Obituaries in 1993

ABBOTT, GLEN CHARLES, who was killed in a car accident on May 9, 1993, aged 23, was a very promising South African cricketer. He was a left handed batsman whose form for Griqualand West in 1991-92 was sensational: in 11 innings in the UCB Bowl he hit three hundreds, and his aggregate for the season of 754 runs was second only to Kepler Wessels. He moved to Northern Transvaal to play Castle Cup cricket in 1992-93 but was not immediately successful. He was enthusiastically involved in township coaching. Ali Bacher, chief executive of the United Cricket Board, described him as a very warm and sensitive young man.

ACHARYA, MAHIPAT, who died at Rajkot on January 7, 1993, aged 69, represented the states of Kathiawar and Saurashtra in the Ranji Trophy. Later he acted for many years as a selector, adviser and coach to the Saurashtra Cricket Association.

AGGARWAL, VIVEK, was killed on April 26,1993, when an Indian Airlines plane crashed just after take-off from Aurangabad. He was 31 and a flight purser with the airline. He played in one first-class match, in the Ranji Trophy for Haryana against Bengal at Faridabad in 1982-83.

AHMED, HABEEB, died on July 10, 1993, aged 52, after a long illness. He was a right-hand batsman and off-spinner who played for Hyderabad, Railways and Madras in the Ranji Trophy and represented South Zone in the Duleep Trophy. In the 1958-59 season he scored 400 runs, averaging 80, and in 1962-63 took six for 12 for Madras against Mysore.

ALEXANDER, HARRY HOUSTON, died in Melbourne on April 15, 1993, aged 87. He was Australia's oldest living Test cricketer, a distinction which passed to Keith Rigg. Bull Alexander (the nickname was well-earned) was a strong, broad-chested man and a pacy and combative right-arm bowler. He played only one Test, at the end of the Bodyline series in 1932-33, but his appearance was eventful. Alexander had first encountered Douglas Jardine when he played his second match for Victoria four years earlier. He took four for 98 against MCC but Jardine complained that he was running on the pitch and forced him to bowl round the wicket; Jardine scored 115. No one had forgotten the incident when Alexander came to play for Australia. In the second innings, with England needing just 164 to win, Jardine again accused him of roughing up the pitch whereupon he bowled bouncer after bouncer, scoring several direct hits. A disgraceful exhibition, said Wisden. It was not bodyline bowling, as he did not have a packed leg-side field, but it was the nearest Australia had come to retaliation and the Hill roared with delight. It did not last long: England won easily and Alexander's match figures were one for 129 and nought for 25. Earlier in his career, Alexander had furthered his reputation by dismissing Bradman twice. He served in Crete, the Middle East and the Pacific in the war before settling in Euroa, the birthplace of Merv Hughes. In later years, he admitted that Jardine had a ton of guts. But he insisted: It's part of a fast bowler's trade to give'em a few in the ribs occasionally. Keeps'em honest.

ALI, SYED MUBARACK, who died on February 3, 1993, aged 79, was an off-spinner who was no-balled for throwing 29 times in an innings by umpire EddieWard, while playing for Trinidad against Barbados at Bridgetown in 1942. He took a wicket after being forced to switch to bowling underarm. When he bowled from the other end, umpire Herman Griffith had no complaint. This was the only time in his five first-class matches he was no-balled, though questions were raised on other occasions. He took 16 wickets at 32.25.

ALLSOPP, ARTHUR HENRY, who died on February 6, 1993, aged 84, played for New South Wales and Victoria after a deprived childhood, spent partly in a home for delinquents. He made an immediate impact in his first important match, for a Southern Districts XIII against Percy Chapman's MCC team in 1928-29, when he drove and pulled powerfully and made 79 not out. A year later he made 117 on first-class debut for New South Wales against MCC and 136 in his fourth Shield game, against South Australia. That season in the Shield he averaged 64.57, second only to Bradman. However, he had failed in a Test trial and could not recapture his best form the next season. Three years later, he Played for Victoria and, against Tasmania, became the first man to make a hundred on debut for two states. His career finished when he caught enteric fever on Frank Tarrant's tour of India in 1935-36. Contemporaries believed he was top-class - his career average was 45.90 - and could have been chosen to tour England in 1930, but the Australian authorities were wary of his lack of social grace; there were bad reports. However, his team-mates liked him and he was virtually adopted by Archie Jackson's family.

