

F Hearne (Eng and RSA) and GAL Hearne (RSA)

JD and DT Lindsay (RSA)

AW and AD Nourse (RSA)

PM and SM Pollock (RSA)

LR and L Tuckett (RSA)

GA and RGA Headley (WI)

RGA Headley (WI) and DW Headley (Eng)

OC and AHP Scott (WI)

ED Weekes and DA Murray (WI)

MP and KM Jarvis (Zim)

AC and MN Waller (Zim)

Four Brothers

Hanif, Mushtaq, Sadiq and Wazir Mohammad (Pak)

Three Brothers

GS, IM and TM Chappell (Aus)

EM, GF and WG Grace (Eng)

A (Eng), F (Eng and RSA) and GG Hearne (Eng)

Manzoor, Zahoor and Saleem Elahi (Pak)

Adnan, Kamran and Umar Akmal (Pak)

A, D and S Ranatunga (SL)

AB, LJ and VM Tancred (RSA)

Two Brothers

KA and RG Archer (Aus)

AC and C Bannerman (Aus)

J and R Benaud (Aus)

G and WF Giffen (Aus)

DW and EJ Gregory (Aus)

MR and RN Harvey (Aus)

CE and RW McLeod (Aus)

JL Pattinson (Aus) and DJ Pattinson (Eng)

AE Trott (Aus and Eng) and GHS Trott (Aus)

H and JW Trumble (Aus)

ME and SR Waugh (Aus) (twins)

Nafees Iqbal and Tamim Iqbal (Ban)

AJ and BC Hollioake (Eng)

AER and AHH Gilligan (Eng)

AW and IA Greig (Eng)

G and JR Gunn (Eng)

DW and PE Richardson (Eng)

CL and RA Smith (Eng)

CT and GB Studd (Eng)

GE and JT Tyldesley (Eng)

CEM and ER Wilson (Eng)

M and S Amarnath (Ind)

L Amarsingh and L Ramji (Ind)

AL and ML Apte (Ind)

BP and SP Gupte (Ind)

AG Kripal Singh and AG Milkha Singh (Ind)

CK and CS Nayudu (Ind)

S Nazir Ali and S Wazir Ali (Ind)

BP and JG Bracewell (NZ)

JJ and MD Crowe (NZ)

DR and RJ Hadlee (NZ)

MN and RG Hart (NZ)

MJ and PA Horne (NZ)

GP and HJ Howarth (NZ)

JAH and HJH Marshall (NZ) (identical twins)

JM and NM Parker (NZ)

Saeed Ahmed and Younis Ahmed (Pak)

Humayun Farhat and Imran Farhat (Pak)

Moin Khan and Nadeem Khan (Pak)

Rameez Raja and Wasim Raja (Pak)

Azmat Rana and Shafqat Rana (Pak)

Pervez Sajjad and Waqar Hassan (Pak)

PAM and RHM Hands (RSA)

G and PN Kirsten (RSA)

JA and M Morkel (RSA)

AJ and DB Pithey (RSA)

PM and RG Pollock (RSA)

AR and WHM Richards (RSA)

AMB and EAB Rowan (RSA)

SD and SJ Snooke (RSA)

GL and LE Tapscott (RSA)

D and HW Taylor (RSA)

HF and WW Wade (RSA)

LWS and SMS Kaluperuma (SL)

DP and TT Samaraweera (SL)

MD and S Wettimuny (SL)

DS and ES Atkinson (WI)

FJ and JH Cameron (WI)

CM and RJ Christiani (WI)

BA and CA Davis (WI)

GC and RS Grant (WI)

NE and RE Marshall (WI)

EL and WH St Hill (WI)

MN and RG Samuels (WI)

JB and VH Stollmeyer (WI)

PT Collins and FH Edwards (WI)

DJ and DM Bravo (WI)

CR and SM Ervine (Zim)

A and GW Flower (Zim)

H and SW Masakadza (Zim)

GJ and JA Rennie (Zim)

BC and PA Strang (Zim)

All three Grace brothers played v Australia at The Oval 1880

All three Hearnes played England v South Africa at Cape Town 1891-92, F Hearne playing for South Africa

Hanif, Mushtaq and Sadiq Mohammad all played v New Zealand at Karachi 1969-70

All three pairs of Flowers, Rennies and Strangs played together v New Zealand at Harare 1997/9

Players Who Representing Two Countries

1-WE Midwinter

Australia 1877-1887

England 1881-1882

2-WL Murdoch

Australia 1877-1890

England 1892-1892

3-JJ Ferris

Australia 1887-1890

England 1892-1892

4-SMJ Woods

Australia 1888-1888

England 1896-1896

5-F Hearne

England 1889-1889

South Africa 1892-1896

6-AE Trott

Australia 1895-1895

England 1899-1899

7-F Mitchell

England 1899-1899

South Africa1912-1912

8-Nawab of Pataudi snr

England 1932-1934

India 1946-1946

9-Gul Mohammad

India 1946-1952

Pakistan 1956-1956

10-AH Kardar

India 1946-1946

Pakistan 1952-1958

11-Amir Elahi

India 1947-1947

Pakistan 1952-1952

12-SC Guillen

West Indies 1951-1952

New Zealand 1956-1956

13-AJ Traicos

South Africa1970-1970

Zimbabwe 1992-1993

14-KC Wessels

Australia 1982-1985

South Africa 1992-1994

CURRENT AS 04 Nov, 2019

1-John Manners (Hampshire) Status:LIVE

D.O.B:25 September 1914

AGED:105 years, 35 days

------------------------------------------

2-Jim Hutchinson (Derbyshire)-Status:DIED

D.O.B 29 November 1896 TO 7 November 2000

AGED 103 years, 344 days

------------------------------------------

3-Syd Ward(Wellington)Status:DIED

D.O.B 5 August 1907 TO 31 December 2010

AGED:103 years, 148 days

------------------------------------------

4- Norman Gordon (South Africa, Transvaal)Status:DIED

D.O.B:6 August 1911

AGED:103 years, 27 days

------------------------------------------

5-Rupert de Smidt (Western Province) Status:DIED

D.O.B 23 November 1883 TO 3 August 1986

AGED 102 years, 253 days

------------------------------------------

6-Edward English (Hampshire)Status:DIED

D.O.B 1 January 1864 TO 5 September 1966

AGED:102 years, 247 days

------------------------------------------

7- Cyril Perkins (Northamptonshire, Minor Counties)-Status:DIED

D.O.B 4 June 1911 To 21 November 2013

AGED: 102 years, 170 day

------------------------------------------

8-John Wheatley (Canterbury)Status:DIED

D.O.B 8 January 1860 TO 19 April 1962

AGED:102 years, 101 days

------------------------------------------

9-Archie Scott(Scotland)

D.O.B 26 January 1918 Status:Living

AGED:101 years, 277 days

------------------------------------------

10-Ted Martin (Western Australia)Status:DIED

D.O.B 30 September 1902 TO 9 June 2004

AGED:101 years, 253 days

------------------------------------------

11- D. B. Deodhar (Hindus, Maharashtra)Status:DIED

D.O.B 14 January 1892 TO 24 August 1993

AGED:101 years, 222 days

------------------------------------------

12- George Harman (Dublin University)-Status:DIED

D.O.B 6 June 1874 TO 14 December 1975

AGED:101 years, 191 days

------------------------------------------

13-Fred Gibson (Leicestershire)Status:DIED

D.O.B:13 February 1912 TO 28 June 2013

AGED:101 years, 135 days

------------------------------------------

14- Alan Finlayson (Eastern Province)Status:DIED

D.O.B:1 September 1900 TO 28 October 2001

AGED:101 years, 57 days

------------------------------------------

15- Neil McCorkell (Hampshire, Players)Status:DIED

D.O.B:23 March 1912

AGED:100 years, 342 days

------------------------------------------

16-Geoffrey Beck (Oxford University)Status:Live

D.O.B:16 June 1918

AGED:100 years, 262 days

------------------------------------------

17-Harold Stapleton(New South Wales)Status:DIED

D.O.B:7 January 1915

AGED:100 years, 260 days

------------------------------------------

18- Charles Braithwaite (English Residents, Players of USA)Status:DIED

D.O.B 10 September 1845 TO 15 April 1946

AGED:100 years, 217 days

------------------------------------------

19-Harry Forsyth (Dublin University)Status:DIED

D.O.B 18 December 1903 TO 19 July 2004

AGED:100 years, 214 days

------------------------------------------

20-Jack Laver(Tasmania)Status:DIED

D.O.B 9 March 1917 TO 3 Oct 2017

AGED:100 years, 208 days

------------------------------------------

21-Tom Pritchard(Wellington)Status:DIED

D.O.B:10 March 1917 to 22 August 2017

AGED:100 years, 165 days

------------------------------------------

22-Bernarr Notley (Nottinghamshire)Status:DIED

D.O.B:31 August 1918 To 22 January 2019

AGED:100 years, 144 days

------------------------------------------

23-George Deane (Hampshire)Status:DIED

D.O.B:11 December 1828 TO 26 February 1929

AGED:100 years, 77 days

------------------------------------------

Note: Although born in New South Wales, Australia, Syd Ward and John Wheatley appear to have been raised in New Zealand. George Harman, who acquired two Rugby Union caps for Ireland, died in Cornwall. Charles Braithwaite was born in England. Neil McCorkell was born in England, but has lived in South Africa since 1951. The prominent Antiguan cricketer, Sir Sydney Walling, who died aged 102 years, 88 days in October 2009, never appeared in matches accorded first-class status. England Women's cricketer Eileen Whelan (born 30 October 1911) became the first female Test cricketer to attain centenarian status.

