Obituaries in 1991

ALVA, SRIDHA, who died in Mangalore on November 6, 1991, at the age of 60, played some Ranji Trophy cricket for Mysore (now Karnataka) and Orissa. After retirement he turned his attention to coaching.

ATKINSON, COLIN RONALD MICHAEL, CBE, who died at Glastonbury on June 25, 1991, aged 59, became associated with Somerset in 1960, the attraction of a job at Millfield and the prospect of first-class cricket having persuaded him that his future lay in the south-west. A Yorkshireman, he had played for Northumberland and Durham with marked success, and reports of his gritty batting and accurate leg-spin bowling had reached H. W. Stephenson, the newly appointed Somerset captain, who hailed from Co. Durham. As McCool, the Australian, was retiring, there was a possible place for Atkinson in the senior side. He had already made his first-class début in 1959, for the Minor Counties against the Indians, and in 1960 he made a workmanlike start in his fifteen matches for Somerset, getting runs when they were most needed and picking up useful wickets. Not a natural player, he earned his successes by hard graft and determination, and he made himself into an energetic and menacing fielder. His next two seasons brought more than 1,200 Championship runs and 105 wickets in all, but in 1963 and 1964 his county cricket was confined almost exclusively to the Second Eleven. When he returned to the first team in 1965, it was as captain, his headmaster at Millfield, R. J. O. Meyer, himself a former Somerset captain, having agreed to release him from his duties at the school.

To start with he was cautious, but gradually he assumed full command and led the side capably into seventh place in the Championship. Arthritis in his right hand prevented him from bowling spin, but at medium pace he took useful wickets at an economical cost to supplement his runs. Next year he appeared much more relaxed and confident in the field, and his good form soon communicated itself to his side. Somerset finished third, equalling their highest placing, with thirteen matches won, seven drawn and seven lost. Atkinson had by far his best season with the bat, scoring 1,120 runs at 26.04. Somerset also reached the semi-finals of the Gillette Cup, losing to Warwickshire at Birmingham, and although they fell back to eighth in the Championship in 1967, they compensated by getting to the Gillette Cup final at Lord's. There they lost by 32 runs to Kent in what was considered the best of the five finals so far played. Atkinson fielded like a tiger and impressed everyone with his control as Kent, 129 for one at lunch, were bowled out for 193. It was, however, his swan-song. He retired at the end of the season, to resume full-time teaching, having made 3,796 first-class runs for an average of 19.07 and taken 192 wickets at 31.15 in 164 matches. His highest score, an innings of 97 in a partnership of 176 for the sixth wicket with Roy Virgin, was made against Warwickshire at Birmingham in 1967. Always setting a fine example in the field, he held 75 catches.

Atkinson became headmaster of Millfield in 1971, but this in no way curtailed his interest in the county club, where he was successively cricket chairman, club chairman and then president. In the last role he was called upon to exercise all his diplomatic skills in 1986, when Richards, Garner and Botham departed amid controversy and spite. The new pavilion on the county ground at Taunton stands as a monument to his enterprise and energy as a fund-raiser. For some years he had been chairman of the PR and Marketing sub-committee of the TCCB.

ATKINSON, THOMAS, who died on September 2, 1990, aged 59, was one of several young professionals engaged by Nottinghamshire in the late 1950s, the intention being to give them a three-year trial under a youth scheme. A right-arm medium-pace bowler and a useful batsman in the lower order, he made his Championship début against Sussex at Worthing in 1957, and was stranded on 21 as Nottinghamshire failed by 24 runs to reach their target. Serious work began in 1958, and he found it hard going; his 23 wickets cost him more than 48 runs apiece and he had the unenviable distinction of propping up the national averages. On the other hand, he made his highest score of 48. In 1959, he batted profitably, with an aggregate of 341, but his 38 wickets cost 46.42 apiece. Clearly a major effort was called for if he was going to make the grade. In 1960 his wickets increased to 53, at a lower cost, and match figures of ten for 100 against Derbyshire at Ilkeston were his best performance. With the bat he totalled 467 runs, often scoring usefully when others failed, but despite this improvement he was not retained. In his 64 games he made 1,127 runs at 13.25 and took 116 wickets at 44.46 apiece.

AUGUST, GEORGE LAWRENCE BAGLEY, who was born at Mymensingh, India, died at his home in Bedford on October 31, 1991, aged 74. He was very much a Bedfordshire man, remaining loyal to his county when he might have been tempted to try his hand at a higher level. He was educated at Bedford School, where he developed into an opening or middle-order bat, and he made his début in the Minor County Championship in 1936. In 1947 he surpassed all his previous efforts with an innings of 201 against Oxfordshire on the Bedford School ground, sharing in a record opening partnership of 225 with J. A. R. Oliver. Bedfordshire's total of 539 for seven declared was their highest ever. August's form with the bat showed no sign of falling off until 1957, the year before his retirement. He made thirteen hundreds in his career and twice represented Minor counties against first-class opposition. In 1950 against MCC at Lord's he made 27 and 11, his dour defence playing its part as the Counties went ahead in the first innings with five wickets in hand. In 1953 Hassett's Australians crushed the Counties by an innings and 171 runs, the match being chiefly notable for Lindwall obtaining the best figures of his career, with seven for 20 in the second innings. August was unable to stem the tide as he contrived to be run out without scoring. He gave further service to Bedfordshire after he stopped playing, being their secretary from 1969 to 1984, and he was chairman of the Minor Counties Cricket Association from 1982 to 1989. He also served on the Test and County Cricket Board for several years.

BADDILEY, JOHN WILLIAM (JACK), who died in hospital at Worksop on December 16, 1990, aged 74, will be remembered with affection by visitors to Trent Bridge for the warmth of his welcome and his generous hospitality. His loss will be felt by the players and other members of the staff, to whom he had become a fatherly figure and true friend. He was elected president of Nottinghamshire in 1985, a position he held till his death, and he had served on the committee for 32 years, finally standing down at the start of 1990. During this long period, he was influential in effecting many improvements at Trent Bridge. The ground itself was largely restored and developed to meet the demands of a major cricket centre, and Baddiley was also influential in streamlining the administrative structure. It is interesting to note that, when he became a member of the committee in 1957, the fortunes of the club on the field were at rock bottom. The registration in the early 1950s of Dooland and Goonesena, with their high-class leg-spin, had brought temporary relief, and in 1968 the genius of the newly recruited Sobers pulled them up to fourth place in the Championship. But it was not until the arrival of Rice and Hadlee in the 1970s that the glories of what had become a distant past returned to Trent Bridge. Baddiley worked hard behind the scenes for the triumphs of 1981 and 1987. The experience of captaining the Second Eleven, in 1959 and 1960, at a time when the cupboard was practically bare, had led him to set in motion a wider and more efficient search for higher standards, and in the end he enjoyed his just reward.

BRYAN, BRIGADIER GODFREY JAMES, CBE, who died at Canterbury on April 4, 1991, aged 88, was the youngest of three cricketing brothers, all of whom played for Kent. G.J. was possibly the most talented, a tall, strong, dashing left-hander with a fine array of attacking strokes, but he gave himself less chance of reaching the top than his brothers by choosing an Army career. Of the other two, J.L. was a member of A. E. R. Gilligan's MCC team in Australia in 1924-25 and R.T. captained Kent in 1937. They were both schoolmasters.

G.J. showed unusual precocity in his last two years at Wellington, where his deeds caused quite a stir in 1919 and 1920. As a sixteen-year-old in 1919 he made an unbeaten 102 against Westminster in a home fixture and went on, with the help of three not outs, to average 74.75 with an aggregate of 598 runs. A year later his figures were 8-2-699-148*-116.50, with hundreds against Bradfield, Westminster, Haileybury, Charterhouse and Free Foresters. Referred to by Wisden as the crack Public School batsman of the year, he played in the Schools Week at Lord's and hit a fifty. This was child's play. Picked for Kent against Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge in the last match of the season, he made a memorable début by hitting 124 in the second innings as Kent followed on, putting on 187 for the first wicket with A. F. Bickmore. In 1921 he made 179 against Hampshire at Canterbury, hitting three sixes and 26 fours and with L. P. Hedges adding 208 in only two hours. When the South Africans were over in 1924, he seized upon the occasion to hit 229 against them for the Combined Services at Portsmouth, getting 116 of his runs in boundaries in four hours at the crease. Against Warwickshire at Birmingham he made 124 for his county, going in first and being sixth out with the score 174. In 1925, Kent had a notable triumph over Lancashire at Dover, winning by two wickets in a match of moderate scores, and all three Bryan brothers played. J. L. made 77, and G. J. saw Kent through the crisis at the end with a sterling innings of 39 not out.

Although his opportunities for county cricket were limited, Army cricket kept him in touch with the first-class game. He returned to Lord's year after year for the Army, and hardly ever failed to give the Navy bowlers a drubbing. In 1926 he hit 82 in an hour with three sixes and ten fours, an innings which turned the match decisively in the Army's favour, and in 1928 Bryan (93) and E. S. B. Williams (228) added 258 for the third wicket in only two hours; the Army went on to declare at 589 for five. Bryan's two remaining hundreds were both for the Army, against Oxford and Cambridge Universities, and on each occasion he displayed his customary brilliance. His 112 at Fenner's in 1925 was made out of a total of 196, the next highest score being 27. In all, he appeared in 70 first-class matches, 51 of them for Kent, and made 3,192 runs at 30.11, hitting six hundreds. As an occasional slow left-arm bowler, his best performance was five for 148 for Kent in an Australian total of 676 at Canterbury in 1921. He took 35 wickets in all at 50.05 apiece, and made 46 catches.

BURROWS, BRIGADIER JAMES THOMAS, CBE, DSO, who died at Christchurch, New Zealand, on June 10, 1991, aged 86, played nine first-class matches for Canterbury as a right-arm fast-medium bowler between 1926-27 and 1932-33. He took 31 wickets at 22.06, a useful return, and had an extraordinary batting record, going to the wicket twelve times in his accustomed position at No. 11 without ever being dismissed. These visits produced a grand total of 36 runs. In 1930 he took part in a famous match between Canterbury and Auckland, when Canterbury were set to score 473 runs in 400 minutes and made them with three minutes and four wickets to spare. In Auckland's second innings of 537, Burrows put the brake on by taking two for 89 in 43.4 overs in fearful heat, an important contribution. He also excelled at boxing and rugby, and in 1928 he was selected as a forward for the All Blacks' tour of South Africa.

BUTLER, HAROLD JAMES, died in Nottingham on July 17, 1991, aged 78, while on holiday there as a guest of the county club for which he had played in 306 matches between 1933 and 1954. Taken on at Trent Bridge as a right-arm fast-medium bowler, he was introduced to first-class cricket at twenty when Larwood broke down on his return from Australia. Among several promising performances that season was his five for 36 in 24 overs at Trent Bridge against Yorkshire, at a time when they were running away with the Championship. Yorkshire's total of 155 left them behind on first innings for the first time in county matches since the start of the season. However, it was another four years before he really caused a stir, routing Surrey at Trent Bridge with a career-best eight for 15 in fourteen overs, including a hat-trick. Within a month he had performed the feat a second time, against Leicestershire at Worksop. With Larwood in the toils and Voce incapacitated with a twisted knee, Butler's 78 wickets that season at 24.39 made him the most successful bowler in the team.

Appendicitis in June 1938 put him out for the rest of the Australian summer, just when he was heading the national averages with 39 wickets at 16.61, but a determined comeback in 1939 brought him 105 wickets at 22.96, including a third hat-trick in his return of five for 23 against Hampshire. His batting was improving, too, and with more than 400 runs he averaged around 18. Three sixes and six fours contributed to his 62, the highest score of his career, in a last-wicket stand of 68 in half an hour against Glamorgan at Swansea.

If perhaps unfortunate not to get a Test before the war, he finally caught the selectors' attention in 1947, when he took 106 wickets at 22.55. Lively and intelligent bowling for the Players at Lord's in mid-July led to a place in the England side for the Fourth Test against South Africa at Leeds. He had a good match, with seven for 66 all told, and the tourists scored painfully slowly off him in both innings. But injury kept him out of the final Test, at the Oval, and misfortune continued to dog him in the Caribbean, where it was intended he would be G. O. B. Allen's main strike bowler. A calf injury ruled him out of the First Test, and an attack of malaria prevented him from playing in the last two. In between, at Port-of-Spain, he took five wickets in the drawn Second Test, bowling well in adverse conditions. However, there was no place for him in 1948, when Edrich, Coxon, Pollard, Cranston and Watkins all shared the new ball against Australia with Bedser.