ANAND RAU, PADMANUR, who died at Madras in November 1991, was an Indian radio commentator sometimes described as South India's John Arlott. He worked from 1943 until the 1970s.

ASHENDEN, JACK GILBERT, who died on November 14, 1992, aged 81, was a right-arm medium-pacer. He played in 16 first-class matches in New Zealand, nearly all for Wellington between 1935 and 1945. He took 53 wickets at a cost of 28.27, his best return being six for 44 against Otago.

AYRES, RYALL SYDNEY, died on November 24, 1991, aged 60. Tim Ayres was a batsman and occasional leg-spinner who played in four games for Queensland in the 1950s. His father, S. W. Ayres, also played for the state.

BARLING, HENRY THOMAS, died at Hastings on January 2, 1993, aged 86. Tom Barling was a stalwart Surrey batsman from 1927 to 1948. He made a highly successful start but lost form for four seasons until 1933, when he began a six-year sequence of scoring 1,000 runs every season. The 1934 Wisden said that for several years he had been instructed not to play his natural game of driving half-volleys even when he had just come in; he almost left to join Middlesex. Returning to his own style, he scored 1,915 runs in the season, including 269 in just over five hours against Hampshire. He continued to score prolifically in a style which E. M. Wellings said was as correct and pleasing as anyone's in the game. But his strokeplay was far less assured against the fastest bowling and, since he was on the plumpish side, he was not the greatest of fielders. But in 1946, when he had turned 40, he was still good enough to pass 2,000 for the only time, including an unbeaten 233 against Nottinghamshire on the August Bank Holiday weekend, with The Oval packed. He made 19,209 runs at 34.61 in 391 first-class matches, with 34 centuries. He coached at Harrow from 1948 to 1966. Alf Gover, who, shared a benefit with him in 1946, said: Tom was a very fine strokemaker. He could hit the ball through the covers like anything. He was a very pleasant man too, full of fun.

BASS, JOHN GEORGE, who died on October 16, 1992, aged 89, played two Championship matches for Northamptonshire in 1935.

BAXTER, AUSTIN GODFREY, who died on January 17, 1993, aged 61, was an amateur batsman of whom Nottinghamshire had high hopes in the early 1950s. He scored 98, with strong driving, against Essex at Southend in 1953; it was said that he had the look of Joe Hardstaff. But he played only 13 matches before devoting himself to business.

BENNETT, FREDERICK ONSLOW ALEXANDER GODWYN, died on March 17, 1993, aged 79. Alex Bennett was chief executive of Whitbread Brewery from 1967 to 1975 and initiated the scholarship scheme whereby young cricketers were sent out to Australia each winter. Of the 27 chosen between 1976 and 1984, 16 played for England and one ( Dipak Patel) for New Zealand. He opened the bowling for Winchester in 1931 and was a keen club cricketer.

BRAY, CHARLES, who died on September 12, 1993, aged 95, spent ten years playing as an amateur batsman for Essex, between 1927 and 1937, and 30 as the highly professional cricket correspondent of the Daily Herald, from 1935 until the paper's closure in 1964. Bray's playing record was unspectacular but he was a steady, handy, performer in a weak side and often had to deputise as captain. He was sometimes known as the Ranji of Leyton, though that was more a matter of his complexion and manner of keeping his shirts buttoned at the wrist than his batting. In 1931 he scored three centuries. In 1932 he was in charge on the famous day Holmes and Sutcliffe broke the record with 555 for the first wicket. It was his goodwill in agreeing to a missing no-ball that enabled the record to stand; Sutcliffe had given his wicket away with the scorebooks not backing up the board's assertion that they had passed the record. It was said Bray was not always so good-humoured about it and once accused a motor salesman of insulting him, after he tried to sell him a car with 555 on the number plate. The salesman knew nothing of cricket and was baffled. Bray was mentioned in dispatches as a war correspondent. As a cricket writer he had an easy style, strong opinions and operated in a spirit of popular-paper inquiry, though the questions were gentler than would become the norm in the Herald's successor paper The Sun. His personal style was such that he was frequently presumed to be the gentleman from The Times.