This Blog Cover The Expired Cricketer From Test Playtng Nations Given Below:

Australia INTRODUCE

458 players from 1876-77 to 2017-18, 211 cricketers expired

BanglaDesh INTRODUCE

95 players from 2000-01 to 2017-18, 1 cricketer expired

England INTRODUCE

690 players from 1876 to 2017-18, 402 cricketers expired

India INTRODUCE

295 players from 1932 to 2017-18, 101 cricketers expired

New Zealand INTRODUCE

275 players from 1929-30 to 2017-18, 88 cricketers expired

Pakistan INTRODUCE

236 players from 1952-53 to 2017-18, 33 cricketers expired

South Africa INTRODUCE

336 players from 1888-89 to-2017-18, 214 cricketers expired

Sri Lanka INTRODUCE

150 players from 1981-82 to 2017-18, 5 cricketers expired

West indies INTRODUCE

325 players from 1928 to-2017-18, 116 cricketers expired

Zimbabwe INTRODUCE

118 players from 1992-93 to 2017-18, 1 cricketer expired

So at 11 May,2019- 10 test playing nations introduce and given test caps to 2957 players and 1160 players expired and we compile these cricketers profile but unfortunately picture or data is not available of some old players,we try in future to complete their profiles as well as the others.

Oldest Surviving Test Cricketer

RG Draper(SA)-Aged(96y79d) KA Archer(Aus)-Aged(95y55d) RN Harvey(Aus)-Aged(94y156d) DK Gaekwad(India)-Aged(94y137d) TG McMahon(NZ)-Aged(939y125d) Wazir Mohammad(Pak)-Aged(93y81d) CD Gopinath(India)-Aged(93y12d) IB Leggat(NZ)-Aged(92y279d) JC Alabaster (NZ)-Aged (92y245d) JS Solomon(WI)-Aged (92y199d) T Patankar(India)-Aged (92y109d) R Subba Row(Eng)-Aged (91y43d) GB Stevens (AUS) 91y 12d GB Lawrence (SA) 90y 347d RW Blair (NZ) 90y 263d MJ Stewart (ENG) 90y 178d MK Elgie (SA) 90y 7d MJK Smith (ENG) 89y 256d RM Harris (NZ) 89y 229d CW Smith (WI) 89y 227d BC Booth (AUS) 89y 145d DT Dewdney (WI) 89y 141d R Swetman (ENG) 89y 139d BD Morrison (NZ) 89y 86d JL Hendriks (WI) 89y 82d NJ Contractor (IND)89y 6d SF Burke (SA) 89y 2d HA Furlonge (WI)88y 267d WV Rodriguez (WI)88y 261d DEV Padgett (ENG) 88y 236d CG Borde (IND)88y 235d JW Guy (NZ)88y 196d LR Gibbs (WI)88y 165d DE Hoare (AUS) 88y 145d DW Richardson (ENG) 88y 130d SA Durani (IND) 88y 92d I Meckiff (AUS)88y 66d BA Bolton (NZ) 87y 286d SF Rehman (PAK) 87y 275d VV Kumar (IND)87y 264d K Taylor (ENG) 87y 204d RW Barber (ENG) 87y 168d JG Binks (ENG) 87y 159d PT Barton (NZ)87y 155d A Brown (ENG)87y 147d KH Eastwood (AUS)87y 110d P Bhandari (IND)87y 106d FE Rumsey (ENG)87y 99d Khalid Ibadulla (PAK)87y 83d RB Kanhai (WI)87y 77d PJ Allan (AUS)87y 72d RB Simpson (AUS)87y 38d KN Slater (AUS)87y 1d JW D'Arcy (NZ)86y 324d RI Harford (NZ)86y 287d WE Russell (ENG)86y 253d V Subramanya (IND)86y 240d HJ Rhodes (ENG)86y 234d GS Sobers (WI)86y 228d AE Dick (NZ)86y 154d AC Smith (ENG)86y 139d WS Farrer (SA)86y 95d PH Parfitt (ENG)86y 95d PD Lashley (WI)86y 30d WM Lawry (AUS)86y 30d GT Dowling (NZ)86y 9d TR Veivers (AUS)85y 341d KE Palmer (ENG)85y 325d JSE Price (ENG)85y 234d DA Sharpe (PAK)85y 222d WW Hall (WI)85y 182d Saeed Ahmed (PAK)85y 163d DW Allan (WI)85y 128d BR Knight (ENG)85y 23d FM Engineer (IND)85y 16d Ijaz Butt (PAK)85y 3d G Thomas (AUS)84y 357d Mohammad Farooq (PAK)84y 339d Javed Burki (PAK)84y 309d GF Rorke (AUS)84y 259d CD Watson (WI)84y 255d AR Lewis (ENG)84y 250d JT Sparling (NZ)84y 232d PR Carlstein (SA)84y 136d R Dumbrill (SA)84y 114d FM Misson (AUS)84y 114d AW White (WI)84y 113d CC Griffith (WI)84y 89d A D'Souza (PAK)84y 55d AA Baig (IND)83y 359d MJ Macaulay (SA)83y 328d AN Connolly (AUS)83y 257d RGA Headley (WI)83y 257d RM Prideaux (ENG)83y 225d D Gamsy (SA)83y 24d BF Hastings (NZ)82y 355d N Gifford (ENG)82y 348d JDF Larter (ENG)82y 323d HB Taber (AUS)82y 318d BA Davis (WI)82y 315d PHJ Trimborn (SA)82y 299d EAS Prasanna (IND)82y 295d RM Edwards (WI)82y 283d KR Stackpole (AUS)82y 246d RHD Sellers (AUS)82y 205d P Lever (ENG)82y 177d RM Cowper (AUS)82y 159d G Boycott (ENG)82y 143d J Birkenshaw (ENG)82y 120d GA Bartlett (NZ)82y 38d RW Morgan (NZ)82y 29d MR Bynoe (WI)82y 18d GP Bilby (NZ)81y 310d IR Redpath (AUS)81y 306d Nasim-ul-Ghani (PAK)81y 303d GD McKenzie (AUS)81y 262d JA Jameson (ENG)81y 256d PM Pollock (SA)81y 256d GE Corling (AUS)81y 243d RW Taylor (ENG)81y 239d PB Truscott (NZ)81y 211d S Abid Ali (IND)81y 185d DS Steele (ENG)81y 165d JA Snow (ENG)81y 151d BW Yuile (NZ)81y 135d IJ Jones (ENG)81y 93d Intikhab Alam (PAK)81y 75d LC Mayne (AUS)81y 49d DJ Brown (ENG)81y 42d DJ Sincock (AUS)81y 40d UN Kulkarni (IND)81y 6d JM Brearley (ENG)80y 319d RNS Hobbs (ENG)80y 309d A Bacher (SA)80y 293d DS de Silva (SL)80y 275d Pervez Sajjad (PAK)80y 195d RA Hutton (ENG)80y 188d DA Renneberg (AUS)80y 171d R Edwards (AUS)80y 102d B Wood (ENG)80y 77d Ages current at March 13, 2023

The Last Flannelled Fool

A hilarious odyssey in search of some answers about life and cricket from the author of the bestselling Fatty Batter. Michael Simkins is the ultimate Sunday cricketer -- passionate, obsessive, technically inept, and hopelessly deluded. When an injury rules him out of an entire season, not only might it spell the end of his long career, he is faced more immediately with a summer aimlessly wandering garden centres and listening to The Archers. He decides instead to set off on an odyssey across the counties of England in search of that golden time in his youth when his passion for the game was first kindled. It`s a journey that begins in May in light drizzle at the birthplace of cricket, takes in the burial site of his favourite ground (now a Marks & Spencer) and even stops along the way to flirt with the love child of WG Grace and Kerry Katona that is Twenty20. It ends with the ultimate cricketing zenith - returning to the field of play to bowl an over to Freddie Flintoff in fading light in front of a capacity crowd. So can cricket still bring comfort and meaning to his life or is Old Father Time about to call for Michael`s bails? ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTOR MICHAEL SIMKINS trained at RADA. He has appeared in more than 70 plays, stage highlights include A View from the Bridge at the National Theatre as well as musicals Chicago and Mamma Mia. He also directed Alan Ayckbourn`s Absent Friends at the Greenwich Theatre. He has made countless TV appearances including Foyle`s War and My Family -- as well as turns on the silver screen in such films as Mike Leigh`s Topsy-Turvy. He has worked with luminaries as diverse as Anthony Perkins, John Malkovich, Michael Gambon and Buster Merryfield.