A crowd of 20,000 attended the first day of his benefit match against Yorkshire in 1950, a fine tribute to a great servant of the club, and that season, at the age of 37, he just failed to take 100 wickets for the third time. He kept going, often with little help from the other end, until 1954, when he retired on doctor's advice. Bowling on the quick side of medium, Butler had throughout his career been economical in terms of runs per over, always keeping a tidy line and adjusting his length skilfully according to the conditions. In 319 matches in all, he took 952 wickets at 24.44, while his hard hitting brought him 2,962 runs for an average of 10.54. In his two Tests--he deserved to have played in more--he took twelve wickets at 17.91.

CACCIA, LORD, GCMG, GCVO (HAROLD ANTHONY), who died on October 31, 1990, aged 84, won his colours at Eton in 1924 and played at Lord's as a bowler, taking two wickets in Harrow's second innings, which effectively halted their pursuit of victory. He was nominated President of MCC for 1973-74 by Aidan Crawley, and it was felt that his diplomatic skills would be invaluable in reconciling the differences in world cricket that followed in the wake of the D'Oliveira affair. In the Asian countries, for example, there was an opinion that MCC should not remain the game's governing body.

CHINNASWAMY, MANGALAM, died in Bangalore after a long illness on October 31, 1991. He was 91. A traditionalist, who sacrificed a career at the Bar in order to devote himself to cricket, he was a founder member of the Karnataka Cricket Association and the moving force behind the development of the stadium at Bangalore, which now bears his name. In 1967, as secretary to the Board of Control for Cricket in India, he accompanied the touring side to England. He later became president of the BCCI and was active in preventing Indian Test cricketers from being lured into World Series Cricket.

COCKBURN, JAMES SYDNEY DAVID, who died at Brisbane on November 13, 1990, aged 74, was an all-rounder who played for Queensland in two first-class matches in 1936-37 when he was only twenty. The first was against G. O. B. Allen's MCC tourists at Brisbane immediately before the First Test: given the new ball, he failed to take a wicket in either innings, and he had little success with the bat. In the New Year, when Queensland were made to follow on 320 behind by Victoria at Brisbane, Cockburn contributed a valuable 35 to their 447 in the second innings. His solitary success with the ball was the dismissal of the Test player, Keith Rigg. Cockburn also played for a Queensland Country XI at Ipswich against Allen's team, making 33 when the home side collapsed in the second innings and taking two wickets, and ten years later he scored 12 and 41 in the equivalent fixture at Gympie against Hammond's MCC side. In his two first-class matches he made 43 runs, average 10.75, and his one wicket cost 148 runs.

CROUCH, HENRY RUSSELL (KIM), who died on April 17, 1991, aged 76, appeared in three first-class matches, two for Minor Counties representative teams in 1935 and one for Surrey against the Combined Services in 1946. His first match, at Oxford, was ruined by rain, and he failed to do himself justice in his second, against the South Africans at Skegness. Three years in the XI at Tonbridge, from 1930 to 1932, he scored 1,274 runs and took 75 wickets, and in his last year, when he captained Tonbridge, he was chosen for the Lord's Schools against The Rest.

CUNLIFFE, CAPTAIN ROBERT LIONEL BROOKE, RN, CBE, who died in December 1990, aged 95, was for a time the second oldest survivor from first-class cricket before the 1914-18 war, Willis Walker of Nottinghamshire being the other. He made his debut for the Navy against the Army in the second of two matches celebrating the centenary of the Lord's ground in 1914. A vigorous lower-order batsman with some pretensions to leg-spin, Cunliffe enjoyed an excellent match with the ball, taking eight for 155, including five for 78 in the second innings. He was captain of the Navy in 1927, leading them to an overdue victory over the Army, whose batting was very strong in the 1920s, and his maiden first-class fifty also came that year, with 50 against the New Zealanders at Portsmouth. He improved on this in 1928, making 64 at Lord's as the Navy sank with all hands against their old rivals, and a year later he hit 87, his highest score, for the Navy and Marines against MCC at Chatham in the follow-on, helping to effect a "magnificent" recovery. In ten first-class matches Cunliffe made 335 runs for an average of 23.92, while his sixteen wickets cost 36.37 apiece.

CURRIE, JOHN DAVID, who died at Leicester on December 8, 1990, aged 58, had played one first-class game, for Somerset against Leicestershire at Bath in 1953, when in 1956 he was given a trial by Oxford. A powerfully built right-hander, who that winter had played rugby for England at lock forward, he achieved little of note in his five games, or in the four he played the following year. His best effort was an innings of 38 in 1957 - easily the highest score in Oxford's total of 95 against Yorkshire. In his ten first-class matches he scored 283 runs for an average of 14.89. Currie was capped 25 times by England at rugby.

DAY, FREDERICK GORDON KENNETH, who died at Whitchurch, Bristol, on December 9, 1991, aged 72, played seven times for Somerset in first-class matches, scoring 201 runs for an average of 18.27 and effecting fifteen dismissals, eight of which were stumpings. Four of those stumpings came in his first game, off Lawrence and Hazell in a friendly against Glamorgan at Swansea in 1950. In May 1956 he was called on by the county when Stephenson was injured, and in his six games he deputised with marked efficiency. Indeed, with 168 runs and a highest score of 56 not out, at Old Trafford, he was a useful addition to the lower middle order. Day was a stalwart of the Knowle club, for which he scored some 30 hundreds in as many years.

DENHAM, HON. EVAN HORRELL, who died at Christchurch, New Zealand, on June 16, 1991, aged 78, was born in Brisbane but soon after was taken to New Zealand. His speciality was slow leg-spin, and in his solitary Plunket Shield match, for Canterbury against Wellington, he dismissed the New Zealand wicket-keeper, F. L. H. Mooney. This one wicket cost him 28 runs in eleven overs.

DE VIGNE, STANLEY PIERRE, died at Kenilworth, Cape Town on January 17, 1991, aged 71. A right-handed opening batsman, he played in nine matches for North-Eastern Transvaal, making his debut in 1950-51 against Western Province at Cape Town. His highest score, and only fifty, was an innings of 55 against Border at Queenstown that season. In all he made 300 runs for an average of 17.64 and held fourteen catches, seven of which were taken in one match at Benoni against Orange Free State. This was a record for catches in a match by a fielder in South Africa until it was equalled in 1982-83 by Alan Barrow for Transvaal B against Northern Transvaal B.

DOLMAN, FRANK, MBE, who died on October 31, 1990, at the age of 87, spent a lifetime in the service of cricket. He was elected an executive officer of the Club Cricket Conference as long ago as 1930 and held the post without a break for 61 years. In 1960 he became its chairman, serving until retirement in 1977. The indefatigable Dolman was at one time president of the National Cricket Club Association, and having been a founder member of the Cricket Umpires' Association he was its chairman from 1971 to 1981.

DYSON, JOHN HUMPHREY, who died at Exeter in 1990 at the age of 76, won his Blue for Oxford in 1936 as a slow left-arm bowler. A Yorkshireman by birth, he was two years in the XI at Charterhouse, captaining them in 1932, when he took 54 wickets at 13.59 and played for The Rest against the Lord's Schools. In 1933, his first season at Oxford, he maintained his reputation in the Freshmen's Match, but after managing only one wicket in each innings of his first-class debut, against the Free Foresters, he was not given another match. The next year started well, only to end in disappointment when the Oxford captain. F. G. H. Chalk, perturbed by Dyson's loss of form, replaced him in the side for Lord's at the last possible moment. Dyson must have wondered how on earth he had taken 23 wickets for Oxford in The Parks, including Sutcliffe, Leyland and Hutton in the match against his native county. In 1935 he received a mauling from the youthful Washbrook, who made 228, and that was that. But he bowled so well in 1936, finishing with 34 wickets for the University at 22.88, that finally he was awarded his Blue. Against Cambridge, who made more than 400, he was the most economical of the regular bowlers, with his three for 94 accounting for leading batsmen. Dyson played in 26 first-class matches in all, mostly for Oxford, and took 68 wickets at 31.51. His batting brought him 211 runs at 7.53, with a top score of 35.

EASTMAN, GEORGE FREDERICK, who died at Eastbourne on March 15, 1991, aged 87, was the younger brother of the better-known L. C. Eastman, the Essex all-rounder. George kept wicket soundly for the county in 22 Championship matches in 1927, but his batting at No. 10 or No. 11 was a negligible factor, and this was to count against him. He had fewer opportunities in 1928, although his batting was a little more effective, and it was the same story in 1929, by which time Sheffield and Wade, both much better bats, were queueing up to take the gloves. However, he produced a defiant flourish against Sussex at Horsham. After Sussex had been disposed of for 248, Essex struggled until M. C. Raison and Eastman joined forces in a last-wicket partnership of 69, which brought Essex right back into the game. His share was 34 not out. Eastman played 48 times for Essex, taking 29 catches and effecting 21 stumpings, and he managed to put together 265 runs for an average of 6.97. He also played soccer for Clapton Orient.

EVANS, GEORGE HERBERT DAVID, who died at Weston-super-Mare in June 1991, aged 62, was one of several amateurs called upon by Somerset in 1953 in an attempt, albeit unsuccessful, to solve their team problems. Evans, a right-handed middle-order batsman, must have aroused some hopes when he made 34 and 56 in a three-day match against an RAF attack which contained Trueman. But his eight Championship games which followed produced only 180 runs for an average of 12.85. Although a highest score of 42, against Essex at Weston-super-Mare, came as some relief after three successive noughts, it was also his last innings for the county.

FABER, MARK JAMES JULIAN, died suddenly in hospital on December 10, 1991, aged 41, after an operation, when complications had set in. A grandson of Harold Macmillan, he graced the playing fields of Eton with elegant and powerful strokeplay in the late 1960s, making most of his runs at No. 3 or No. 4. In 1967 he was consistency itself, topping the averages at 43.22, and the next year, when the season was for the most part chill and damp, he was in irresistible form with 751 runs for an average of 83.44. His crowning achievement was 100 at Lord's against Harrow, the last hundred to date by an Etonian in the traditional match. His innings contained fourteen fours, and he shared in a splendid partnership of 126 for the third wicket with V. A. Cazalet after the opening pair had been dismissed without scoring at the start of the match. All seemed to be set fair as Faber made his debut for Oxford in The Parks in 1970. Instead he had a wretched experience, struggling to make runs in a desperately weak batting side. There were simply no senior players capable of giving a lead and affording protection. He was discarded too soon.

A year later, despite his maiden first-class fifty, the rest was all disappointment, and it says much for his character that he tried for his Blue once again in 1972. This time he was successful, but the events at Lord's were too one-sided to make his University Match enjoyable. From 1973 to 1976 he played for Sussex with limited success, except for 1975 when, finding freedom enough to use his strokes to telling effect, he made 1,060 runs for an average of 30.28. Of his three hundreds, the first - 112 not out against Middlesex at Hove in 1974 - was the most meritorious: it came with a six off the 101st ball he received and contained 21 fours in an hour and a half. The other two, after he had played very well early on, were devalued towards the end by "declaration" bowling. Halfway through 1976 he dropped out of the Sussex Championship side and played no more first-class cricket, disenchanted with the spirit and manner in which the game was being played. Perhaps he would have been more at home in the 1930s; as it was, in a utilitarian age he eked out an existence with 3,009 runs in 78 first-class matches, averaging 22.12. He held 42 catches.

FOSTER, LEON NEVILLE, died in Auckland on April 19, 1991. A neat right-hand batsman, he played in a single first-class match for Barbados in 1935-36, hitting 43 in the first innings.

FREARSON, RAYMOND ERIC, who died at Skegness on February 22, 1991, aged 87, made something of a name for himself by scoring more than 1,300 runs for Lincolnshire in the Minor Counties Championship in 1925 and 1926, and he was subsequently called up for three first-class representative matches. The first was in 1927 for East of England against the New Zealanders at Wisbech, where opening the innings he made 4 and 2. Playing for Minor Counties against the same opponents in 1931, he scored 13, batting at No. 7. He had had no opportunity to bat for Minor Counties against Lancashire in 1929 because rain washed out play after the first day. A right-handed batsman and leg-spinner, Frearson had distinguished himself as a schoolboy cricketer at Eastbourne College from 1920 to 1922. A double-century in 1925 for Lincolnshire against Cambridgeshire at Grantham, followed by 140 and 63, both unbeaten, against Yorkshire Second Eleven at Bridlington, were his best performances.