BROADBENT, ROBERT GILLESPIE, who died on April 26, 1993, aged 68, was one of the mainstays of the Worcestershire side of the 1950s. Joining the club via Caterham School and five years' service as an RAF navigator, he played between 1950 and 1963, and established a reputation as an adaptable middle-order batsman and, above all, as an excellent close fielder, who took 297 catches in his 307 games. Before joining Worcestershire he played for Middlesex Second XI as an amateur and often reserved his best form for matches against his old county, including a match-winning 155 in 1951. He hit Keith Miller out of the ground at New Road at the start of the 1953 Australian tour, though his county's position often meant he had to be more obdurate. He also played first-class hockey for Worecestershire.

BROWN, EDWARD K., died on August 15, 1993, aged 82. Ted Brown gave up school-teaching in 1968 to become a full-time bookseller, specialising in cricket material. He was based in Liskeard, Cornwall, an address that became famous among collectors.

BRYAN, REGINALD CHARLES PETER, MBE, who died on May 9, 1993, aged 77, took six for 54 in his only first-class match, Europeans v Indians at Madras in 1937. After a career in the Army and naval intelligence, he became bursar of Worcester College, Oxford.

BURNETT, ANTHONY COMPTON, died on May 31, 1993, aged 69. Tolly Burnett was a middle-order batsman in the strong and successful Cambridge side of 1949, averaging 37.66 in the season, though he was out for a duck at Lord's. He failed to get a Blue in 1950 and then became a science master at Eton. However, he was regularly considered as a possible amateur captain for one of the smaller counties. Northamptonshire enquired about him in 1954 but were told he had become rather portly. In 1958 Glamorgan went so far as to give him a run of eight matches to test him as a possible successor to Wilf Wooller as captain; he averaged 6.20 in ten Championship innings amid some internal dissent and the experiment was deemed to have failed.

BURNS, ROBERT CROSBIE, died in August 1993, aged 93. Bob Burns kept wicket for Canterbury in 14 matches between 1928 and 1934 and once effected five stumpings in a match off W. E. Merritt. He was New Zealand's oldest first-class player when he died.

CADOGAN, COL. EDWARD HENRY, CBE, who died on February 7, 1993, aged 84, was a fast-medium right-arm bowler whose Championship experience was confined to four matches for Hampshire in 1933 and 1934, but he finished top of the county's bowling averages in each season. He took five for 52 against Middlesex in 1934. Cadogan had captained Sandhurst and also played for the Army and, in India, the Europeans. He was wounded in Normandy during the war.

CASTLE, DENNIS, who died in February 1993, aged 78, counted cricket high among a variety of interests. He was member No. 111 of the Lord's Taverners and captained the charity's team. Of his two novels, one, Run Out the Raj, featured a fictional cricket team in India. He was the first editor of the comic Radio Fun.

CHAKRAPANY, V. M., who died on June 26, 1993, aged 69, was a Broadcaster who covered numerous Tests for All India Radio and Radio Australia. He was based in Australia between 1968 and 1988.

CLARKE, Dr CARLOS BERTRAM, OBE, died in Putney on October 14, 1993, aged 75. Bertie Clarke was a Barbadian who came to England with the 1939 West Indian team and did unexpectedly well with his fast leg-breaks, taking 87 wickets, though only six of them came in the three Tests. He then decided to study medicine at Guy's Hospital and became a GP in Pimlico, London. He was a regular in the wartime British Empire XI. After the war, he played 49 times for Northamptonshire and, after Freddie Brown's arrival cost him his place there, 18 times for Essex. He took 333 first-class wickets at 26.37. His later cricket was for the BBC - having been an early contributor to the Caribbean Service - but Clarke was such an enthusiast that even when playing county cricket he would catch a train to play in a BBC Sunday match. He played on for them until he was 70, taking an estimated 3,000 wickets, and still won the First XI Bowling cup in his final season. He was awarded the OBE in 1983 for his community work amongst West Indians in London.

CLUGSTON, DAVID LINDSAY, died on September 27, 1993, aged 85. Lin Clugston was a left-handed batsman and spin bowler who played three games for Warwickshire in 1928 and three more in 1946. He later became familiar, until 1988, as the stentorian-voiced ground announcer at Edgbaston who would upbraid small boys for the slightest mischief in an echoing basso profundo. His successor is still sometimes called the Cluggie.