Higgy: Matches, Microphones & MS

Alastair Hignell is renowned as a rugby international for England, a county cricketer and a much-loved broadcaster. Forced to retire from his playing careers at an early age due to injury, and then from his broadcasting career when his struggle with MS became too overwhelming, he has nonetheless lived life to the full. Higgy tells his inspirational story with warmth and humour – from growing up as a bright and very competitive young lad, on to his successful Cambridge university days where he was the first person to captain both the rugby and cricket first teams, through his playing careers against and alongside some of the all-time greats in both sports, and a prominent broadcasting career that took him around the world to cover some of the biggest sporting events and characters. All this success was brought into sharp relief by his diagnosis with MS, which eventually forced his retirement from broadcasting but also prompted him to become one of the leading campaigners for those suffering from the disease. Higgy's has been a tough journey, and his story is a fascinating example of strength and determination when faced with adversity. Appealing to a broad range of sports fans, this story is about setbacks and triumphs, about making the shift from the athletic struggles of sport to the struggle of performing everyday tasks. It's the genuine and emotional story of how a highly successful sportsman faced up to a devastating illness and became one of the most inspiring personalities of our age. Praise for Higgy: ‘An inspiring and engaging read from one of our most loved sporting personalities’ Sir Clive Woodward ‘An honest, humbling autobiography which soars beyond the narrow confines of the sporting shelves’ Stuart Barnes ‘A rare book – utterly wonderful and full of heart’ Jonathan Agnew ‘Monumental. Transcending great sport and revealing incredible fortitude in adversity, and the iron in a stricken sportsman’s soul’ Stephen Jones, Sunday Times ‘Alastair Hignell was one of the last player to excel in two sports and, more importantly, he was a great tourist who was loved across the world. His story is fascinating, and its publication is long overdue’ Paul Morgan, Editor Rugby World ‘A very special read’ Miles Harrison, Sky Sports

Fred Trueman - The Authorised Biography - Chris Waters

Fred Trueman was so much more than a cricketing legend. ‘The greatest living Yorkshireman’ according to Prime Minister Harold Wilson, he couldn’t help excelling at everything he did, whether it was as a hostile fast bowler for Yorkshire and England, and the first man to take 300 Test wickets in a career, or as a fearlessly outspoken radio summariser for Test Match Special. He was famous for regularly spluttering that "I don’t know what’s going off out there", as well as for the level of swearing he managed to incorporate into everyday speech. Beloved of cricket crowds, who filled grounds to witness his belligerent way of playing the game, and nothing but trouble to the cricket authorities, 'Fiery Fred' was the epitome of a full-blooded Englishman. However, as Chris Waters reveals in this first full biography, behind the charismatic, exuberant mask lay a far less self-assured man - terrified even that his new dog wouldn’t like him - and whose version of his bucolic upbringing bore no relation to the gritty and impoverished South Yorkshire mining community where he actually grew up. Drawing on dozens of new interviews with his Yorkshire colleagues, family and friends, this life of Fred Trueman will surprise and even shock, but also confirm the status of an English folk hero. PUBLICATION DETAILS Fred Trueman: The Authorised Biography’ is published on 4 November 2011 in hardback at £20 AUTHOR DETAILS Chris Waters is the cricket correspondent of the Yorkshire Post. He lives in Leeds.

Chasing Sachin - Adam Carroll-Smith

24 November 2011

From the very first time he watched Sachin Tendulkar bat as a 12-year-old boy, Adam Carroll-Smith was transfixed. He dreamed of not just

bowling to the ‘Little Master’, but actually knocking his off-stump over, too.

The only problem was, he was never much of a cricketer. But determined not to let a small detail like that get in the way - and eager to settle an

old score with a childhood chum - Carroll-Smith spends a hilarious summer trying to achieve the unthinkable, fending off the unwanted attentions

of over-zealous Indian fans, crazed Italian spiritualists and his meddling best friend - not to mention the dozens of blazered officials and

luminous-jacketed stewards stood between him and his hero.

Key features

• The story of one Sachin Tendulkar fan’s unlikely mission to try and bowl just one ball at his childhood hero during India’s 2011 tour of England

• A fast-paced, uniquely comic and heart-warming account of the highs and lows of a summer spent striving to achieve the near-impossible,

peppered with beer-pickled anecdotes, razor-sharp humour and a healthy dollop of farce

• The book marks former national newspaper sports reporter Adam Carroll-Smith’s literary debut

PUBLICATION DETAILS

Publication: 31 October 2011

Price: £9.99

ISBN-13: 978-1908051516

Format: 198mm x 126mm

Binding: Paperback

Extent: 272 pages

Category: Cricket

Fibber In The Heat - Miles Jupp

16 January 2012

Fanatical about cricket since he was a boy, Miles Jupp award winning stand up and actor (BBC2’s REV / THE THICK OF IT) would do anything

to see his heroes play.

But perhaps deciding to bluff his way into the elite press corps during England’s Test series in India wasn’t his best idea.

By claiming to be the cricket correspondent for BBC Scotland and getting a shaky month long assignment with the (Welsh) Western Mail, Miles

lands the press pass that will surely be the ticket to his dreams.

Soon, he finds himself in cricket heaven – drinking with David Gower and Beefy, sharing bar room banter with Nasser Hussain and swapping

diarrhoea stories with the Test Match Special team.

Struggling in the heat under the burden of his own fibs, reality soon catches up with Miles as – like a cricket-obsessed Boot from Evelyn Waugh’s

Scoop – he bumbles from one disaster to the next.

Fibber in the Heat is a sorry tale of how he attempted to become a cricket journalist by the unlikely, ill-thought out and dishonest method of

pretending to be one.

Miles Jupp is an erudite and witty writer whose compelling and beautifully crafted story will delight non cricket and cricketing fans alike.

PUBLICATION DETAILS

Published by Ebury on 3rd May.

AUTHOR DETAILS

Miles Jupp is an actor, comedian and writer. He started performing stand-up in 2000, and the following year won

both So You Think You’re Funny and the Leicester Mercury Comedian of the Year. He was nominated for the Perrier

Best Newcomer award for his debut Edinburgh solo show Gentlemen Prefer Brogues.

He contributes to a number of Radio 4 Shows as well as his own series for the stati on Miles Jupp’s Real World (with Frankie Boyle). His TV

credits include The Thick of It, Gary; Tank Commander and Rev.His film work includes Made in Dagenham, Harry Pott er and the Order of the

Phoenix and Sherlock Holmes. He is known to younger fans as Archie the Inventor of the children’s series Balamory.His show Fibber in the Heat

was one of the big successes of the Edinburgh Festival in 2010.

Half Of The Human Race - Anthony Quinn

18 January 2012

Summer of 1911. The streets of London ring with cheers for a new king's coronation and the cries of increasingly violent suffragette protests.

Connie Callaway, fired up by the possibilities of independence, wants more than the conventional comforts of marriage. Spirited and

courageous, she is determined to fight for 'the greatest cause the world has ever known'.Will Maitland, the rising star of county cricket, is a man of

traditional opinions. He is both intrigued and appalled by Connie's outspokenness and her quest for self-fulfilment.

Buffeted and spun by choice and chance, their lives become inextricably entangled, even as the outbreak of war drives them further apart. This is

a deeply affecting story of love against all the odds.