GAEKWAD, COLONEL KHANDARAO SHIVAJIRAO, who died on October 26, 1991 in Bombay, aged 75, played in five first-class matches for Gujarat and Baroda in the early days of the Ranji Trophy in the 1930s. He made 52 runs, with a highest score of 23, and took ten wickets at 45.70.

GAJRAJ SINGH, who died on October 28, 1991 in Sentokhba, Jaipur, aged 35, took 40 wickets bowling left-arm spin for Rajasthan from 1980-81 to 1985-86.

GOODWAY, CYRIL CLEMENT, who died on May 22, 1991, aged 81, was more responsible than any other for the excellence of the modern Edgbaston ground. From 1929, when the South Africans were the visitors, until 1957, the year of the May-Cowdrey stand of 411 against West Indies, no Test match was staged there, and for much of that period the ground wore a distinctly seedy look. In some respects the club, though not so much the players, needed a good shake-up, and in Goodway it found just the man. He was elected to the committee in 1945 and soon became a member of the house and ground committee, his business experience, allied to his vision and enthusiasm, enabling him to make the most of this power base. By the end of the 1940s, building and reconstruction were well under way, and equipped with a new pavilion, stands and scorebox, Edgbaston won back its Test status. In 1959 Goodway became chairman of the house and ground committee, a position he held for twenty years, supervising further developments, and he was chairman of the club from 1972 to 1983.

Goodway's success as an administrator was enhanced by his standing as a player. A wicket-keeper of high class, he first appeared for his native Staffordshire in 1932, when S. F. Barnes was still playing, and his work in 1934, 1935 and 1936 was singled out in Wisden for special praise. He made his first-class debut for Warwickshire in 1937, against Worcestershire at Edgbaston, and in 1946, with Buckingham no longer available, Goodway enjoyed his only full season of first-class cricket. In 40 appearances for Warwickshire he effected 65 dismissals, including 22 stumpings, mostly with the co-operation of Hollies. He batted near the bottom of the order and could make a useful score, his highest being 37 not out against Glamorgan at Birmingham in 1946. Altogether he made 434 runs for an average of 8.03.

Perhaps Goodway's happiest inspiration was to found the Warwickshire Old Cricketers Association in 1958. He knew that there is generally nothing retired players enjoy more than the opportunity to renew the acquaintance of old colleagues, and each year he would be the driving force behind a well-organised programme of social events. Other counties followed suit.

GROVER, JOHN NELSON, who died in Dorset on December 17, 1990, aged 75, won his Blue at Oxford in 1936 and went on to captain the University in 1938. He had made a considerable impression at Winchester in 1933 with his aggressive batting, and a year later he earned praise for his efficiency behind the stumps and for his judgment and perception as captain. He lost no time making his mark at Oxford, hitting an unbeaten 71 in the Freshmen's Match of 1935, but received no further trial. Dashing cricket in the Seniors' Match in his second year, followed by a splendid 119 against Lancashire in The Parks in only his second first-class match, marked by driving of tremendous power, set him up for his place in the side at Lord's. He was well below his best for much of the 1937 season, but a hundred against the Minor Counties, which included four sixes and nine fours, sent him to Lord's in the right frame of mind. There, playing with much freedom, he hit a hundred before lunch on the second day, going from 14 overnight to 121 before being dismissed in the last over of the morning session. Oxford won by seven wickets. In his year as captain, little went right for him and his team. Grover played in 33 first-class matches, all for Oxford, making 1,188 runs for an average of 23.96, and later he appeared for his native Northumberland.

GUISE, JOHN LINDSAY, who died at Eastbourne on June 29, 1991, aged 87, belonged to the select few who have achieved fame through one big performance. In Guise's case it was his innings of 278 for Winchester against Eton on Agar's Plough in 1921, the largest score in a public schools match. Winchester had been bowled out for 57 in their first innings on a rain-affected pitch, and Eton, benefiting from the improving conditions, had taken a lead of 198. By the close of play, Guise, who had opened the batting, was 86 not out and the score 130 for three; next day he took complete charge, farming the bowling "like a veteran" before being run out with the score 381. He had batted throughout the innings, had hit 45 fours, and given one possible chance. Eton, needing 184 to win, made light of their task, getting home by eight wickets.

Though no great stylist, Guise possessed all the solid virtues, watching the ball right on to the bat and playing very late. His leg-side play was said to be superior to that of all his contemporaries, and one good judge suggested that his "ring-craft" was his main asset. He had already shown his promise by making a hundred against Harrow in 1920, and in 1921, helped by his great innings, he made 924 runs for an average of 54.35. He was also a bowler of no little skill, sending down slow-medium deliveries of beguiling innocence which floated gently either way and, like the sirens, lured batsmen to destruction. He picked up 63 wickets in his last two years at school. His commanding form in 1922 made him an automatic choice for the representative matches in Schools Week at Lord's.

No Freshman could have had a more disheartening time at Oxford than Guise had in 1923. He missed the whole of May through illness and, after hitting 120 against the West Indian tourists, he was prevented from playing against Cambridge by a last-minute injury. However, he played for Middlesex in a few matches, none more remarkable than that against Kent during Canterbury Week. At the beginning of Kent's second innings, he dismissed four of their first five batsmen at a personal coast of 9 runs, his victims being J. L. Bryan, Seymour, Woolley and Ashdown, and although Woolley had made 270 (c Allen b Guise) in the first innings, Kent were beaten by seven wickets. In 1924 Guise showed splendid form, averaging 38.18 for Oxford and playing a quite superb innings of 154 not out against Surrey at The Oval. At Lord's, his unusual bowling brought him four for 19 in the University Match, and later, in the Championship, his second-innings hundred helped Middlesex to a 27-run win at Trent Bridge after they had followed on more than 200 runs behind. He captained Oxford in 1925, batting solidly and much better than an average of 24 would suggest. His innings of 58 was his second half-century in the University Match. After going down from Oxford, he went to India, but back in England in 1929 he played in twelve matches for Middlesex. Thereafter, having returned to Winchester to teach, he could play in only a handful of matches each year, and his last first-class appearance was in 1934. In 94 matches, 57 of them for Middlesex, Guise made 3,775 runs at 26.21, took 68 wickets at a cost of 28.11, and held 53 catches.

HAMMOND, COMMANDER REGINALD JOSEPH LESLIE, OBE, RN, who died at Chichester on January 3, 1991, aged 81, represented the Navy at cricket, squash and rugby. A right-handed batsman, something of a utility player who could open in an emergency, and an efficient wicket-keeper, he played in six first-class matches and several others of importance between 1948 and 1951. His first-class cricket was for the Combined Services, beginning in 1948 with their victory over the eventual champions, Glamorgan, at Cardiff. He had every reason to be pleased with his 52 runs and four dismissals in the match. At Lord's in 1950, he had a ring-side seat when Colin Cowdrey scored 126 not out and 55 for the Public Schools against the Combined Services, having a week earlier hit an unbeaten hundred there himself in an unbroken partnership of 279 for the Navy against the RAF. He made 80 against the Army, also at Lord's, that year, and at Chelmsford, for the Services against Essex, he scored 46 as he and J. H. G. Deighton put on 118 for the last wicket. Against the South Africans at Portsmouth in 1951, he conceded only one bye in a total of 499 for five declared. Altogether, Hammond made 199 runs in first-class cricket for an average of 18.09, took six catches and made three stumpings.

HARDING, HIS HONOUR W. ROWE, who died on February 10, 1991, aged 89, was chairman of Glamorgan from 1959 to 1976 and president of the club from 1979 until the time of his death. He had taken over as chairman following a period of internal dispute which led to the resignation of the previous chairman, Colonel J. M. Bevan, and ten of his committee. The old committee had tried to dispense with the services of Glamorgan's captain/secretary, Wilf Wooller, as secretary on a permanent basis, and when the matter was put to the members in a referendum, the answer was a decisive vote of no confidence in the committee. It was greatly due to Harding's good sense that the affair was soon largely forgotten. A well-known figure in South Wales legal circles, he was a circuit judge for 22 years. In the 1920s he played seventeen times for Wales as a wing-threequarter and was a member of the 1924 British Lions in South Africa.

HARRIS, PARKE GERALD ZINZAN (ZIN), who died on November 30, 1991, aged 62, played in nine Test matches for New Zealand between 1955 and 1965. A useful, aggressive right-handed batsman and an occasional purveyor of slow off-breaks, he was among the most popular of New Zealand cricketers, with a breezy personality and an infectious smile. He first appeared for Canterbury in March 1950, scoring 49 in his debut innings against an Australian attack consisting of Davidson, Len Johnson, Ring and Iverson. Early on, his best season was 1953-54, when he made 274 runs in the Plunket Shield for an average of 39.14, and two years later, in 1955-56, he went on his first overseas tour, to Pakistan and India. This was very much a pioneering tour for the New Zealanders, who had had no previous experience of the heat, dust and general discomfort of travel on the subcontinent, not to mention gastric problems. Harris was as much a victim as the rest of his colleagues, and only in an innings of 95 against the Indian Universities at Nagpur in January, in the last match of the tour, did he really show his ability. Back in October he had made his Test debut against Pakistan at Karachi, the first match of the three-Test series, and he also played in the Second Test, at Lahore, and against India in the Bombay Test. In ten games in both countries he managed 361 runs at 22.56.

In 1960-61, MCC sent the equivalent of a modern England A team to New Zealand, captained by Dennis Silk, and after a painstaking 108 for Canterbury against the tourists Harris was chosen for all three representative matches between New Zealand and MCC. He made his mark in the first two, top-scoring at Dunedin with 78 in the first innings, and in the second match, at Wellington, making 34 and helping the hard-hitting Motz in a sixth-wicket stand of 89 in 70 minutes after the first five wickets had gone for 43. Next season, 1961-62, he was the oldest member of the team which toured South Africa under J. R. Reid and shared the series at two matches each. Harris, playing in all five Tests, came second to Reid in the Test averages with 284 runs at 31.55. His major triumph was in the Third Test at Cape Town in the New Year, when he made 101 in the first innings and helped lay the foundation of a 72-run victory. He and Chapple put on 148 for the fifth wicket after a thunderous 92 by Reid. Harris was also in the picture in the First and Fourth Tests, and he finished the tour with 638 runs for an average of 26.58. His international career had seemed over when he was resurrected for the Second Test against Pakistan at Auckland in January 1965, without even a Plunket Shield innings under his belt, but with scores of 1 and 0 the experiment was not a success. His career record was 3,122 runs, average 28.11, in 69 matches and he also took 21 wickets at 30.80 apiece. Two of his sons have played first-class cricket - Ben for Canterbury and Otago, and Chris, the New Zealand international, for Canterbury - while Tim, a wicket-keeper, trained with the New Zealand development squad. All three excelled in the field, as their father had.

HAWKER, SIR FRANK CYRIL, who died on February 22, 1991, aged 90, was President of MCC for 1970-71. A member of the City of London School XI from 1917 to 1919, he became a talented club cricketer, playing mostly for Southgate, but also turning out for such clubs as Free Foresters and the Gentlemen of Essex. In 1937 he appeared in his only first-class match, for Essex against a powerful Lancashire side at Old Trafford, and batting at No. 8 he made 16 and 10. Like everything else in the match, his efforts were dwarfed by Paynter's magnificent 266.

HAWKEY, RICHARD BLADWORTH, died on March 19, 1991, aged 67. A right-hand bat and fast-medium bowler, he had distinguished himself in the Merchant Taylors', Northwood XI of 1941 by taking 40 wickets at 11.67, concentrating his attack mainly on the leg stump. After war service he went up to Cambridge, and while there he played in three first-class matches. His debut was in 1948 for the Free Foresters against the University at Fenner's, his contribution being 13 and 4, batting at No. 2. Next year he played twice for the University. Against the New Zealanders he shared the new ball with J. J. Warr, but did not take a wicket, and a week later he opened both the batting and bowling against Warwickshire without doing anything to suggest he warranted an extended trial. In all, he made 42 runs for an average of 7.00, and his one wicket cost 139 runs. He was an international squash player.