COCK, DAVID FREDERICK, who died on September 26, 1992, aged 77, was an amateur batsman who was awarded his Essex cap after only 11 matches in 1939, when he scored 98 against Somerset at Westcliff. He reappeared briefly in 1946 but played only 14 matches in all. He was a long-serving and highly-regarded club cricketer for Bishop's Stortford.

COLE, Major-General ERIC STUART, CB, CBE, who died in December 1992, aged 86, played three matches for Kent in 1938 and on his county debut took four for 78 against Lancashire, bowling highly effective medium-fast out-swingers. He also played first-class cricket for the Army and the Free Foresters. Cole had a distinguished career in the Royal Corps of Signals and eventually became Director of Telecommunications at the War Office. In his youth he was Army light-heavyweight boxing champion.

COMFORT, Professor HOWARD, who died in Philadelphia on September 20, 1993, aged 89, spent almost the whole of his life at Haverford College, Pennsylvania, the last cricket-playing college in the US. As a student he made 124 against Merion and in 1925 captained Haverford on a tour of England. He stayed on to become Professor of Classics and founded the C. C. Morris Cricket Library at the college. He was a world authority on Roman pottery and, in the 1960s, was briefly US cultural attaché in Italy.

COSGRAVE, BRYAN, who died on November 26, 1992, aged 89, scored exactly 100 for Victoria against Tasmania in 1931-32, in one of his four first-class matches.

CRANFIELD, LIONEL MONTAGUE, died on November 18, 1993, aged 84. Monty Cranfield was an off-spinner who played for Gloucestershire 162 times between 1934 and 1951, his appearances being restricted by the presence of Tom Goddard, who played on until he was past 50. Cranfield was a big spinner of the ball and a popular, good-natured man. He took 233 first-class wickets at 32-91. Before joining Gloucestershire, he spent a year on the Lancashire staff. He was the Gloucestershire scorer from 1950 to 1952.

CRAWLEY, AIDAN MERIVALE, MBE, who died on November 3, 1993, aged 85, was one of seven members of his family, Harrovians all, to play first-class cricket, and perhaps the most brilliant. His 87 against Eton at Lord's in 1926 was widely regarded as the best innings in the match for many years. In Wisden, H. S. Altham called him a beautiful player. In 1928 he broke the Oxford scoring record, with 1,137 runs (average 54.14) and five hundreds, including 167 against Essex and 162 against Surrey. In 1929, he made 204 against Northamptonshire at Wellingborough with ten sixes and 22 fours, apparently having driven to the ground straight from an Oxford ball. For the Gentlemen at Lord's he hit A. P. Freeman over the old free seats on to the Nursery End. He played 33 matches for Kent, mostly in 1931 and 1932, but his subsequent career took him off in many different directions, most of them distinguished, some contradictory: he was Labour MP for Buckingham (rising to be Under-Secretary of State for Air in 1951) and, having grown disillusioned with nationalisation, Conservative MP for West Derbyshire. He was also a pioneering documentary film-maker, a fighter pilot, a PoW who staged a spectacular if brief escape, the biographer of de Gaulle and an early TV personality, as presenter of the 1950s series Viewfinder. In 1955 he became the first head of Independent Television News, where he encouraged the then novel idea of probing questions, and he was later the first chairman of London Weekend Television. He retained his cricketing connections, was president of MCC in 1972-73, chairman of the National Cricket Association for its first seven years and one of the begetters of the National Village Championship. His perseverance did not always match his versatility and panache. The last years of this handsome, gilded figure were clouded with tragedy: his wife was killed in a car crash and his two sons in a plane crash.

CUTHBERTSON, GEOFFREY BOURKE, who died on August 9, 1993, aged 92, was captain of Northamptonshire in 1936 and 1937, two of the desperate reasons during the county's four-year sequence without a win. He played 43 matches for the county, of which none were won and 27 lost. Not surprisingly, he was remembered by team-mates as a genial optimist, as well as a bold batsman. Earlier, he had been a member of the Malvern XI, played for Cambridge (though he failed to get a Blue), Sussex (once) and Middlesex. When he died he was joint-senior member of MCC, having been elected in 1919.