ACCLAIM

‘Half of the Human Race is the sort of novel one presses on a friend in a spirit of happy envy, confident of the fictional treat that lies ahead of

them’

EVENING STANDARD

‘Powerful and touching’

GUARDIAN

‘Excellent and surprising... wonderfully rich... A thoroughly absorbing and moving novel and it is testament to the author's adaptability and energy

that he is equally at home writing about feminist civil rights, cricket, prisons, art and medicine. And love. Especially love. A good all-rounder

indeed’

THE TIMES

‘Quinn's impeccable eye for detail, perfect pitch for the nuances of dialogue, and the quiet, understated passion that enlivens his writing combine

here to make his considerable achievement seem effortless... The Rescue Man won prizes. Half of the Human Race should follow in its footsteps

and establish its author as one of our most impressive novelists’

INDEPENDENT

‘What lights up Half of the Human Race is not only the Suffragist movement in all its glory and lunacy, but Quinn's affection for his cast... So often,

historical fiction relies on research for its colour and depth of interest, but these are people who feel absorbingly real in their misunderstandings,

jokes, troubles and passions...and this makes the novel equally interesting to both sexes...moving... compelling... satisfying’

DAILY TELEGRAPH

‘Few books boast a suffragette heroine and a professional cricket hero but Anthony Quinn's second novel pulls off such a strange pairing

because it is old-fashioned in a very good way... Quinn memorably foregrounds the humanity of the characters...and tells their stories wonderfully’

METRO

‘A seamless tapestry...The rhythm of rejection and understanding in Connie and Will's relationship is mapped out with care and precision. The

permutations between them and sad, lonely Tam are explored with such exemplary meticulousness that you can't help but be touched’

THE SUNDAY TIMES

‘The Suffragette movement and pre-war country cricket might seem an odd couple for a novel but Anthony Quinn marries them perfectly in a

nostalgic and compelling tale whose themes of love and friendship on and off the pitch will appeal to lovers of romance and cricket alike’

THE CRICKETER

‘Not just an exhilarating love story... a bold, impressive novel’

WAITROSE WEEKEND

AUTHOR DETAILS

Anthony Quinn was born in Liverpool in 1964. Since 1998 he has been the film critic of the Independent. His first novel The Rescue Man (2009) won the Authors' Club Best First Novel Award.

PUBLICATION DETAILS

Vintage Paperback, £7.99, ebook also available, 26th January 2012

Bowled Over... ..and Out!

Published: 2011

Pages: 128

Author: Nigel Chapman

Publisher: Charlcombe Books

Rating: 3.5 stars

By Neil Pickup

11 Dec 2011

When a book lands on my doormat, it's not usually too difficult to tell what the publisher's got in mind for his market. With Bowled Over... and Out! by Nigel Chapman, it is clear that the pressures of market forces are, blissfully, absent, and the book far less of a quest for profit and much more a labour of love.

Whilst a refreshing change from the usual fare, as I start to write from a reviewer's perspective, I find myself wondering where to begin. I suppose I should explain how such a book found itself in my possession: a story which will also go some way towards introducing the context in which it sits.

Chapman is a retired schoolmaster - teacher, coach and headmaster for many years in the south-east of England: I can visualise many of the places mentioned within the text with no need to read the description, and his son is a long-term friend of more than one of my own work colleagues. I read this book for the first time this summer, following a weekend where my own school side had endured two drawn games. Both times, the opposition were apparently much more interested in preventing defeat than going for the win, and Chapman's hark back to the 'Elysian Fields' of days gone by resonated all the more as I recall these games today.

The first game of my boys' weekend consisted of watching the opposition bat beyond tea to leave a 20-over run chase (in which the bowling would virtually all be done by top order batsman). The following day, we watched another side shut up shop after the fall of just one wicket - in spite of 30 overs of run chase still to come, and field settings including just two fielders in front of square.

It was with this all in my mind that I watched my school side close out their season against Summer Fields - one of Chapman's old sides - with a nerve-shredding tie. A top-order collapse left 60 to win with three wickets in hand, which became 10 from the final over with one wicket in hand, before two from the last ball proved one too many. The final result, whilst certainly the goal, was ultimately not the point: the point was to give it your all, and have fun along the way - and this is what Bowled Over... and Out! is all about. Or, as Chapman puts it as he recalls the manner in which his 2nd XI defended 21 all out, 'quite unforgettable: but in the end, it mattered not who won or lost.'

It is not just the stores that resonate closely with my own life that echo: Chapman's storytelling is open, straightforward and honest - a legacy, surely, of decades in the classroom - and it is this welcoming style that draws the reader onto Chapman's side as he tells of his youth. A fine cricketer in his own right, good enough to play for the MCC Schools XI and make a century at Lord's, he tells of his days on the fringes of the Essex staff; passing summers in the Second XI and coming close to debut as 12th man at Bradford. There are tales of village cricket from Instow in North Devon, and the story of how the Felsted Robins took flight in the fledgling Cricketer Cup.

Anyone connected to the school circuit of England's south-east, or the idyllic back lanes of West Devon will recognise shadows of themselves in the stories that Chapman retells, and any outsider looking in might well realise that the apparently cloistered world of the English boarding school isn't as far removed from the their upbringing as they might have imagined.

Christmas is around the corner, and with the other options for filling a cricket lover's stocking including ghost-written autobiographies of players whose careers aren't even half over yet, or DVD box sets of one-day series that even those involved struggle to remember, there will be few cricket lovers who will not enjoy this read.

A Big Moments For Pakistan Women Cricket

Nida Dar becomes first Pakistani woman to score ton in international cricket Nida Dar become the first woman cricketer of Pakistani to score a ton in International cricket.Pakistan’s woman cricket star Nida Dar scored 124 run against Japan in Dhaka during ICC Women Cricket World Cup qualifying round. Earlier, Pakistan won the toss against Japan in the match and set a massive target of 273.Pakistan is placed in Group ‘B’ with hosts Bangladesh, West Indies, Ireland and Japan. The 25-years-old star is a resident of Gujranwala and she is right hand bats-woman and off-break bowler. his father Khawaja Rashid Hassan also playing first class cricket for Karachi Blues, Karachi Whites, Pakistan Universities.

Top 10 Test Innings Of All Time

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1.Don Bradman

270 for Australia v England at Melbourne in 1936-37.

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Australia had lost the first two Tests by huge margins. Bradman, in his first series as captain, had made a duck in each match. Now, in the third,

Australia were 97 for 5 in the second innings when The Don went out to bat. Struggling with 'flu, his reputation as a batsman and captain on the line, he

faced Bill Voce and Gubby Allen, frighteningly fast on the rain-affected pitch, which also helped the master spinner Hedley Verity. Careful at first,

increasing the tempo as he went on, Bradman hit his highest score against England at home, sharing a record stand of 346 with Jack Fingleton.

Australia's win by 365 runs was the pivotal moment of the series: they're still the only side to win one after being 2-0 down. Bradman finished with 810 runs in the series and his place at the top secure for ever.

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2.Brian Lara

153* for West Indies v Australia at Bridgetown in 1998-99

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If Lara's double-century in the previous Test (No.22 in the Wisden ratings) changed the course of the series, this stamped his name on it for ever. An Australian team containing Slater, Ponting, McGrath, Warne and the Waugh twins lost a match which they began by amassing 490. The bare details of

West Indies' second innings are exciting enough: set 308 to win, they got there with one wicket to spare. But it was the manner in which Lara shepherded

his lower order to victory that lives in the memory. West Indies were 105 for 5, then still 70 short with eight wickets down--one mistake by their captain

would have cost them the match and probably the series. Instead he made half their runs and rescued West Indies cricket from its lowest ebb. The complete redemption of a prodigal son.

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3.Graham Gooch

154* for England v West Indies at Headingley in 1991.

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Graham Gooch had scored 333 against India the previous year, but this was his finest hour - or seven. Having fronted up to West Indies' four-pronged

pace attack for more than a decade, he now enjoyed some serious payback. Faced with all-time greats like Curtly Ambrose, Malcolm Marshall and Courtney Walsh, plus the spiteful pace of Patrick Patterson, in bad light, on a typically uncomfortable Headingley pitch, Gooch scored over 60% of England's runs in the second innings (no-one else made more than 27). The captain's concentration, sustained despite several breaks for rain, was as impressive as the typical power of his shots (18 fours). In becoming the first England opener for 11 years to carry his bat in a Test, he set up their first

home win over West Indies since 1969 and, at long last, a competitive series between the two.

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4.Ian Botham

149* for England v Australia at Headingley in 1981

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At the time, Mike Brearley's return as captain didn't seem quite so messianic. In their second innings, England were 92 behind with only three wickets left. Enter fast bowler Graham Dilley to help Ian Botham add some respectability before the inevitable defeat and a 2-0 series deficit. In the previous Test,

his last as captain, Botham had made a pair. Here he added to his first-innings 50 with some of the most outrageous hitting ever seen at this level.

Against a pace attack of Dennis Lillee, Terry Alderman and Geoff Lawson, he and Dilley added 117 in 80 minutes to turn the match on its head. England were the first side since 1894-95 to win a Test match after following on -- and Botham hadn't finished yet. His performances in this series, which uplifted a

country ridden with riots and economic strife, made him England's last authentic cricketing hero.

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5.Don Bradman

299* for Australia v South Africa at Adelaide in 1931-32.