HILLARY, ANTHONY AYLMER, who died at Truro on June 20, 1991, aged 64, played in one match for Cambridge University at Fenner's in May 1951, Sussex being the opposition. After three men were out for 41, he helped May rescue the innings, scoring a good-looking 49 in a fourth-wicket partnership of 107. However, with Sheppard returning to the side in June and Subba Row, a Freshman, showing encouraging form, he was not given another opportunity. Between 1955 and 1962 he appeared regularly for Berkshire with some success.

HILL-SMITH, WYNDHAM, OBE, who died at Angaston, South Australia, on October 25, 1990, aged 81, played in nine first-class games from 1931-32 to 1933-34, eight of them for Western Australia. Opening the innings for the state against the South Africans in the last match of their 1931-32 tour, the left-handed Hill-Smith scored 56 in 75 minutes to provide about the only cheer in a disappointing total of 183. Seven months later, he played in the first two matches of Jardine's MCC tour, scoring 26 for the state and 17 and 32 for an Australian XI. The presence of Richardson, Fingleton, Bradman and McCabe in the top five could not save the combined side from following on after MCC had declared at 583 for seven, but Hill-Smith's stubborn batting on the last day, on a rain-affected pitch, helped save the match. In all, he averaged 28.07 from an aggregate of 393 runs, his highest score being 68 against Victoria on Western Australia's tour of the Eastern states in 1933-34. In later life he became famous for the liberal hospitality which he extended to touring teams at his Yalumba vineyard in South Australia.

HULME, JOSEPH HAROLD ANTHONY, who died at Winchmore Hill, North London on September 26, 1991, aged 87, was a regular professional member of the Middlesex side from 1929 to 1939. Throughout the 1920s, and ever since their entry into the Championship, Middlesex had looked to amateurs for their runs, and then all at once what had been an unbroken succession was reduced to a trickle. Their chief professional stalwarts - Hearne, Harry Lee, Durston and (to a lesser extent) Hendren - were ageing, and it was no surprise to find them bumping along in the lower reaches of the Championship early in the 1930s. With Hendren, Hulme played an important part in bridging the gap until the arrival of Edrich, Compton, Robertson and Brown. A right-handed middle-order batsman with aggressive instincts, he was also a brilliant deep field and a useful medium-fast bowler.

After a modest start in 1929, he played so well in 1930 that he was awarded his cap. His first hundred, against Warwickshire at Edgbaston, came after half the Middlesex side were out for 109; in the end he took out his bat for 117, made in three and a half hours. By 1932 he was expected to take on more responsibility, and in passing 1,000 runs for the first time he raised his average above 30. A faultless 106 against Gloucestershire at Lord's turned the match in the home side's favour, and against Yorkshire at Sheffield Hulme (114 not out) and Sims saved the game with a partnership of 149. His 1,258 runs in 1934 included four hundreds, all in the Championship, and the 1,233 runs he made in the damp, depressing summer of 1936 were worth far more than their face value in so miserable a season. Hulme's 101 against Essex at Colchester was one of his best innings: Middlesex lost five men for 27 before Hulme and Compton put on 132 with resolute batting against Fames and Nichols, who were exploiting a pitch of varying pace and bounce.

Hulme's speed round the boundary, as he cut off certain-looking fours, was an extension of his dazzling pace on the right wing for England and the Arsenal, with whom he won three Championship and two FA Cup winners' medals. Just as remarkable was his speed between the wickets; Hulme and Hendren together were a delight to watch. In 225 matches he made 8,103 runs for an average of 26.56, the highest of his twelve hundreds being 143 against Gloucestershire at Bristol. His bowling brought him 89 wickets at 36.40, and he held 110 catches. HUMAN, JOHN HANBURY, who died in Sydney on July 22, 1991, aged 79, was an outstanding natural games-player; a brilliant attacking middle-order batsman as well as a useful leg-spinner. Good judges at Repton, where he was in the XI for five years, maintained that John Human, younger brother of Roger, played better cricket in school matches than had been seen there for many years. In 1929, his third year, he shared in a great partnership of 253 with C. C. Clarke against the Pilgrims, his 136 being his first century for the school. Appointed captain for the following year, he was in devastating form, making 704 runs for an average of 78.22 and obtaining three centuries and four fifties by bold, aggressive strokeplay. Keeping up his reputation in 1931 with three consecutive hundreds for Repton, and some useful innings in Schools Week at Lord's, he was expected to enjoy a smooth passage into the first-class game when he went up to Cambridge.

Events, however, were to follow a strange course. Human played well enough for his 39 in the Freshmen's Match, but his claim for a further trial was disregarded by the captain, A. G. Hazelrigg, until the tour was well under way - and then only by chance. During the University's match with Surrey at The Oval, a member of the team noticed in a newspaper that Human had made 231 for Berkshire against Hertfordshire in the Minor Counties Championship. He was summoned by wire to Eastbourne for the next match, against H. D. G. Leveson Gower's XI, and an innings of 158 not out, even if not against the strongest of attacks, was good enough for him to be invited to play against Oxford with no more ado. He justified his selection with scores of 35 and 28 at Lord's. Yet none of this would have happened if the Hertfordshire mid-on had not dropped him off a sitter early in his double-century innings.

In 1933 Human finished top of the Cambridge averages, making 812 runs at 45.11 with two separate hundreds (110 and 122) to his credit against Surrey at The Oval. This was also his best season with the ball, and in taking 29 wickets at 32.37 he showed greater control over his leg-spin than hitherto. Against Lancashire at Fenner's he took seven for 133 in a total of more than 400, and the following year he improved on these figures with seven for 119 at Cardiff. In 1933-34 he toured India with MCC under D. R. Jardine, only to suffer early on from an attack of malaria. However, he had fully recovered in time for the 1934 season, when he captained Cambridge and in all first-class matches made 1,399 runs for an average of 53.80, including five centuries. His best was an unbeaten 146 at Worcester, where the University squeezed home by three wickets.

In 1935, the year of the "leather jackets" that made the Lord's square a graveyard for batsmen, Human played a full season for Middlesex. Little went right for him until August, when he scored two hundreds in successive innings as he shared in two splendid partnerships with Hendren: 285 at The Oval and 189 at Trent Bridge, facing Larwood and Voce. That winter he was a member of E. R. T. Holmes's side which toured Australia and New Zealand, and helped by 87 at Adelaide, 118 against Queensland at Brisbane, and 97 in an unofficial "Test" against New Zealand in Dunedin, he averaged just over 30. Back home he graced the 1936 season with 115 for MCC against the Indians in his only first-class innings, reaching three figures with a six into the Pavilion, and the following year he occasionally captained Middlesex when Robins was on Test duty. In 1938 he struck such good form in his several games for the county that his absences were a matter for general regret. By now, however, he had married the daughter of the mayor of Sydney and had decided to settle in Australia. In 105 first-class matches, Human's forceful methods brought him 5,246 runs for an average of 35.68, including fifteen hundreds, and he twice reached 1,000 runs in a season. His leg-breaks earned him 73 wickets at 34.23 apiece and he held 66 catches, being a magnificent fielder in any position.

JOHNSTON, CLIVE WILLIAM (SAILOR), who died on May 12, 1991, aged 66, played eleven times for New South Wales between 1949-50 and 1957-58, usually batting in the middle order and occasionally acting as captain when senior players were unavailable. His two best efforts with the bat were 65 against South Australia at Sydney in 1952-53, in a rain-ruined match, and 68 at Brisbane in 1956-57. Altogether he hit 418 runs for an average of 23.22.

JONES, PRIOR ERSKINE, died on November 21, 1991 in Port-of-Spain at the age of 74. A fast bowler with a splendid physique, delivering right-arm with a slinging type of action, he was 22 in 1939 and running into his physical prime when the outbreak of war brought an end to Test cricket for six years. Jones had captained Trinidad at soccer well before he had the chance to play in a Test match for West Indies. During the war years the islands kept in touch by arranging first-class friendlies, but while these were few in number, and in most the scoring was colossal, Jones and the bespectacled Lance Pierre, also from Trinidad, became talked about as the best fast-bowling combination in the Caribbean since Constantine and Martindale. When in 1947-48 an under-strength England, captained by G. O. B. Allen, arrived for a four-match Test series, the 30-year-old Jones was chosen for the First Test. His four for 54 at Bridgetown suggested that he was on course for a successful series, but this was his only appearance. The evidence strongly suggests that he was injured soon after in the first MCC v Trinidad match.

Jones was picked to tour India in West Indies' first venture to the subcontinent, in 1948-49, and while the awesome power of their batting bemused their hosts, the bowling attracted less attention. Even so, Jones was continually to the fore, taking seventeen wickets in the series in 191 overs at 28.17. In the Fourth Test at Madras, he took six wickets for 58, including four for 30 in the second innings as India were routed for 144. In Wisden we find that "Jones bowled with more fire and devil than at any other time in the tour . . . and if [he] came in for barracking none could deny the merit of his performance". At Bombay in the final Test, with West Indies one up, Jones prevented India from squaring the series with a remarkably well-sustained spell of fast bowling. Pegged back by his leg-stump attack in their pursuit of 361, they were 6 runs short with two wickets in hand at the finish. Jones's full analysis was 41-8-85-5, with Hazare, a crucial wicket, bowled for 122. Before returning home he wrought havoc at Colombo against Ceylon with match figures of ten for 62 as the tourists won the first of two games by an innings and 22 runs. And with 51 wickets at 18.54, he headed the tour averages, a distinction he richly deserved.

Jones was never quite the same after these exertions, though with his easy temperament he remained a splendid tourist and team member. In England in 1950 he played in two of the four Tests but did not get enough bowling to run into form. Ramadhin and Valentine had taken over the attack and the rest had walk-on parts. He took 33 wickets at 29.69 on the full tour. If England in 1950 was an anticlimax, Australia in 1951-52 was even more so. He played at Sydney in the Second Test, taking three for 68 in Australia's 517, but it was to be his final Test. Still, some relief came when he made 46 against Tasmania at Launceston. Throughout his career he had batted conscientiously amongst the lower order with limited success. In his nine Tests he made 47 runs at 5.22 and took 25 wickets at 30.04, while in 61 matches his first-class record was 775 runs at 14.09 and 169 wickets at 26.81. He held 33 catches.

KING, FRANK McDONALD, who died at Bescot, near Walsall, on December 23, 1990, aged 64, was possibly the best fast bowler produced by the West Indies during the long period between the enforced retirement of Constantine in 1939 and the advent in 1959 of Wesley Hall. In his account of the Fifth Test between West Indies and England at Kingston, Jamaica, in 1953-54, E. W. Swanton commented: "King has real pace and he brings down the ball from the very top. He is 6ft 2in, slender in build and with long arms. His spell this Morning was the fastest I have seen in West Indies. It contained a number of balls outside the leg stump, which the presence of leg-slips made it dangerous to glide, and a generous assortment of bumpers. Once there were three bumpers in four balls ... " England's makeshift opener, Bailey, received a sickening crack on the side of the head, and later Compton was toppled on to his wicket by a flying ball. According to Wisden, in an effort to pull the game round after his team had been dismissed for 139, Stollmeyer had called on King for a maximum effort. His response was an analysis on the second day of 21-11-31-2, but its legacy was a strained leg muscle, and he did not bowl again in the innings. As King was virtually the only strike bowler available at the time, it is hardly surprising that he became increasingly prone to muscular injuries.

He first appeared on the scene for Barbados against MCC in 1947-48, and by 1952-53 he was ready for Test cricket, playing in all five Tests against the first Indian Test team to visit the Caribbean. Against much stubborn batting he took seventeen wickets at 28.23 in 238.1 overs, including his best Test figures, five for 74, in the Third Test in Trinidad, when he ripped through the middle order, sending back Umrigar, Manjrekar and Mankad. A year later he missed two Tests against Hutton's side, but was hostile and lively in the other three. His analysis in England's first innings at Port-of-Spain in the Fourth Test, 48.2-16-97-3, stands as a monument to his hard work and persistence.

In 1954-55 Australia, smarting from their failure to regain the Ashes, played devastating cricket, and King, along with everyone else, received heavy punishment at the hands of a team which made twelve hundreds in the series. Injury ruined his tour of New Zealand in 1955-56, but he was fit and looking forward to the 1957 tour of England. When Gilchrist gained the selectors' vote, King gave up first-class cricket there and then, emigrated to England and settled in the Midlands, where he played with distinction for West Bromwich Dartmouth in the Birmingham League. In 31 first-class matches he took 90 wickets at a cost of 28.75, with five for 35 against Jamaica at Bridgetown in 1951-52 as his best return. Batting usually at No. 10 or No. 11, he made 237 runs for an average of 9.11, with a highest score of 30 not out against Trinidad at Georgetown in 1956-57. In his fourteen Tests he took 29 wickets at 39.96 apiece and scored 116 runs for an average of 8.28.