DAVIES, HAYDN GEORGE, who died at Haverfordwest on September 4, 1993, aged 81, was Glamorgan's wicket-keeper from 1939 to 1958. He was thickset, stocky - winner of two Welsh schoolboy rugby caps - but nimble enough to be a born Glamorgan wicket-keeper. In 1946 he was chosen for a Test trial; it was unfortunate for him that Godfrey Evans emerged at the same time. He settled to become a stalwart professional, and often captained the team before his retirement in 1958. He had 789 career dismissals (82 of them in 1955 alone). His batting was often effective and sometimes very bold, but not up to Evans's standard.

DEODHAR, Professor DINAKAR BALWANT, who died at Pune on August 24, 1993, aged 101, was the world's oldest living first-class cricketer. He not merely became a real-life centurion, he was the first Indian to score a hundred for a representative side against a visiting team: 148 for All India against A. E. R. Gilligan's MCC team in 1926-27. This confirmed his reputation as one of the best batsmen in India, secured over several seasons playing for the Hindus in the Bombay Quadrangular. India's Test status came too late for him, since he was already 42 by 1932, but he remained a successful batsman for Maharashtra in the Ranji Trophy until 1946. He led them to the trophy in 1939-40 and 1940-41, having effectively founded the team as a breakaway from Bombay and recruited V. S. Hazare to play for him. Deodhar was still scoring first-class centuries long after he was 50: two in a match against Nawanagar in 1944-45, the last in a charity match in 1946. He was almost 56 when he played his final first-class match in 1947-48. In 81 first-class matches he scored 4,522 runs, averaging 39.22 and hitting 12 centuries. He was a Professor of Sanskrit. He was also an Indian selector, first-class umpire, radio commentator and the author of three books in English and Marathi. When he was 97 he wrote an introduction to a book about C. K. Nayudu. The tribute included a rebuke about Nayudu's chain-smoking which, he said, led to his early death at the age of 72.

DURLEY, ANTHONY WILLIAM, who died on January 1, 1993, aged 59, was a lower-order batsman and wicket-keeper who played five matches for Essex in 1957. Between 1960 and 1976 he played for Bedfordshire and later became chairman.

EDRICH, ERIC HARRY, who died at his home in Cambridgeshire on July 9 1993, aged 79, was a member of the famous Norfolk cricketing family: the oldest of four brothers who all played first-class cricket. Bill Edrich was one of his younger brothers, along with Brian of Kent and Glamorgan and Geoff of Lancashire; John Edrich is their cousin. Eric was a wicket-keeper who played for Lancashire in 33 games between 1946 and 1948, having played for Norfolk before the war. In May 1948 he scored two consecutive centuries, the second in the Roses match at Headingley, then stumped Bradman off Malcolm Hilton. From this peak, he rapidly lost form and his place. He coached at Stowe School, briefly emigrated to New Zealand, then returned to Norfolk and chicken-farming

FOLLEY, IAN, the former Lancashire left-arm spin bowler, died in hospital on August 30, 1993, aged 30. He had been struck under the eye trying to hook a short ball, while captaining Whitehaven in a North Lancashire League match against Workington. He jogged off the field and it was assumed he would only need a few stitches but, while under anaesthetic, apparently suffered a heart attack. Folley played for Lancashire from 1982 until 1990 and was regarded as a promising medium-pace bowler before the manager Jack Bond encouraged him to switch to spin. At first the change worked magnificently, and he took 68 Championship wickets in 1987, including seven for 15 against Warwickshire at Southport. He took 57 wickets in 1988 but then began to suffer the yips and found bowling almost impossible. In 1991 Folley moved to Derbyshire, but played in only four matches. In 140 first-class games he took 287 wickets. At the time of his death he was managing a night club.