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Call this a culmination. Earlier in the series, Bradman had scored 226, 112 and 167. Now he capped it all with one of his definitive innings: in control and insatiable. Playing through a bad patch, he dominated every partnership, scoring 58% of Australia's total. He ran out Alan Kippax in trying to reach his

hundred and poor Pud Thurlow in going for the 300 - but it was forgivable, given all the running he did: only 92 of his runs came from boundaries. The Don had now scored a hundred in each of his last seven matches. The greatest at his voracious best.

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6.VVS Laxman

281 for India v Australia at Calcutta in 2000-01

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Australia had set an astounding world record by winning their previous 16 Test matches, including the first in this series - and were surely about to make it 17. Forced to follow on, India were still 42 behind with six wickets left when Rahul Dravid came out to join Laxman, whose Test batting average was an

undistinguished 27. The result: a day in which Australia conceded 335 runs without taking a wicket. Laxman was particularly severe on Shane Warne,

often coming down the pitch to hit against the spin, but equally positive against the pace of Glenn McGrath and Jason Gillespie: his 281, a new Test record for India, was scored quickly enough for Australia to be bowled out. Their defeat in this match and the next completed one of the great reversals of all time.

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7.Clem Hill

188 for Australia v England at Melbourne in 1897-98.

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When Australia collapsed to 57 for 6 against some mighty fast bowling by Tom Richardson and the nip of JT Hearne, England were on the point of squaring the series. They were thwarted by a left-hander who would one day set a record for most runs in Test cricket but was now only 20 years old.

Defying a lionhearted Richardson, the legspin brilliance of Johnny Briggs, and smoke from nearby bush fires, Clem Hill played probably the greatest innings in a Test between Australia and England, putting on 165 for the seventh wicket with Hugh Trumble to turn the match and regain the Ashes.

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8. Azhar Mahmood

132 for Pakistan v South Africa at Durban in 1997-98.

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South Africa's pace attack had more depth than at any other time in their history: Allan Donald and Shaun Pollock supported by Fanie de Villiers and Lance Klusener. No surprise that Pakistan were put in to bat on a treacherous pitch -- or that they should be reduced to 89 for 5. Salvation came in the form of a 22-year-old allrounder who seemed to be batting too low at No.7: his century was already his third in six Test innings against South Africa.

Tucking into a great pace bowler like Donald, he scored 96 runs in boundaries while proving himself an expert shepherd of a tail: he made 90% of Pakistan's last 106 runs. They went on to win a low-scoring match by 29.

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9. Kim Hughes

100* for Australia v West Indies at Melbourne in 1981-82

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Kim Hughes is best remembered for losing the 1981 Ashes series and a tearful resignation as Australia's captain against West Indies. But he deserves better than that. One of the most talented batsmen of his generation, he had brighter moments against the Windies. Facing perhaps the greatest

fast-bowling quarters of all time -- Holding, Roberts, Garner and Croft with all their hostility and variety -- Hughes belied his youthful, even angelic looks with a brave and fluent hundred on a tricky pitch. Made out of a total of only 198, it enabled Australia to win a low-scoring match and take a 1-0 lead in the series.

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10. Brian Lara

375 for West Indies v England at Antigua in 1993-94.

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Garry Sobers had predicted great things for Brian Lara from the start--so it was appropriate that the great man should be there to congratulate him in person when Lara broke his world record for the highest score in Test cricket. Against a bowling attack that included Angus Fraser, Andy Caddick and Phil Tufnell, Lara batted for the equivalent of two days without giving a chance, the innings of a man in a vein of form that batsmen usually only dream about: two months later, he set the world record for the highest score in all first-class cricket: an unbeaten 501 for Warwickshire against Durham.

Prolific Indian batsman Rahul Dravid has announced his retirement from international and domestic first-class cricket with immediate effect, bringing down the curtain on an illustrious career. The 39-year-old made his debut in the Lord's Test against England in 1996, scoring 95, going on to represent India more than 500 times and scoring more Test runs than any other player, save for compatriot Sachin Tendulkar. Nicnamed 'The Wall', in 163 Tests for India (as well as one for the ICC World XI), he amassed 13,288 runs with 36 centuries. "It has been 16 years since I first played a Test match for India, and I feel it's time for me to move on," Dravid said. "Once I was like every other boy in India, with a dream of playing for my country. Yet, I could never have imagined a journey so long and so fulfilling. I have had a wonderful time, but now it is time for a new generation of young players to make their own history and take the Indian cricket team even further." Versatile enough to open the batting or drop down the order when required, he locked down the position at number three for several years, blunting opposition attacks with his disciplined defence and then taking advantage with graceful strokeplay. Some of his finest achievements include an innings of 180 in Kolkata against Australia in 2001 which helped his side win a Test having been asked to follow on, a prolific run of form in England, both in 2002 and 2011, and a memorable innings of 270 against Pakistan in 2004. He also had a spell as Indian captain, kept wicket on several occasions in ODIs and was a reliable and brilliant slip fielder, claiming 210 Test catches - a world record. He played 340 ODI matches for India, one for the Asian Cricket Council XI and three for the ICC World XI, scoring 10.768 runs and hitting 12 centuries. In 2007, he declared that, along with Sourav Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar, he would not be playing Twenty20 International cricket but following an injury crisis, and his success in the Indian Premier League, he made a belated T20I debut against England last year at Old Trafford. In his one and only game, he hit 31 in 21 balls before England scored a victory. During that tour, he was by far and away India's best batsmen, scoring three excellent centuries during the Test series before England emerged triumphant by a scoreline of 4-0. The same scoreline was then meted out to India by Australia and during a difficult tour, Dravid struggled for runs. He hit 198 at an average of 24.25 with a solitary half-century to show for his efforts. "My approach to cricket has been reasonably simple: it was about giving everything to the team, it was about playing with dignity, and it was about upholding the spirit of the game," he added. "I hope I have done some of that. I have failed at times, but I have never stopped trying. It is why I leave with sadness but also with pride." He will continue to play in the Indian Premier League for the Rajasthan Royals. Rahul Dravid, one of Indian cricket’s most celebrated stalwarts, captains and fielders has called time on a distinguished international career. He was as classy a batsman as he is a dignified and eloquent man. Five-day cricket will miss him greatly. The numbers bear testament to just how important a cog he has been in India’s run-gathering machine which, during his career, reached the top of the Test rankings and won both ODI and T20I World Cups. 504 times he has represented India in international cricket (163 Tests, 340 ODIs and a solitary T20 last year against England) and scored over 24,000 international runs. While Tendulkar, Laxman, Sehwag and others have thrilled crowds with explosive innings, on so many occasions they have been given the foundations to play their strokes because it is Dravid, be it at number three or opening the batting, who has ground down the bowlers’ resolve. He has been the man that when a match needs winning, or a tricky run chase is in the offing, you would want batting for you. A sense of extraordinary calm pervaded everything he did on the field – and he did pretty much everything, from batting through taking hundreds of catches at slip, to wicket-keeping, to leading the side and even turning his arm over in the early days – and he always looked like he had so much time at the crease. Perhaps his finest hour was in Kolkata in 2001 when he and Laxman contrived to help India beat Australia after following on. Yet he can look back on an international career full of outstanding innings and you won’t find many, if any people who have a bad word to say about him. I was at the press conference at Sussex in 2007 when Dravid, along with Sourav Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar, declared they would not play Twenty20 cricket for India, as it was a ‘young man’s game’. Given how the likes of that trio, Shane Warne, Adam Gilchrist and many others have subsequently forged impressive second careers in the IPL, it was a rare error of judgment from the man known as ‘The Wall’. The fact that he played international cricket for one of the best teams in the world for almost 15 years is a more than adequate reminder of just how good a player he was. He will leave an enormous set of pads to fill – whenever he decides to call it a day. In 20 years, when Twenty20 cricket will perhaps rule the world, future generations will look at Dravid’s career statistics and simply will not understand how much of a colussus he was. I consider myself lucky to have seen a master craftsman in action and I wish him the very best in retirement. What are your memories of Dravid’s illustrious career? How much will India miss him? And will his retirement heap extra pressure on Sachin Tendulkar?

http://youtu.be/hFDzB38HurE

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Gul Hameed Bhatti – A Man Born for Cricket

Those of us who love or read about cricket would be familiar with this name. Whenever cricket is talked about and analyzed, Gul Hameed Bhatti is consulted and expert opinion sought for he is considered an authority on Cricket statistics. He has not reached this place very easily for he has spent all his life for cricket – sacrificing many a opportunity that came his way but he chose cricket and cricket only.