LAMBERT, GEORGE ERNEST EDWARD. who died at his home in Bristol on October 31, 1991, aged 72, was, as a fast-medium right-arm bowler, effectively the spearhead of Gloucestershire's attack from 1939 to 1957, when he retired with 917 wickets to his credit at 28.56 apiece. A more than useful lower-order batsman, capable of protecting what for much of his time was one of the longest tails in the Championship, he made 6,375 runs with an average of 14.89. He also held 194 catches. He was not a true all-rounder, however, rather a quick bowler who batted better than most, to which his 21 fifties bear ample testimony. He is well remembered by his contemporaries for his beautiful sideways action, which enabled him naturally to move the ball away from a right-handed opponent, and Andy Wilson, who stood to him for several seasons, asserted that he could move the ball both ways. An analysis of his career shows significantly that a high percentage of his wickets were from the top five of the opposition batting order. There was a period between 1948 and 1951 when he was decidedly quick for six or seven overs with the new ball and was regarded by many on the county circuit as the fastest bowler in England. He might have come under closer scrutiny from the selectors for the 1950-51 tour of Australia if he had come from a more fashionable county, and indeed Charles Parker, always a champion of the underprivileged, was overheard arguing Lambert's claims forcefully in conversation with Gubby Allen. Lambert had a sunnier disposition than most of his kind, and his sense of humour endeared him to his colleagues.

A Londoner by birth, he was on the groundstaff at Lord's before moving to Gloucestershire in 1937. The following year he made his first-class debut, against Lancashire at Old Trafford, and in 1939 he bowled with such life and accuracy that he took 74 wickets at 26 apiece and was awarded his cap. His eight for 82 against Essex at Gloucester was largely responsible for a win by an innings and 93 runs; and when Yorkshire came to Bristol he took four for 58 in their first innings, dismissing Hutton, Leyland and Barber and paving the way for victory over the champions by seven wickets. The Second World War deprived him of six fruitful years, and several seasons passed before he clicked into top gear. This was partly due to Goddard and Cook being used as the main strike-force on the well-sanded Bristol wicket, but when the retirement of Goddard put greater responsibility on Lambert's shoulders, he responded magnificently. In 1950 he took 95 wickets and bowled nearly 900 overs. His ten for 172 in the match against Kent at Bristol in May was the most influential factor in a thrilling game which could have gone either way and ended in a draw. A year later his record was much the same, and his five for 78 against the South Africans at Bristol, in a total of 388 for nine declared, was impressive work, especially as he dismissed Waite, Endean and Cheetham.

In 1952 Lambert reached his peak with 105 wickets in the Championship and 113 in all matches at 22.75. His seven for 123 against Yorkshire at Bristol contained four of the first five wickets in the first innings and the first three in the second. He dismissed Hutton, whose wicket was at that time the most prized, in each innings. Among a crop of splendid match figures, nine for 93 against Warwickshire at Cheltenham and eight for 100 at Hove stand out. Next year a return of 86 wickets, plus a higher average, marked a slight falling off, but he more than made up for this by hitting 719 runs for an average of 18.92. In 1954 he missed some matches through injury, but came back in 1955, his benefit season, with a resilient all-round performance. Playing as many as 56 innings, he reached his highest aggregate, 861 runs at 17.93, and took 80 wickets. He distinguished himself against Surrey at Cheltenham by removing the top five in the visitors' order, with the fifth wicket falling at 39, and at Worcester he made 100 not out, the only hundred of his career. As he neared retirement he occasionally showed some of his old fire, and in June 1956 his career-best eight for 35 in Yorkshire's first innings at Bristol set up victory by ten wickets, Gloucestershire's first over Yorkshire since 1948. Against Leicestershire he made 67 and shared in a seventh-wicket stand of 189 with Graveney (190), the next highest score being 12. Lambert retired at the end of the 1957 season, by which time he was approaching 38, and in 1960 he took up an appointment as Somerset's coach, captaining the Second Eleven in some matches and appearing three times in the County Championship side.

LEATHER, THOMAS WILLIAM, who was born in Rutherglen, Glasgow, died in Victoria, Australia on May 10, 1991, aged 80. A fast-medium right-arm opening bowler, he played four times for Victoria in the mid-1930s against Western Australia and Tasmania but was never selected for a Sheffield Shield match. In 1935-36, while the Australian team was in South Africa, Jack Ryder captained a side to India consisting of veterans such as Macartney, Hendry and "Dainty" Ironmonger, plus one or two younger men to do the hard work. Leather was one of the lucky ones and proved an excellent choice, in all first-class matches taking 47 wickets at 17.11, including 22 at 12.91 in the four matches against All-India. The following October he was chosen to play in Sydney in a testimonial match for W. Bardsley and J. M. Gregory, a great honour as there were eighteen Test players on view, and given first use of the new ball in each innings he took two wickets. In nineteen first-class matches he scored 219 runs at 13.68 and took 63 wickets for an average of 20.19.

LINDSAY, JOHN DIXON, died at Benoni on August 31, 1990, when a few days short of his 81st birthday. A wicket-keeper who was capable of useful runs or stubborn resistance down the order, he made his Currie Cup debut for Transvaal at Johannesburg in December 1933, but his next appearance, in 1936-37, was also his last for the full province of Transvaal. Next season he was elected captain of the newly formed North-Eastern Transvaal and led them to third place in the competition. In the first post-war Currie Cup season, 1946-47, he made his highest score, 51, batting at No. 8 against Rhodesia at Brakpan, and he was the first-choice wicket-keeper in the South African side which toured England under Alan Melville in 1947. According to Wisden, "... though he always gave the impression of much natural skill, he began shakily on the wet wickets and seemed to lose confidence so that Fullerton, a much better batsman, displaced him in the last two Tests". Certainly he received a nasty blow over the eye keeping to Athol Rowan at Worcester in the first match of the tour, but before the end of May the sun was shining and his keeping in the first three Tests received high praise, especially when he conceded only two byes in England's 554 for eight declared at Lord's. On the tour he held eighteen catches and made seven stumpings.

Lindsay later played for Natal and retired from first-class cricket in 1954-55, having made 55 dismissals in 29 matches, sixteen of them stumpings. He also scored 346 runs for an average of 11.16, being not out fourteen times. In 1960 he became a national selector, and he was later president of Northern Transvaal. His son, Denis, a wicket-keeper also, played nineteen times for South Africa before their exclusion from Test cricket.

LISTER, JOSEPH, who died at Harrogate on January 28, 1991, aged 60, had been Yorkshire's secretary since 1971. A dark cloud hung over Yorkshire CCC during his period of office, but throughout all the bitterness and intrigue he remained firmly at the helm. In 1948, after three years in the Cheltenham XI, he showed excellent form against Haileybury at Lord's and was picked for the Rest against the Southern Schools. A spirited innings of 75, made in 80 minutes, created a fine impression. National Service followed, and with it his first-class debut, in 1951, for the Combined Services against Glamorgan at Pontypridd. In 1953 he averaged 64.16 for Yorkshire Second Eleven, but halfway through the following season, after two matches for the senior side, he took up the position of assistant-secretary to Worcestershire, for whom he also appeared that year.

A right-handed middle-order batsman, he was never averse to opening, however, and in 1955 he shared in a first-wicket stand of 100 with Kenyon against Nottinghamshire at Kidderminster. Against Kent at Worcester he missed a century by 1 run, losing his leg stump to a slow full toss from Page. Other useful scores brought him more than 500 runs. In 1956, as well as becoming joint-secretary, he took on the captaincy of the Second Eleven, and he went on to lead them to their championship in 1962 and 1963, missing a hat-trick by a whisker in 1964. Worcestershire's two Championships in 1964 and 1965 owed much to the development of the Second Eleven under Lister. In his 24 first-class matches, he made 796 runs for an average of 20.41.

McALPINE, ALFRED JAMES (JIMMIE), who died on November 6, 1991, at the age of 83, was a patron of cricket in the old style, even to the extent of engaging, at one time, his own professional. Although sufficiently energetic a cricketer to have won his colours at Repton in 1926, and to captain Denbighshire in the 1930s, when they propped up the Minor Counties Championship, he was more in his element running his own side on the charming private ground at Marchwiel Hall, the family estate near Wrexham. This was country house cricket at its best, in which the play was keen, the standard very good and the hospitality as generous as it was jovial. The Free Foresters, the Cheshire Gentlemen and the Northern Nomads had regular fixtures there. It is also the ground from which Marchwiel won the National Village Championship in 1980 and 1984.

McCALL, BARNEY ERNEST WILFORD, who died in hospital at Cardiff on March 31, 1991, aged 77, was one of the best cricketers produced by Weymouth College between the wars. A left-handed bat and slow left-arm bowler, he was a member of the XI for five years from 1927 to 1931, with 636 runs (average 45.42) and 31 wickets at 19.54 in 1930 representing his best all-round season. In 1931, when Weymouth's matches were practically all ruined by the monsoon which hit the country at regular intervals, and run-making was an unrewarding pastime, he led his side from the front with his bowling and finished with the remarkable figures of 102.1-21-283-40-7.07. The choice of an Army career largely put paid to any chance he may have had to establish himself in senior cricket, and he was restricted to three first-class games, all for different teams. In 1936 he turned out for the Army against the University at Fenner's. Cambridge, batting first, scrambled home by 5 runs, and McCall's 31 in the fourth innings contributed in no small measure to the close result. Having made a successful debut for Dorset the same year, he represented the Minor Counties against the University at Oxford in 1937, claiming three well-taken catches at short leg in the second innings, and in1948 he was in the Combined Services side that played Worcestershire at New Road. He made 56 first-class runs all told at 9.33 and took one wicket for 35 runs. A prominent rugby footballer, he was capped three times for Wales in 1935-36.

McCANLIS, MAURICE ALFRED, who died on September 27, 1991, at the age of 85, played cricket with distinction for Cranleigh before going up to Oxford in the autumn of 1924. He was primarily a right-arm fast-medium bowler, able to swing the ball away from the right-hander, but he could bat well enough to make a hundred for his school in 1923, when he hit 371 runs for an average of 33.72. His bowling that year was devastating, bringing 36 wickets at 5.11 in 119 overs, and if he had to work harder for success in 1924, his 35 wickets nevertheless were reasonable at 13.65. He made little impact in the Freshmen's Match in 1925 and must have been surprised at his selection to play against Leicestershire a fortnight later. Going in last he helped to put on 59 in less than an hour with J. W. Greenstock, ending unbeaten on 30, and with three for 32 in 21 overs in the county's first innings he might have felt he warranted a further trial. None came. In 1926, however, he was one of the mainstays of the attack, with 31 wickets at 29.70, and won his Blue with no trouble. In the University Match he produced a sensational opening spell, sending back E. W. Dawson, F. J. Seabrook and K. S. Duleepsinhji without conceding a run. All three were lured by perfectly pitched out-swingers and caught at second slip by G. B. Legge. McCanlis finished with five for 59, and was 15 not out when Oxford lost by 34 runs. His 33 wickets the following season were obtained at a reduced cost of 22.93, and also with a much improved striking-rate. At Lord's, when Cambridge cut loose in their second innings and were able to declare at 349 for nine, he alone escaped punishment with an economical four for 47 in 23.4 overs.