I know Gul Hameed Bhatti since our childhood (he being my eldest brother) and I have seen him nurturing and maturing into a cricket man from his very early life. Eldest of us five brothers, he had a passion for cricket from the very childhood and he wanted to make a name in it. Those were the times when abduction of little children was very high, and our father being from Police (serving in Interpol) kept us at home after school time and wouldn’t allow us out after we came back from the school. While we all five brothers played cricket in our small courtyard (we called this domestic cricket as “Ghehgray Chalegray” – I don’t know how and who of us coined this word as it didn’t mean nothing but cricket). In his free time, Gul chose to play cricket on papers. He would make two teams, make them play and then record the entire innings with detailed analyses and hand drawn photos of action of bowlers and batsmen. He would write so artfully that it would look as it were typed. There are cartons full of such notebooks still packed somewhere in his house which were (and I hope still are) his prized possession.

But our late father wasn’t impressed. Like all fathers of his time, he also wanted Gul to be become a doctor, so he insisted upon him to opt for pre-medical in his high school. Which he did, but wasn’t much in it with his heart. So he couldn’t become a doctor. Then my mother wanted him to be a pilot as one of my maternal uncles (Captain Khusro Nawaz Khan) was in those days one of the best pilots of PIA. So he made the preliminaries, went to Karachi for initial training and came back to Lahore to get his solo license. He flew for 45 hours, but then he opted not to be a pilot either.

At that stage, he was given a choice to do what he felt like, so he took admission in journalism in the Punjab University. He did well as journalism was close to his passion of writing about cricket and obtained his Masters with honour and distinction. He continued to write about cricket and then for the first time joined “The Cricketer” by one Riaz A Mansuri and started writing from Lahore. Then Riaz invited him to Karachi to take over as the editor. I still remember the day when I went to see him off at Lahore Railway Station and bade him farewell. So that was in early 70s and with that he bade goodbye to Lahore and took up his permanent abode in Karachi. Under his control, “The Cricketer” was transformed into an international standard magazine with quality printing and substance. Gul was also credited of introducing "the five Pakistani cricketers of the year" section which became an instant hit with cricket fans. But probably no journalist came to be as closely associated with the magazine as the indefatigable Gul Hameed Bhatti, guru of stats. He wrote for the magazine for years till he parted ways with it and joined “The News” and later rose to be the editor (sports) of all Jang Group of publications.

In 1978, he married Razia Bondray (later Razia Bhatti) who was then editor of “The Herald”. Both being journalists were a perfect match and lived happily thereafter. Had two children (Kamil and Sara). Razia in the meantime left Herald (in fact forced to do so during the times of General Zia ul Haq) and opened her own “The Newsline”. But once again the democratic government of the time struck her and she under severe mental torture and harassment, had a brain haemorrhage and within hours she was no more. The departure of his beloved wife was a great shock and it was hard for him to take stock of the situation. But he did for his two growing children.

He also started writing about Hockey, Olympics and other sports related to Pakistan. He was seen on TV and Geo Super for which he wrote too. People around him respected him for his critical analysis and detailed reports. Once Anjum Niaz (the prominent writer and columnist) wrote, “I eagerly scan the sports pages to read the obituary of Masood Salahuddin. I am disappointed. Other than Gul Hameed Bhatti and M.U. Haq, the life and times of the great man have been overlooked. Why? It hurts to see the current czars of cricket ignore the men who took Pakistan cricket to dizzying heights that it could ever dream of reaching and that too only seven years after the country wrested independence from England”. While one Sabina Ata writes about her interview with Gul for a vacancy at The News International. She says, “I remember how nervous I was, when I was called to meet the editor—Gul Hameed Bhatti. I had figured he was some really tough guy, who wouldn’t have time for a 20-year-old being the editor. When I went there, I was surprised to see a jovial man with a hearty laughter, willing to take time out to listen to me. A week later, I was hired as a trainee sub-editor and had to report to In charge Leisure page. We were supposed to compile a whole bunch of comic strips.”

He has always been in the limelight whenever and wherever cricket is played. He has been a member of the Committee for Cricketer of the Year Award set up by Pakistan Cricket Board under Lt Gen Tauqir Zia ® and many such other committees and organizations.

Life wasn’t easy for him when he contracted cancer but he survived it. However, recently, he is again very sick (though reviving once again with sheer determination and support from his two children, daughter in law and friends/relatives). We all wish him great health and would very much want him back on his computer, writing those juicy comments and analysis synonymous to his name.

by Jalal Hamid Bhatti

The farce we call West Indies cricket

The following is a statement about West Indies cricket by former Antigua Prime Minster Hon Lester Bird posted on www.caribbeancricket.com yesterday.

IF there was any doubt about the incompetence of the West Indies cricket administration or hope of a resurrected West Indies, the scheduling of the forthcoming Australian tour provides ample evidence of an organisation that suffers from both incompetence and insensitivity.

BIRD... Gayle is more valuable to our cricket than Julien Hunte, Dr Ernest Hilliare, Otis Gibson and Sammy

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Three ODl's are to be played in St Vincent; three ODl's are to be played in St Lucia and a Test match in Dominica. In other words, over 50 per cent of the matches would be played in a grouping whose population represents less than eight per cent of the cricket-loving population of the English-speaking Caribbean.

If the argument is the cost, then it is improbable to think that a third One-Day in St Lucia, or a third One-Day in St Vincent, would be more profitable than a single One-Day in a more populated country such as Jamaica, or even Antigua.

Given the fact that Jamaica is so far in the north and it is costly for Jamaicans to travel to the other parts of the Caribbean, I think that Jamaica should always be included in a touring cricket itinerary.

It does appear that true to the management style of the West Indies Cricket Board, it is a decision to punish Jamaica for its decision to pick Gayle for national duty. This schedule is blatantly insensitive and irrational.

I wish to touch on the point of the response of Dr Hilliare to the Prime Minister of Jamaica the Hon Portia Simpson Miller. In his response, he indicated that she did not know the facts and even referenced how she should deal with a Cabinet Minister was at variance with her administration.

Let me say to Dr Hilliare, your response was disrespectful. You and the Prime Minister of Jamaica are not of the same rank. If you wish to be involved in matters of this level you need some advice or training in diplomacy. We must maximise the power of cricket as an integrating force and use it to bind us as Caribbean people, not divide us.

In respect of the Gayle matter, it is time the WICB take the lead to come to an amicable solution to this outstanding matter. The problem began when the coach Otis Gibson ill-advisedly and unprofessionally castigated senior members of the West Indies team publicly.

Had Gibson been a coach to an Australian team or English team or any other Test team he would never have tried that, or if he had, he would have been fired summarily. It was an act that demonstrated his lack of understanding of the art of or skills of human relations.

Naturally, the senior players reacted. Shivnarine Chanderpaul threatened to take the WICB to court; Chris Gayle made is criticisms public and Sarwan's own self-confidence has been badly affected and probably permanently shattered. The root of the problem is obvious.

The WICB selected a player who by any reasonable standards is a journeyman as captain. It baffles my imagination how could a group of selectors select a player of mediocre calibre and expect him to lead by example and inspire our team to move up the ranks of world cricket and give him a two-year contract to boot — a privilege never granted to any other captain.

So one does not have to go to grammar school to understand the old boy's club syndrome that now rules West Indies cricket. In fact, Sammy informed us that captaincy is over rated.

In other words, Vivian Richards, Clive Lloyd, the great Frank Worrell did not accomplish anything of note as they were carrying out a task that is largely overrated. Sammy then targets 2015 for the West Indies team to be number five in the rankings.

If you are driven by such a low level of self-esteem that three places up the rank in four years is an acceptable target, then the WICB also has a problem of proper planning and organisation.

Our cricket is in a sad, very sad state. It is clear that this bunch of leaders cannot take our cricket anywhere. There is a saying that if you want the same result keep doing the same thing that you are accustomed to doing.

We in the West Indies want a winning result and we want a winning formula, not the management structure that represents failure.

Finally, I want to make a call for the reinstatement of Chris Gayle. As far as I am concerned, he is more valuable to our cricket than Julien Hunte, Dr Ernest Hilliare, Otis Gibson and Sammy, singly and collectively.

A team derives market value and draws crowds from two things: either the team is formidable and has a winning record, or it has batting or bowling stars that draw crowds. Today we have neither. We need a new structure to propel West Indies cricket forward and we need it urgently.

I wish to make a few suggestions:

(1) In respect of the allocation of games to the various countries of the Caribbean, this should cover as many countries as possible. No country should host more than two matches. This policy ensures that as many people as possible are able to enjoy the electrifying effect of being able to see and enjoy the atmosphere of cricket.

(2) The allocation of games to as many countries as possible serves to contribute to the development and interest of cricket in the total Caribbean.

(3) The West Indies should name a captain for each format of the game. It makes no sense to force a player into a format for which he is not suited simply because he is the captain.

(4) The WICB must find a formula to improve decision-making and for establishing accountability. Without accountability it is difficult to monitor performance. It is strange that the WICB demands accountability of its players but they themselves remain unaccountable.

(5) The post of president of the WICB should not be held for more than two terms, period.

Gibson should have been able as good coaches do to renew and re-energise senior players as Sarwan, Gayle, Chanderpaul and Bravo; deepen their commitment to the development of West Indies cricket and themselves.

Instead, he has alienated them and I am sure many others who for fear have failed to come forward. It is clear that these are not happy times and it is also clear that Gibson is not a good coach.

Having failed the test to prove his ability to manage senior players who do have their own strong personalities, he tries to convince us that the future of West Indies cricket lies with a bunch of inexperienced young players. The problem is his own personality and frankly speaking, incompetence and unprofessionalism.

When a coach is chosen for an American basketball team, the main skill required of the coach is to manage egos as Kobe Bryan, Lebron James, etc and mould them into an effective team. Our coach has failed miserably in this.

The Real Problem With WI Cricket

From as I long as I can remember, from the days when the people called for George Headley and then for Frank Worrell to be captain of the West Indies team, and from the days when Headley did not tour England in 1950 because of a disagreement over tour fee, West Indies cricket has had its fair share of difficulties.

The problems, however, were magnified, or reduced, by the fortunes of the West Indies team.

If the team was playing well, as they did between 1962 and 1968, and especially between 1976 and 1995, things were quickly forgotten or allowed to pass without much trouble, almost unnoticed.

If, however, the team was losing, as it is now, all hell tended to break loose, as is happening now, with people calling for Jamaica to go it alone, with the Jamaican prime minister flexing her muscles, and with West Indies Cricket Board members running around trying to mend fences.

Nothing before ever threatened the unity of West Indies cricket as the present impasse does, however, if only because the world is becoming more and more nationalistic; if only because the West Indies are losing - and the West Indies have one of their best players, a Jamaican - outside looking in; and if only because they have a captain who, according to many, cannot make the team and whose inclusion makes the team weaker.

And if only because the West Indies board president, its CEO, its event manager, along with the captain of the team come from St Lucia in the Windward Islands, and if only because Portia Simpson Miller, the prime minister of Jamaica, is a hands-on prime minister, a no-nonsense prime minister, and will fight for what she believes in.

Even if a rule of sport tells her that as a politician she must not get involved, she will, as the elected leader of the people, her people, get involved.

As much as the board seems to bear the brunt of everything, as much as it deserves to do so, however, the board is not always wrong, it is not always at fault, and it is not always the reason for the problems.

Sometimes, as I, and many of my colleagues, have found out while covering West Indies cricket for many years, the fault, some of it, some of the time, lies with the players.

unprofessional behaviour

Some of the players have behaved in a way not befitting West Indian representatives, some of them show disrespect to their captains, some of them shy away from training, and some of them commit all kinds of things, do all sorts of things contrary to behaviour in professional sports.

Many times, I personally feel that the West Indies board, its managers, its coaches, and its selectors are guilty if only for one reason: for attempting to sweep things under the carpet, for not coming clean, for not telling the media and the public the truth about some of the players, about some of their actions, and for not treating them accordingly.

I have known men, presidents, managers, coaches, and selectors, who when they were outside said what they would do if and when they get inside, but when they get inside they forgot what they had said when they were outside.

And they forget because of their insecurity. They fight for their players at the board level, and they cover up for their players in their own territories, simply because they want to be popular with their people.

West Indies cricket has problems because of the presence of so many of these people around West Indies cricket - people who cannot talk straight or who refuse to talk straight, people who make excuses for everything and for everybody, for their own people.

Right now, West Indies cricket is caught in a storm and is threatening to be blown apart because of the omission of Christopher Gayle, because of the absence of a Test match against Australia, and because of what is seen as a hurriedly scheduled match against New Zealand.

My question, however, based on information I have received, is this: is it fair to the West Indies board and to West Indies cricket?

using weather as an excuse

The JCA, through its president, a member of the board, said that the West Indies board had given the weather as a reason why Jamaica did not get a match for the Australian tour - giving the impression that the weather in Jamaica was the reason for denying Jamaica a match, and he also said that the first time he knew that Jamaica had got a match for the New Zealand tour was on the Monday after the prime minister's speech in which she criticised the board for its actions.

Is it not true, however, right or wrong, the board had decided that since it was two tours and because of the weather pattern in the Caribbean, and not because of the weather in Jamaica, it would play the Australian leg of the tours in the southern Caribbean and the New Zealand leg in the northern Caribbean in an effort to try and get the best weather for the two tours?

In other words, had it been the Australian tour alone, Jamaica would have got a match because it was not the weather in Jamaica that made that impossible.

I also heard from a few board members down the islands that when it was decided to move the Test match from Guyana, Dominica canvassed the board members, as is the custom, and Jamaica did not make a single move, except to vote.

And regarding the New Zealand match in Jamaica, is it not true that since last October, the West Indies Board has been in talks with a Jamaican events manager for a series of T20 matches between Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago in Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago, to mark the 50th Independence anniversary of the two countries, and that there was a move to include New Zealand in those talks as they would be playing in Jamaica?

The West Indies Cricket Board is blamed for everything in West Indies cricket, and although it cannot bat, or bowl, or field, or keep wicket, or even captain the team, as the head of West Indies cricket, it must take the blame for whatever happens to West Indies cricket.

The problems would be less, however, much less, if the cricket people, who elect its members to office, give the board a chance, if the public give the board a chance, if the cricket people use their influence to change them whenever the time comes, and if the board members speak the truth all the time, about the players and other things, and in a way that they can be understood by all.

HISTORY of west indian cricket

http://youtu.be/spsF8VFExXA part 1

http://youtu.be/w7WQic7fR44 part 2

http://youtu.be/6hn8uiCxwNk part 3

http://youtu.be/ySZV-4TjsgQ part 4

http://youtu.be/h4zV9XRBVWI part 5

http://youtu.be/GMwEYEh4oMU part 6

Sir Donald Bradman...Beyond Any Argument, The Greatest Cricketer Of The 20th Century

Sir Donald George Bradman, AC (27 August 1908 – 25 February 2001), often referred to as "The Don", was an Australian cricketer, widely acknowledged as the greatest batsman of all time.Bradman's career Test batting average of 99.94 has been claimed to be statistically the greatest achievement in any major sport.

The story that the young Bradman practised alone with a cricket stump and a golf ball is part of Australian folklore.Bradman's meteoric rise from bush cricket to the Australian Test team took just over two years. Before his 22nd birthday, he had set many records for high scoring, some of which still stand, and became Australia's sporting idol at the height of the Great Depression.

During a 20-year playing career, Bradman consistently scored at a level that made him, in the words of former Australia captain Bill Woodfull, "worth three batsmen to Australia".A controversial set of tactics, known as Bodyline, was specifically devised by the England team to curb his scoring. As a captain and administrator Bradman was committed to attacking, entertaining cricket; he drew spectators in record numbers. He hated the constant adulation, however, and it affected how he dealt with others. The focus of attention on his individual performances strained relationships with some team-mates, administrators and journalists, who thought him aloof and wary.Following an enforced hiatus, due to the Second World War, he made a dramatic comeback, captaining an Australian team known as "The Invincibles" on a record-breaking unbeaten tour of England.

A complex, highly driven man, not given to close personal relationships,Bradman retained a pre-eminent position in the game by acting as an administrator, selector and writer for three decades following his retirement. Even after he became reclusive in his declining years his opinion was highly sought, and his status as a national icon was still recognised—more than 50 years after his retirement as a Test player, in 2001, the Australian Prime Minister John Howard called him the "greatest living Australian"Bradman's image has appeared on postage stamps and coins, and he was the first living Australian to have a museum dedicated to his life. On the centenary of his birth, 27 August 2008, the Royal Australian Mint issued a $5 commemorative gold coin with his image.

On 19 November 2009, Sir Donald Bradman was inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame.

Donald Bradman was the youngest son of George and Emily (née Whatman) Bradman, and was born on 27 August 1908 at Cootamundra, New South Wales (NSW).He had a brother, Victor, and three sisters—Islet, Lilian and Elizabeth May.When Bradman was about two-and-a-half years old, his parents moved to Bowral in the NSW Southern Highlands.

Bradman practised batting incessantly during his youth. He invented his own solo cricket game, using a cricket stump for a bat, and a golf ball.A water tank, mounted on a curved brick stand, stood on a paved area behind the family home. When hit into the curved brick facing of the stand, the ball rebounded at high speed and varying angles—and Bradman would attempt to hit it again. This form of practice developed his timing and reactions to a high degree.In more formal cricket, he hit his first century at the age of 12, playing for Bowral Public School against Mittagong High School.