Captain in 1928, he missed almost the whole of the home programme in The Parks because of illness and injury, and he was only just beginning to find some sort of form by the time of the University Match. He managed five wickets, but probably had greater satisfaction from masterminding a rearguard action from the dressing-room, as his tailenders fought tooth and nail to ward off defeat. The last pair were unparted for 25 minutes, and saved McCanlis from a hat-trick of defeats. That was virtually the end of his first-class career. He had made two appearances for Surrey while at Oxford, and played for Gloucestershire once in 1929. He also played for Rajputana in 1938-39 and 1939-40, when he was teaching in India. Apart from that spell, he taught at Cheltenham from 1932 to 1966. McCanlis made 493 runs in first-class cricket at 15.40, and his 82 wickets were obtained at a cost of 32.21. A threequarter at rugby, he played twice for Oxford at Twickenham and won two England caps in 1930-31. MELSOME, BRIGADIER ROBERT GEORGE WILLIAM (BOB), MBE, died at Gloucester on November 3, 1991, aged 85. As a boy at Lancing he developed into a middle-order right-hand bat and a slow off-break bowler of considerable potential and tight control, and he took 25 wickets at 11.20 in 1924, the year he captained the XI. The great triumph of the season was victory over Tonbridge by 61 runs. In 1925 he was given a trial of eight home matches as a batsman by Gloucestershire, the spin bowling at that time being in the capable hands of Parker, Sinfield and Percy Mills, and he nearly made a success of it with 172 runs at 15.72. But after his 47 against Middlesex at Bristol, when he helped Bloodworth put on 94 in 95 minutes for the sixth wicket, he managed only 25 runs in his last five innings. By 1926 he was playing representative cricket for the Army, and he had a memorable week early in June when he upset each University in turn. At Oxford he claimed eight for 103, which included a spell of four for 11, and at Fenner's his analyses were 17-4-38-5 and 20-6-35-3, his "appreciable" break and accuracy being duly noted. A month later he was in great form at Lord's in the needle match against the Navy, taking six for 44 in the second innings to earn another mention in dispatches. After several years abroad with his regiment, he reappeared in the Inter-Services match in 1931; and he turned out regularly in these games almost until the war, making useful runs and taking wickets. Against the Public Schools at Lord's, in August 1938, he made a robust 74 and took five for 52 with his probing spin, thus emphasising his genuine all-round ability. However, he failed to impress the Australians a fortnight later in a two-day match at Aldershot, the wicket of Fingleton costing him 23 runs in four overs. In his 27 first-class matches, Melsome made exactly 500 runs, for an average of 13.15, and captured 45 wickets at 24.40 apiece.

MEYER, ROLLO JOHN OLIVER (JACK), OBE, who died in hospital at Bristol on March 9, 1991, just six days before his 86th birthday, was the founder of Millfield School and for many years its headmaster. Most people who knew little or nothing about the way he ran it were aware that it produced a succession of high-class games-players, including cricketers. It was Meyer's all-round ability at games, and his firm belief in their character-forming importance, which prompted him to make the necessary arrangements to support the promising youngster during his time at Millfield. He went to Haileybury himself and won his colours at sixteen, emerging as a somewhat mercurial forcing batsman and a bowler who delivered just about everything under the sun at slow-medium to medium pace. He became a compulsive experimenter, ceaselessly plotting and planning; subtle variations of pace, spin and swerve based on correct line and length were his main weapons. His flair for the big occasion, already evident in 1921, enabled him to put the shackles on Cheltenham in the following year, when he took four of their top five wickets for 39 in 26 overs. As captain in 1923 he got through an immense amount of bowling, sending down 333.3 overs for 59 wickets at 16.17, and still found the energy to make 360 runs.

H. S. Altham, writing on public schools cricket in the 1924 edition of Wisden, remarked that: "Meyer got through more work with the ball than any other school bowler . . . but in spite of this he very rarely lost his length, and even at the end of term at Lord's there was a lissomness and nip about his bowling which suggested a certain class. He was, as a captain should be, at his best in the school games . . . having a real field day against Uppingham - eight for 75 in the first innings and five for 39 in the second."

A tall, wiry, tense, restless figure, he went up to Cambridge in 1923 and did not disappoint his supporters the following season, taking nine wickets in the Freshmen's trial. Adapting easily to the demands of the first-class game, he produced consistently good figures in match after match, and he was rewarded with selection for a Gentlemen v Players match at Blackpool at the end of the season. In the Players' first innings his full analysis was 21.1-5-38-8. He won his Blue in all three years, and in May 1926 he attracted special notice when he took six for 65 in 45.5 overs for Cambridge against the Australians at Fenner's, his victims including Collins, Macartney, Ponsford and Andrews. When the Australians went in a second time, needing 59 to win in twenty minutes, Meyer took two for 5 in three overs and the match was drawn. Yet just when he was looking like a possible Test player, he was lost to English cricket for ten years, going to India to try his hand at cotton broking. Not that he neglected his cricket: in 1926-27 he played in four matches against A. E. R. Gilligan's MCC team, and a year later he secured the best bowling figures of his career, with nine for 160 (sixteen for 188 in the match) for the Europeans against the Muslims at Bombay.

In 1936 Meyer, throwing in his lot with Somerset on his return from India, proved to be a vastly improved batsman. Indeed, statistics show that he was twice as good. He announced himself with 202 not out at Taunton when Somerset were forced to follow on after Lancashire had made 423, hitting one six and 26 fours, mainly through beautifully timed drives. This commanding innings hoisted him to thirteenth place in the general averages, and in 1937 he made 543 Championship runs for an average of 38.78, without the help of a single not out. Twelve years after his first triumph against the Australians, he excelled himself in 1938 this time at Lord's, with five for 66 in 26.2 overs for the Gentlemen of England in the Australians' first innings of 397. Fingleton, Brown and Bradman were among his victims. After war service with the RAFVR he played in ten matches in 1946, his excellent form with the bat including two free innings of 52 and 94 against Essex at Taunton, where he drove a ball from Peter Smith over the pavilion into the churchyard, and in 1947 he was entrusted with the captaincy of Somerset. Perhaps results did not come up to expectations, but the professionals, if bemused by the eccentricity of his stratagems, appreciated his concern for their well-being. He had to put up with the discomforts of lumbago for much of the season, but even so he managed a typical flourish in August, with innings of 88 and 65 against Glamorgan at Weston-super-Mare. Meyer, whose cricket was at times not without a touch of genius, played in 127 first-class matches, including 65 for Somerset to 1949, and made 4,621 runs for an average of 23.69, with two hundreds. His bowling earned him 408 wickets at 25.31, and he held 85 catches.

MILLETT, FREDERICK WILLIAM, who died, aged 63, in Macclesfield Hospital on April 30, 1991 from a heart attack, following a car accident, really put Cheshire as a minor county on the map. He did it both through his work behind the scenes on committees and other bodies and, more importantly, by his skill and enthusiasm on the field. His tactical enterprise when he was captain, from 1960 to 1970, and his knowledge of the workings of the two-day, two-innings game, came to be appreciated by all concerned. Cheshire, hitherto ill-considered opponents, were soon rated among the most popular counties to play, and in 1967 they carried off the Minor Counties Championship. Millett first played for them in 1949, and soon settled into the role of opening batsman. When he stood down at the end of the 1972 season, he had made 8,432 runs for them in 210 championship appearances, as well as taking 300 wickets. Midway through his career, he had discovered the art of bowling off-breaks. His contribution in the championship year was 300 runs and 41 wickets at 11.24.

Millett played seven times in first-class fixtures for Minor Counties representative teams, and with 312 runs for an average of 31.20 in these games he demonstrated that he could have stepped up a gear into first-class cricket. In 1969 he had the double honour of captaining the Minor Counties against the West Indians and, batting at No. 6, making 102 not out against them. In addition to his work for Cheshire, he was a member of the MCC committee, serving for a time on the Club's influential Grounds and Fixtures sub-committee, and in 1982 he was player manager on the MCC tour in the United States, captained by A. R. Lewis.

MILLINGTON, ERROL, who died in his native Barbados on April 29, 1991, aged 75, was a tall, slim, left-arm fast-medium bowler. He made his debut in Jamaica in 1946-47, and in 1950-51 he appeared twice against Trinidad in the Quadrangular Tournament used by the West Indies selectors to help them choose the side to tour Australia in 1950-51. His three matches brought him five wickets at 40.80 each.

MOBEY, GERALD SPENCER (GEORGE), died on March 2, 1979, three days before his 75th birthday. His death had gone unrecorded; and it is thanks to the perceptive enquiries of David T. Smith that it has come to light. Mobey was afflicted by bronchitis and emphysema towards the end of his life and seems to have become something of a recluse. This may well have caused his death to go unnoticed. A high-class wicket-keeper and useful right-hand batsman, he made his first-class debut for Surrey in 1930 against Cambridge University at The Oval, hitting 48 not out; but condemned to the relative obscurity of the Minor Counties Championship by the efficiency of Ted Brooks, he was not able to command a regular place in the first team until halfway through 1939. That same season he had kept brilliantly for Minor Counties against the West Indians at Lord's. A more ambitious man than Mobey might have looked elsewhere for employment, but he seems to have been content with his role as understudy. Indeed, Mobey's experience was not dissimilar to that of Farrimond of Lancashire, who in spite of two MCC tours and four matches for England could not displace Duckworth behind the stumps in the county side. Mobey was chosen for MCC's projected tour of India in 1939-40 and, but for the war, could well have become a Test player himself. He had strengthened the Surrey batting in 1939 by some sound displays, and in making 66 not out at The Oval against Gloucestershire had shared in a last-wicket partnership of 88 with Gover. In 1946 he had his only full season without a rival in sight and performed admirably at the age of 42. Arthur McIntyre, already on the staff, became the first-choice wicket-keeper in 1947 and Mobey quietly withdrew from the scene, finding employment as coach at Tonbridge for two years. Surrey called him back for four matches in 1948 when McIntyre was injured at the end of July. From 1950 to 1955 he was on the first-class umpires' list. In 81 first-class games he made 1,684 runs for an average of 18.10, and his dismissals numbered 141, eleven of which were stumped.

MOON, DOMINIC JAMES TIMOTHY, who died on November 26, 1991, aged eighteen, in hospital at Canterbury following a motor accident, had been twelfth man for Kent against Gloucestershire earlier in the year. A promising left-handed opening batsman, he was captain of the Kent College XI in 1991, making three significant hundreds to lead his side to victory, and he went on to mark his second eleven debut for Kent with a top score of 63 in their first innings against Nottinghamshire. He had represented Kent Schools since the age of ten and England Schools (South) at Under-15 and Under-l9. In December he was due to attend the Bull Under-I8 Development of Excellence coaching at Lilleshall.

MUMFORD, LAURENCE (LAURIE), who died at Havering-Atte-Bower on May 22, 1991, aged 72, succeeded E. M. Wellings as the chief cricket correspondent of the London Evening News. He covered England's tour to the West Indies in 1973-74 and went to Australia three times with England teams.

O'BRIEN, FRANCIS PATRICK, who died on October 22, 1991, aged 80, had an excellent record in his 23 matches for Canterbury from 1932-33 to 1945-46, scoring 1,317 runs at 35.59 with four hundreds and six fifties. A hard-hitting right-hand middle-order batsman, tall, elegant and a powerful driver, he engaged in a memorable partnership with Walter Hadlee in 1939-40 against Otago, the pair winning the match by hitting 210 in 82 minutes after their side had been left to score 303 in 160 minutes. O'Brien came near to international honours, being twelfth man for his country on one occasion. In 1938 he was taken on by Northamptonshire in an effort to climb off the foot of the Championship table, and while neither he nor the county had much to reflect on with pleasure that season, a year later O'Brien made 784 runs at 21.18, despite the generally wet conditions. With K. C. James and W. E. Merritt also at Northampton, he was the "third useful Colonial" in the team, and on one jolly occasion, against Warwickshire at Northampton, the three contributed to the total as follows: James (No. 7) 50, O'Brien (No. 8) 48 and Merritt (No. 9) 53 not out. They couldn't win that match, but at least they helped R. P. Nelson, an inspiring captain, to pass on the wooden spoon to Leicestershire. In 66 first-class matches on opposite sides of the globe O'Brien made 2,649 runs for an average of 24.52, and if his occasional right-arm medium-pace bowling was expensive at 46.78 a wicket, his fourteen victims included such notable scalps as Herbert Sutcliffe, Hutton, Hassett, Constantine, Compton and Edrich. He held 34 catches.

PAGE, JOHN COLIN THEODORE, who died, aged 60, on December 14, 1990 when driving home from the Sevenoaks indoor school, had been manager of Kent from 1975 to 1981, taking over from Leslie Ames, and was director of youth coaching for the county until shortly before his death. He was originally offered terms in 1949 as a keen, promising fast-medium bowler, and he made his Championship debut in 1950. However, it soon became clear that he would fall short of the required standard in this role, and in 1952 he began to experiment with off-spin, at once looking a much more likely prospect. Thereafter progress was steady, and he had some excellent figures, among them a match return of twelve for 169 at Northampton in 1954 and, making skilful use of a rain-damaged pitch, six for 33 as Middlesex were bowled out for 118 at Lord's in 1955. He was capped in 1957, when he took 69 wickets at 18.34, including a career-best eight for 117 in a Warwickshire total of 443 at Birmingham, but while there were 86 wickets in 1958 and 72 in 1959, it seemed that he had reached his ceiling. The turning-point in Page's career came in 1960 with his appointment as captain of the Second Eleven. His brief was to build up a body of players who would go on to win something in the 1970s, and just how well he succeeded is shown by the names of those players who formed the nucleus of the Championship side of 1970: Knott, Underwood, Denness, Luckhurst and Ealham. Of these, the first four played for England with distinction. Along the way his young men won the Second Eleven Championship in 1961, 1969 and 1970, and under his guidance Kent completed a marvellous decade by taking the County Championship in 1977 (jointly) and 1978. as well as excelling in the one-day competitions. Page played in 198 matches for Kent. taking 521 wickets at 28.72. As a batsman he had no pretensions to anything other than being a tailender and made 818 runs for an average of 5.48. He held 74 catches.