After his return to Australia, Bradman played in his own Testimonial match at Melbourne, scoring his 117th and last century, and receiving £9,342 in proceeds.In the 1949 New Year's Honours List, he was made a Knight Bachelor for his services to the game, being the only Australian cricketer ever to be knighted.The following year he published a memoir, Farewell to Cricket.Bradman accepted offers from the Daily Mail to travel with, and write about, the 1953 and 1956 Australian teams in England. The Art of Cricket, his final book published in 1958, is an instructional manual.

Bradman retired from his stockbroking business in June 1954, depending on the "comfortable" income earned as a board member of 16 publicly listed companies.His highest profile affiliation was with Argo Investments Limited, where he was chairman for a number of years. Charles Williams commented that, "[b]usiness was excluded on medical grounds, [so] the only sensible alternative was a career in the administration of the game which he loved and to which he had given most of his active life".

Bradman was honoured at a number of cricket grounds, notably when his portrait was hung in the Long Room at Lord's; until Shane Warne's portrait was added in 2005, Bradman was one of just three Australians to be honoured in this way.Bradman inaugurated a "Bradman Stand" at the Sydney Cricket Ground in January 1974;the Adelaide Oval also opened a Bradman Stand in 1990.Later in 1974, he attended a Lord's Taverners function in London where he experienced heart problems,which forced him to limit his public appearances to select occasions only. With his wife, Bradman returned to Bowral in 1976, where the new cricket ground was named in his honour.He gave the keynote speech at the historic Centenary Test at Melbourne in 1977.

On 16 June 1979, the Australian government awarded Bradman the nation's second-highest civilian honour at that time, Companion of the Order of Australia (AC)"in recognition of service to the sport of cricket and cricket administration".In 1980, he resigned from the ACB, to lead a more secluded life.

Hat-tricks in Test Cricket

THE occasions when a bowler has taken three wickets in consecutive deliveries in Test cricket matches. As of 30 July 2011, a hat-trick has been taken 39 times since the first Test match in 1877, most recently by English fast-medium bowler Stuart Broad on 30 July 2011. On average, a hat-trick occurs roughly every 50 Tests. At least one bowler from each of the ten nations that play Test cricket has taken a Test hat-trick. India was the only country against whom nobody has taken a hat-trick, until 30 July 2011.

India's most successful bowler of the current series, Harbhajan Singh is the latest entrant to the elite club of 26 bowlers who have claimed hat-tricks in test-cricket. Infact the off-spinner is the first Indian to achieve a hat-trick in test cricket.

History

The history of hat-tricks dates back to 1858. According to the historians of the game, the term evolved from the custom of presenting the bowler with a top hat for achieving the feat of claiming three wickets with three successive deliveries.

The first recorded instance of a hat-trick was at Hyde Park Ground in Sheffield in 1858 when HH Stephenson for the All England XI took three wickets in three balls in the second innings, the bowler on his unique performance was presented with a white hat.

First hat-trick in Test cricket

Twenty-one years later the first ever such feat was achieved in Test cricket, when only in the third test match, Australian bowler 'The Demon' Spofforth claimed a hat-trick against England at Melbourne in 1879.

29 instances to date

In Test cricket's 124 year history to date there have been 29 instances of hat-tricks. These instances include, ten claimed by Australians, nine by Englishmen, three each by the West Indians and Pakistanis and one each for South Africa, New Zealand, Sri Lanka and India.

Achieving the feat twice

The three bowlers to achieve the most distinguished bowling feat twice include two Australians and one Pakistani. Hugh Trumble (Australia) medium pace off-spinner took both of his hat-tricks against England at Melbourne (1902 and 1904). TJ Matthews (Australia) achieved the unique feat of claiming a hat-trick in each innings of a test match, at Old Trafford, Manchester, against South Africa during the opening match of 1912 triangular tournament. 87-years later Pakistan's Wasim Akram became only the third bowler in history to claim two test cricket hat-tricks. He performed the unique feat in successive tests against Sri Lanka, at Lahore and at Dhaka in 1998-99.

Claiming a hat-trick on debut

The first bowler to claim a hat-trick on his debut was Maurice Allom, who took four wickets in five balls for England against New Zealand at Christchurch in 1930. Maurice Allom's feat was followed by PJ Petherick of New Zealand against Pakistan at Lahore in 1976-77 and by DW Fleming also against Pakistan at Rawalpindi in 1994-95, both claiming hat-tricks in their first Test match.

First hat-trick in and against Pakistan

Incidentally WW Hall (West Indies) was first bowler to claim a hat-trick, both in and against Pakistan, at Lahore in 1958-59.

Most narrowly missed

The only other subsequent instance after Maurice Allom's feat for a bowler to claim four wickets in five balls, occurred at Edgbaston Birmingham test in 1978, when Chris Old (England) claimed four Pakistani wickets in four successive legitimate balls but bowled a no ball in the middle of the sequence.

Fazal Mahmood's feat

Pakistan's Fazal Mehmood is amongst the bowlers who have claimed three wickets in four balls, while bagging 7 for 80 against Australia at Karachi in 1956-57.

Bowlers who have claimed hat-tricks in test cricket to date:

Australia (10): FR Spofforth, H Trumble (2), TJ Matthews (2), LF Kline, MG Hughes, DW Fleming, SK Warne, GD McGrath.

England (9): W Bates, J Briggs, GA Lohmann, JT Hearne, MJC Allom, TW Goddard, PJ Loader, DG Cork, Darren Gough.

West Indies (3): WW Hall, LR Gibbs, CA Walsh

Pakistan (3): Wasim Akram (2), Abdur Razzaq

South Africa (1): GM Griffin

New Zealand (1): PJ Petherick

Srilanka (1): Nuwan Zoysa

India (1): Harbhajan Singh

5-Wisden Cricketers of the Century

The Wisden Cricketers of the Century are five cricketers who were judged to be the most prominent players of the 20th century, as selected by a 100-member panel of cricket experts appointed by Wisden Cricketers' Almanack in 2000. The 97 men and three women ("the doyenne of English women's cricket, Netta Rheinberg, the Pakistani journalist Fareshteh Gati and the Barbadian commentator Donna Symmonds"[1]) on the panel were each given five votes with which to select the list. In order of votes, the five Wisden Cricketers of the Century are:

Position Name Votes

1. Sir Donald Bradman 100

2. Sir Garfield Sobers 90

3. Sir Jack Hobbs 30

4. Shane Warne 27

5. Sir Viv Richards 25

Many members of the panel complained that two of the five votes cast by each member would be wasted, as they would almost certainly be cast for Bradman and Sobers. The editor of Wisden at the time, Matthew Engel, wrote that the only real deficiency of the list was the absence of a fast bowler in the top five places. Fast bowlers dominated cricket from the 1970s until at least the mid-1990s, and the most famous pre-war test series, Bodyline, had aroused controversy because of England's fast bowling strategy designed to counter Don Bradman. Shane Warne is the only cricketer on the list not to have received a knighthood.

Saturday, January 31

William John Edrich (1916-1986) Test Cap # 300

Cyril Washbrook (1914-1999) Test Cap # 299

Austin David George Matthews (1904-1977) Test Cap # 298

Denis Charles Scott Compton (1918-1997) Test Cap # 297

Arthur William Wellard (1902-1980) Test Cap # 296

James Horace Parks (1903-1980) Test Cap # 295

Leonard Hutton (1916-1990) Test Cap # 294

Alfred Richard Gover (1908-2001) Test Cap # 293

Laurence Barnard Fishlock (1907-1986) Test Cap # 292

Arthur Edward Fagg (1915-1977) Test Cap # 291

Harold Gimblett (1914-1978) Test Cap # 290

Holcombe Douglas Read (1910-2000) Test Cap # 289

John Charles Clay (1898-1973) Test Cap # 288

Denis Smith (1907-1979) Test Cap # 287

James Morton Sims (1903-1973) Test Cap # 286

Joseph Hardstaff (1911-1990) Test Cap # 285

Wilfred Barber (1901-1968) Test Cap # 284

N.S Mitchell-Innes (1914-2006) Test Cap # 283

David Charles Humphery Townsend (1912-1997) Test Cap #:282

Cedric Ivan James Smith (1906-1979) Test Cap # 281

George Alfred Edward Paine (1908-1978) Test Cap # 280

John Iddon (1902-1946) Test Cap # 279

Errol Reginald Thorold Holmes (1905-1960) Test Cap # 278

William Eric Hollies (1912-1981) Test Cap # 277

William Walter Keeton (1905-1980) Test Cap # 276

John Leonard Hopwood (1903-1985) Test Cap #:275

Kenneth Farnes (1911-1941) Test Cap # 274

William Howard Vincent Levett (1908-1995) Test Cap # 273

Bryan Herbert Valentine (1908-1983) Test Cap # 272

10 Feb, 2026

10 Feb, 2026