PASSMORE, JOHN, who died in August 1991 at Cape Town, aged 80, would have rejoiced greatly at South Africa's return to the fold. He was a true cricketing pioneer in that for a long time he was the only member of the cricket establishment to take the game to the black townships. An example of his single-minded devotion was the setting up of the John Passmore Week, annually organised at national level to focus attention on burgeoning black schoolboy talent. In years to come, when the South African national squad contains black cricketers, they will surely look back on John Passmore's devoted work in introducing them to the game. In a tribute to him, Dr Ali Bacher wrote: "His example symbolises the spirit of our new cricket, and history will accord him a very special place in South African cricket's Hall of Fame."

PAWLE, SHAFTO GERALD STRACHAN, who died in Cornwall on July 26, 1991, aged 77, was a widely experienced journalist, who made a return to cricket reporting after a long absence when he wrote for the Daily Telegraph for some fifteen years up to the mid-I980s. He had joined the Yorkshire Post before he was eighteen and witnessed at close range one of the great periods of Yorkshire cricket, when they earned seven Championships between 1931 and 1939. After the war he spent several years at the Sunday Times. His biography of his friend and neighbour, entitled R. E. S. Wyatt - fighting cricketer, published in 1985, threw new light on several controversial issues, including the genesis of bodyline. An England squash international, Pawle qualified as a playing member of MCC, his sponsors being Sir Pelham Warner and Sir Henry Leveson Gower.

PHILLIPSON, WILLIAM EDWARD (EDDIE), who died on August 24, 1991 in Trafford General Hospital, aged 80, was a valuable member of the Lancashire side before and immediately after the Second World War. A genuine all-rounder, he was a right-arm fast-medium opening bowler and a solid, reliable middle-order batsman. He made a notable first-class debut in 1933 against Sussex at Old Trafford: going in last, he played with such good sense and judgment that he helped his captain, P. T. Eckersley, put on 102. His own contribution was 27. In 1934, although his opportunities were limited, he registered a career-best eight for 100 against Kent at Dover, and a year later 71 wickets at 22.00, and more than 400 runs, signalled an impressive advance. By 1937 he was fully into his stride and came within striking distance of the double. His total of 131 wickets was bettered only by eleven others, and against Nottinghamshire at Old Trafford he hit his maiden hundred. Lancashire were 78 for five before Paynter (132) and Phillipson (105) put on 176 for the sixth wicket. He had another fine season with the ball in 1939, claiming 133 wickets at 22.33 and three times finishing with seven in an innings. At Gloucester, where he "combined length, swing and pace off the pitch" as the home team were hustled out for 79, Phillipson's figures were seven for 18 from 11.6 eight-ball overs. That summer also produced his highest score; 113 at Preston when Glamorgan were the visitors.

In August 1945, after war service in the RAF, Phillipson appeared in the fifth and final Victory "Test", at Old Trafford, enjoying notable success with nine wickets in the match, including six in the second innings. He bowled very straight, drawing most of the Australians into the stroke against their will, and only Miller and Cristofani played him with any confidence. He was also chosen to play for England against the Dominions at Lord's three days later. Although in 1946 he picked up the threads so well that he made 855 runs and took 80 wickets at 24.12. he was now in his 36th year, and two years later he felt compelled to retire. In 162 matches he had scored 4,096 runs for an average of 25.76, taken 555 wickets at 24.72, and held 82 catches. Subsequently he played for Northumberland, and from 1956 to 1978 he was on the first-class umpires' list. During that time he stood in twelve tests.

POTHECARY, ARTHUR ERNEST (SAM), who died at lver on May 21, 1991, aged 85, occupied most places in the middle order for Hampshire during a career which extended from 1927 to 1946. A left-handed batsman, he was also an occasional slow left-arm bowler with a pleasing style which, early on, had suggested real class. Towards the end of the 1920s, Hampshire were looking to bring in replacements for such stalwarts as Mead, Brown, Newman and Kennedy, and Pothecary was one of a number of young professionals tried. On his debut, against Surrey at The Oval in 1927, he went in last, making 24, and took four second-innings wickets, including those of Hobbs and Sandham, a performance which led to exaggerated hopes for his future progress. As it was, he had to serve a long apprenticeship before finally producing some consistent form in 1932. In 1933 he made his thousand runs for the first of four times, and his maiden hundred, 101 at Southampton, helped Hampshire avoid defeat after a big Surrey score. His best years were 1936 to 1938. Not many centuries are made at No. 9, but Pothecary performed this feat against Northamptonshire at Portsmouth in 1936. In all he made nine hundreds, with the highest, 130, coming against the New Zealand tourists at Bournemouth in 1937. In 1938 he enjoyed his best season with 1,357 runs at 27.14. Pothecary played in just three matches after the war, and in his 271 first-class games, all for Hampshire, he totalled 9,477 runs for an average of 23.34. Although his bowling never fulfilled its early promise, he picked up 52 wickets at 41.15; in the field, he often shone at cover-point and he held 46 catches. He was appointed to the first-class umpires' list in 1949, and later took charge of the RAF ground at Uxbridge.

POWYS-MAURICE, CANON LIONEL SELWYN, who died at Buckden, Huntingdonshire, on January 1, 1991, aged 91, showed exceptional promise as a schoolboy batsman. As L. S. P. Maurice, he had a highly successful season for Haileybury in 1917, going in first and scoring 398 runs in twelve innings; his 140 against Uppingham, made in two hours with scarcely a mistake, was the XI's highest score. However, he made little impression as a Freshman at Oxford, and a trial in the Seniors' Match of 1922 went no further. Northamptonshire took an interest in him that summer, and after a splendid innings of 65 against Worcestershire at Northampton on his debut, scoring all round the wicket and hitting one six and seven fours, he was given an extended run and recalled in 1923. As it turned out, he failed to play another innings of note, and his eleven matches produced just 156 runs for an average of 8.21.

PUCKETT, MAXWELL CHARLES, who died in Adelaide on August 25, 1991, at the age of 56, played in one inter-state match for South Australia, against Western Australia at Adelaide in 1964-65. A right-arm fast-medium bowler, he was called up because David Sincock, South Australia's left-arm wrist-spinner, was playing for Australia against Pakistan in Melbourne. Puckett bowled first and then second change, taking a wicket in each innings at a reasonable cost. His father, C. W. Puckett, had played for Western Australia against South Australia in 1939-40, also taking two wickets.

RIMBAULT, BRIGADIER GEOFFREY ACWORTH, CBE, DSO, MC, DL, died on October 20, 1991 at Bovey Tracey, aged 83. From 1924 to 1926 he played with distinction for the Dulwich XI, being described at sixteen as an attractive type of player and being commended for his part in a great stand in the match with MCC. In 1925 he had an excellent record, making 644 runs for an average of more than 50, and H. S. Altham, writing in Wisden, called him an outstanding cricketer. ". . . he started rather shakily, but played some splendid innings and in power and variety of stroke was clearly in a class by himself. His 209 not out against Incogniti was a really brilliant piece of batting, while he took toll of the Authentics bowling to the tune of another century, and met with consistent success for the Young Surrey Amateurs in August. A fine field at mid-off, he should be a tower of strength to whom he captains in the coming season." He was indeed that tower of strength in 1926, for in addition to making 500 runs he showed leadership qualities quite out of the ordinary. That August, he played for a Public Schools XV against the Australians at Lord's, a match not to be repeated on subsequent tours, and going in early he was bowled by Everett for 3. Having shown all the attributes for successful leadership, Rimbault was earmarked by Surrey for this role in the future, but he chose a military career instead and closed the door on a life in first-class cricket. In India he played for the Europeans in 1933-34, and in 1938 he made 16 in the Army's only innings against the University at Cambridge.

SCHOKMAN, VERNON C. (PUG), who died in Australia in 1991, aged 86, was a prominent figure in Ceylon cricket between the wars. A useful middle-order batsman, he was an outstanding wicket-keeper, notable for his quiet efficiency. As a schoolboy he made four hundreds for Trinity College, Kandy, between 1920-21 and 1923-24, the highest being 142 against Royal College, as he added 260 for the fourth wicket with Roy Gibson - still a record in Sri Lankan schools cricket. He captained the team in his last two years. Later he played for the Ceylon Police Force. He was first-choice wicket-keeper on Ceylon's first official tour of India in 1932-33, when he scored usefully, and also appeared for All Ceylon and the combined India and Ceylon team when Jardine brought MCC to Colombo in February 1934. In the second match he had reached 39, much the highest score in a first-innings total of 104, when a rising ball from E. W. Clark struck him on the head and he fell on his wicket. The crowd, familiar with the controversy of the bodyline tour of Australia the previous year, were in uproar and booed the visitors, who won by only 8 runs. Schokman's two catches and a stumping had helped to dismiss them for 78 in the second innings. He continued to represent the island until the visit of the 1938 Australians under Bradman.

SERRURIER, LOUIS ROY, died at Hermanus, Cape Province, on January 16, 1991, aged 85. An all-rounder who opened the batting, and the bowling if needed, he was educated at Cape Town and went up to Oxford in October 1924. Ten for 72 in the Freshmen's Match earned him a place in the University side, but he lost his form and dropped out of the running for a Blue in 1925. Given a golden opportunity to prove his worth the following year when he was sent in first against the Australians, he failed to get a start in either innings. In his last year, he was most unfortunate not to get the final place for the Lord's match, especially as he had taken fourteen wickets at 25.71 and a further five for the Harlequins against the University. Later in 1927, however, he played in seven games for Worcestershire, bringing some solidity to the side and heading the averages. He was at his best against Gloucestershire at Bristol, making 110 and 59 with little support in either innings. After his return to South Africa, Serrurier distinguished himself in February 1928 by carrying his bat for Western Province against MCC. His 74, made out of 162, was a determined effort against a varied attack including Hammond, Wyatt, Freeman and Astill. In the trial matches of 1928-29 which preceded the tour to England, he registered 59, 51 and 171, the highest score of his career, and with his knowledge of English conditions he must have been considered for a place. However, the vote went against him. He had a successful Currie Cup in 1929-30, making 105 against Natal and averaging 39.85, but that was his last full season. In 1931-32 he made one appearance for Transvaal, scoring 56 at Durban in his only innings to increase his first-class aggregate, from 30 games, to 1,281 runs for an average of 33.71. His bowling earned him 42 wickets at 26.83 apiece, and he took seventeen catches.

SMITH, PETER WILLOUGHBY, who died in London following a heart attack on December 6, 1991, aged 55, had since 1989 been the Public Relations Manager at the Test and County Cricket Board. This was a new appointment, and he soon came to grips with the many complex problems involving the first-class game's relations with the media. In his short period in office there was a noticeable improvement in communication and mutual understanding. After the best possible grounding as a sports writer with Hayter's, from 1974 to 1979 he was cricket and rugby correspondent for the News of the World, and then cricket correspondent of the Daily Mail until 1988. He was chairman of the Cricket Writers Club from 1982 to 1985. STOCKLEY, ANTHONY JOHN, who died in Adelaide on May 29, 1991, aged 51, was a prominent off-break bowler in Surrey club cricket when the county called him up for three first-class games in 1968 as cover for Pocock. Tried against three different types of opposition - Cambridge University, W. M. Lawry's Australians and Kent (in the Championship) - he came through with flying colours and showed admirable temperament and control in collecting ten wickets for 194 runs. He was a towering figure, 6ft 8in tall, and the steepness of his flight and lift from the pitch clearly made him an awkward proposition. His analysis against the Australians, 37-14-74-4, points to the respect with which he was treated. Stockley toured Australia in 1974 with the Club Cricket Conference and emigrated two years later, settling in Adelaide, where he performed well enough to be included in the South Australian state squad, though he was not selected for a Sheffield Shield match.

TELANG, BHALACHANDRA (BABU), who died at Varanasi on July 22, 1991, aged 75, played for Uttar Pradesh in the Ranji Trophy, making his debut in the Trophy's first season, 1934-35, when the team was known as United Provinces. Captain in 1951-52, his last season, he was a right-hand batsman with a highest score of 176 against Assam at Dehra Dun in 1950-51, when he shared in a partnership of 241 with M. Shukla. In twelve first-class matches he scored 448 runs for an average of 22.40, while his one wicket cost 166 runs.

TUCKER, WILLIAM ELDON, CVO, MBE, TD, FRCS, who died at his home in Bermuda on August 4, 1991, aged 87, was a distinguished orthopaedic surgeon, who chose to specialise in sporting injuries. The cricket-loving public and especial admirers of Denis Compton may not have realised that the extension of his career beyond 1949 until 1957 was entirely due to Tucker, who performed a series of operations on the most celebrated knee in the land. Tucker himself was a sportsman, who played rugby for England, winning three caps.

TURNER, KENNETH CHARLES (KEN), who died at Northampton on September 24, 1991, aged 71, was one of the most successful county administrators of his time. After service with the Army in the British Zone of Occupation in Germany, he was appointed assistant secretary at Northamptonshire in 1949, and if this was a leap in the dark, for Turner had had little, if any, experience of cricket, it was not the only inspired move made by the committee. That same year they had persuaded F. R. Brown to take charge on the field. The rehabilitation of Northamptonshire's cricket was under way. In 1958 Turner became secretary, and with his formidable and dominating personality he was until his retirement in 1985 a powerful influence behind the scenes. His fund-raising in his early days was legendary. Largely by means of a football pool, and then by promoting rock concerts in the Indoor School, large sums were collected, out of which the playing staff was greatly strengthened. For a layman, he possessed an uncanny skill for spotting potential in young players, who were nurtured with great care and attention. He was always looking for the hard-working, solid sort of player and had no time for prima donna types.

The achievements of the club during his long tenure of office were considerable once the spectre of continuous failure had been banished. The Gillette Cup and Benson and Hedges Cup were won in 1976 and 1980 respectively, and twice, in 1979 and 1981, Northamptonshire were the losing finalists at Lord's in the 60-over final. Downright in expressing his opinion and not noted for his tact, he will be remembered with respect as an important figure in the development of Northamptonshire cricket.

WAHID, MOHAMMED ABDUL, who died in 1991 as the result of a motor accident, aged 80, was one of the leading all-rounders in Ceylon cricket from 1930 to 1950. A dual-purpose left-arm bowler, he toured India in 1940-41 with the national team, and though the hard Indian pitches did not suit his kind of bowling, he proved his worth as a patient opening batsman. His 52 against All-India at Baroda occupied more than three hours. For many years he captained the Moors club and frequently claimed 100 wickets a season in club cricket.

WALKER, WILLIS, who died on December 3, 1991 in a nursing-home at Keighley, Yorkshire, having just embarked on his 100th year, had for some years been recognised as the oldest living county cricketer. A right-handed batsman and an elegant strokeplayer, he was for much of the time between 1913 and 1937 Nottinghamshire's No. 3, and as such he was an integral part of the side which won the Championship in 1929, having so nearly taken the honours two years before. He was born at Gosforth in Northumberland on November 24, 1892.

Walker's father was employed as a clerk on the estate of Sir Joseph Laycock, which lay between Retford and Bawtry, near Nottingham, and was equipped with its own cricket ground, where two all-day games a week were staged. Thus the boy, shy and retiring by nature, enjoyed the privilege of growing up and learning his cricket in gracious surroundings. Promise was fulfilled when he was taken on to the Nottinghamshire groundstaff in 1911, and two years later, at twenty, he made his first-class debut at Dewsbury against the powerful Yorkshire side. A few more opportunities came his way before the war caused a break, but after serving as a PT instructor at the Royal Navy Depot at Crystal Palace, he prudently chose to rebuild his game by playing for Keighley in the Bradford League. Not until four seasons had passed did he rejoin Nottinghamshire, in 1923. His captain, A. W. Carr, enabled him to get his maiden hundred that year, against Essex, by delaying the declaration, and 1924 saw a further advance. When the breakthrough came in 1925, with the retirement of the elder Hardstaff, the pattern of Walker's career was already becoming apparent. He made 1,384 runs at 33.75 that summer, an average very near his career figure of 32.37, and for the following ten seasons, except 1934 when illness interfered, his performance stayed on a highish plateau with little or no variation. In 1933 he made 1,730 runs at 39.31, having a year earlier had his best average of 42.05, but 1936 and 1937 brought a gentle decline, and when the time came he was pleased to retire, having scored in all 18,259 runs and passed 1,000 runs on ten occasions. His fielding in the deep was exemplary, as might be expected from a former Football League goalkeeper, and he held 110 catches. He was always immaculately turned out.

Walker's career was highlighted by 31 hundreds, the biggest coming at Lord's in 1930 against Middlesex. He batted through the first day for 165 not out, revealing off-side strokes of the highest class, with the occasional exquisite late cut, and on the other side of the wicket a nice selection of placements off his legs. His skill on treacherous turf was superbly illustrated by his undefeated 133 at Coventry against Warwickshire in 1929, Nottinghamshire's Championship year. Their team was a blend of solid, near-veteran batting and youthful, vigorous fast bowling, and Walker held a pivotal position in the batting line-up, with George Gunn, Whysall, Payton and Carr before and aft. At one time or another he shared in large partnerships with all these players, most notably with Gunn when the pair added 265 in only three hours for the second wicket against Hampshire at Bournemouth in 1928. He was also the batting link in the inevitable period of transition, most unfortunately aggravated by the sudden death of Whysall in November 1930, calmly settling things down as the new generation of Keeton, Charlie Harris, Joe Hardstaff Junior and G. V. Gunn gradually took over.

Walker, a shy and self-effacing man, was never a dominating player, hungry for runs. The limit of his ambition was to serve his county as well as he possibly could. It is not surprising that he and Hobbs became firm friends, with a high regard for each other. They were much the same: quiet, gentlemanly, honest and upright. And they both made a success of small sports businesses which flourished under careful stewardship.

WEAVER, MAJOR PHILIP HUMPHREY PETER, who died on June 28, 1991, aged 79, made nearly 2,500 runs for King's School, Bruton, from 1927 to 1930. Dyslexia had prevented his being admitted to one of the more fashionable cricketing schools. In successive years his highest innings were 168 not out, 155 not out and 154, and in 1930 his aggregate was 982 with an average of 75.53; but no invitation came to play in the Schools Week at Lord's. A hard-working opening bowler, he also took 89 wickets for the XI. In spite of these achievements, he had played no big cricket when he appeared twice for Hampshire in 1938: against Glamorgan at Cardiff, where he made 17 and 1, and Cambridge at Southampton, when he got 37. In the Second World War he served with the SAS.

WEBB, DARREN, who was killed by a fall from a train in Zimbabwe on March 12, 1991, aged twenty, while coaching there, seemed to be on the threshold of a county career. A member of the Horsham club, he made impressive progress through Sussex Young Cricketers' grades and in 1990 was in the National Association of Young Cricketers squad to play the MCC Schools at Lord's. He missed final selection there, but an unbeaten century in the Esso/NAYC Festival earned him the batting award at Cambridge. Prior to his death he had been awarded the Crole-Rees bursary, which in effect would have maintained him as a full-time member of the Sussex staff.

WHITMAN, ERIC IOAN EMLYN, who died on December 5, 1990, aged 81, appeared in two matches for Glamorgan in 1932. Given the new ball at Leicester he produced the respectable analysis of 10-1-27-1 in the second innings, and in the following match, at Edgbaston, he toiled away throughout Warwickshire's innings of 463 for five declared, sending down 34 overs for 113 runs. His two wickets were the good ones of Len Bates and Jack Parsons. He would seem to have earned further opportunities, but an average cost of 57.33 for his three wickets may have persuaded the club otherwise. His batting low down the order brought him 27 runs for an average of 9.00, with a highest score of 16. Whitman also played Minor Counties cricket for Cambridgeshire.

WIGNALL, ERIC WILLIAM EDWARD, who died at Oxhey, Hertfordshire, on January 2, 1991, aged 58, played in three matches for Gloucestershire in 1952 and 1953. A right-handed batsman and leg-break bowler, he had previously been on the groundstaff at Lord's. When Gloucestershire met the Combined Services at Bristol in 1953, after an interesting struggle the Services were set 339 to win. They were going well and looking like winners until Wignall chipped in with two vital wickets: he caught and bowled the redoubtable A. C. Shirreff for 77 and dismissed J. E. Manners when he was 34. In the end, the Services fell 33 runs short of their target. Wignall had made 24 runs, average 8.00, and taken two wickets at 31.50 apiece when injury forced him to give up any further ideas of first-class cricket.

WOODHEAD, FRANCIS GERALD, who died in Nottingham on May 24, 1991, aged 78, was a fast-medium right-arm bowler who played for Nottinghamshire on either side of the Second World War, making his debut in 1934 and playing his last match early in 1950. He was on the staff at Trent Bridge at a difficult time. It was hoped that he and Harold Butler would fill at least some of the gap left by the retirement of Larwood and the gradual waning of Voce's powers, but both men were prone to injury and the pitches at Trent Bridge favoured batsmen much too much for the health of the county's cricket. Woodhead made a good impression with his return of four for 60 in more than 30 overs against Sussex at Trent Bridge in 1934, his victims including John Langridge, George Cox and Harry Parks, and in 1935 he was given more of a run in the Championship side. His 22 wickets at 20.63 contained a splendid performance, six for 28, against Warwickshire in the home match, but the next two seasons were disappointing. He was accurate, able to move the ball sharply from a perfect length, and hard to get away, but throughout his career he found wickets elusive. His best season was 1938, when he took 69 wickets at 25.04. At Trent Bridge towards the end of August he exploited the moisture left by a heavy dew to claim seven for 24 as Worcestershire were bundled out for 73, and this remained the best bowling of his career.

In the first post-war season Woodhead was worked hard, sending down more than 650 overs at a cost of little more than two and a half runs per over; with seven for 41 in 18.2 overs in Gloucestershire's first innings at Nottingham he did not deserve to be on the losing side. The highlight of an otherwise barren season in 1948 was his dismissal of Bradman, Hassett and Miller, all bowled, when the tourists came to Nottingham. His career figures show that he took 320 wickets at 32.96 apiece, but he was a better bowler than that. He was not much of a batsman, but sometimes he connected to good effect, as when he made 38 not out against all-conquering Yorkshire at Trent Bridge in 1938. He hit three sixes and took part in a last-wicket stand of 56, which increased the Nottinghamshire lead to 83. In 141 first-class matches, Woodhead made 1,100 runs for an average of 8.46, with a highest score of 52 not out against Hampshire in 1936, and he held 80 catches. Throughout the 1950s and till 1965 he was the cricket professional at Nottingham High School, and in 1970 he returned to Trent Bridge, where he became a highly respected and successful coach. He was awarded a testimonial in 1979 to mark his final retirement.

WYKES, NIGEL GORDON (TIGER), who died in December 1991, aged 85, played 30 matches for his native county, Essex, and won a Blue at Cambridge in 1928. An opening or middle-order left-handed bat, he had shown distinct promise at Oundle, where in 1923 he was the soundest batsman of a good side, scoring 110, 79 not out and 80 in consecutive innings towards an aggregate of 489 and an average of 54.30. Next year, despite slightly inferior figures, he was "thought to be on an equal to any batsman Oundle has turned out. His century against Pembroke was a grand innings." In 1925 he made his first-class debut for Essex against Leicestershire at Southend, at the tail-end of the season, and a year later he played just once for Cambridge in his quest for a Blue. This turned out to be an "ordeal by fire", for he encountered the young Larwood at his fastest. In 1927 he made his two centuries - 145 not out at Fenner's against the Army and 162 for Essex against Kent at Leyton, "batting finely for more than four hours and a half" - but he won his Blue in 1928 as much for his fielding as his batting, having dropped down the order to No. 9. Still, he made two useful contributions at Lord's, with 27 and 19 not out. Wykes spent his working life teaching at Eton, eventually becoming a housemaster, and until 1936 he found time to play one or two matches a year for Essex after the end of term. In all he made 1,277 runs for an average of 23.64.