GARLAND-WELLS, HERBERT MONTANDON, died on May 28, 1993, aged 85. Monty Garland-Wells was one of the leading amateur characters of the immediate pre-war period. Educated at St Paul's, he scored 64 not out and 70 for Oxford in the Varsity match in 1928, the year he made his debut for Surrey. He was a sporting all-rounder - he kept goal for the England amateur team - and a cricketing one. As a middle-order batsman, his batting never again touched the heights it did at University; nevertheless he, Errol Holmes and Freddie Brown were referred to at Surrey as the Biff-Bang Boys. He also bowled medium-pace cutters good enough to bowl Bradman for 32 in May 1930 when he was striving for his 1,000. Garland-Wells took over the Surrey captaincy in 1939 and captained the team as he played, with a touch of unorthodoxy in the tradition of Percy Fender; he was also very popular with the professionals without a hint of amateur aloofness. It promised to be a successful as well as a happy reign; however, the war came and commitments as a solicitor prevented him carrying on in 1946. Thereafter, he concentrated on golf and bowls. In the war his name was informally used as a code word in North Africa: Garland-Wells = Monty = Montgomery. This was more impenetrable to the Germans than the most complicated cipher.

GHOSH, WILLIAM, died on June 26, 1993, in Delhi, aged 64. Willy Ghosh was left-arm pin bowler who took 207 first-class wickets at 17.07, playing for East Punjab, Railways and North zone, and twice appeared in Test trails. He was unfortunate to be a contemporary of such players as Vinoo Mankad, Durani and Nadkarni.

GOBEY, STANLEY CLARKE, who died at his home at Harpole, Northamptonshire, on November 20, 1992, aged 76, played twice for Warwickshire in 1946 as a left-hand bat and right-arm medium-pace bowler.

GREENIDGE, WITNEY TYRONE, died of leukaemia on November 19, 1993, aged 28. Tyrone Greenidge was a 6ft 5in Barbadian fast bowler who played five games for Barbados between 1985 and 1987 and also league cricket in Lancashire, Sussex and Holland. He was a particularly considerate coach of young players.

HAMER, ARNOLD, who died on November 3, 1993, aged 76, played twice for Yorkshire in 1938 and was breaking records for Pudsey St Lawrence 11 years later when the Yorkshire president recommended him to Derbyshire. He was already 33 but became a county stalwart throughout the 1950s, playing in the phlegmatic Derbyshire manner but sometimes producing innings of great quality and elan, often on bad wickets: his 112 not out, carrying his bat, on a green pitch at The Oval in 1957 was one of the great innings of the season.

HANCOCK, LAURANCE WILLIAM, who died on January 2,1993, aged 94, was almost synonymous with Minor Counties cricket in general and Staffordshire cricket in particular, with a record of service that is quite extraordinary. He became Staffordshire's assistant secretary in 1927 and seven years later followed his father as secretary. His father had done the job for 25 years; he did it for 53 and never missed a Staffordshire match until 1992 when he was taken ill. From 1970 to 1983 he also served as Hon. Secretary to the Minor Counties Cricket Association. He was awarded the Queen's Jubilee Medal in 1977, and in 1992 was made an Honorary Life Member of M. C. C. He nurtured Staffordshire-born players like David Steele and Bob Taylor and they revered him for it. He was like a father to us, said Taylor.

HARRIS, TERENCE ANTHONY, died on March 7, 1993, aged 76. Tony Harris, only 5ft 6in tall, was one of those magnificently brave and athletic all-round sportsmen in which South Africa has long specialised; he may have been the greatest of them all. He excelled in half-a-dozen sports. While still a schoolboy in Kimberley he was playing Currie Cup cricket, scoring an unbeaten 114 on his debut for Griqualand West; before he was 21 he was the Springbok fly-half, partnering Danie Craven against the All Blacks in the only South African side to win a series in New Zealand; soon after that he found himself flying Spitfires until he was shot down off Italy in January 1945 and captured. As a cricketer, he was an attacking batsman and an athletic fielder. He played in three Tests after the war, scoring 60 in the First Test at Nottingham on the 1947 tour. He played again at Lord's and at Johannesburg on England's 1948-49 tour but without further success.

HENDY, WILLIAM JAMES, was New Zealand's oldest first-class cricketer when he died on September 23, 1992, aged 92. Hendy played two first-class matches for Auckland in 1927-28. He is best remembered for a sensational innings for the Auckland Suburban Association against Christchurch HS OB, who had two future Test bowlers, Cromb and Merritt, in their attack. Hendy was 200 not out at lunch and finished on 300 not out.

HEWETSON, General Sir REGINALD HACKETT, GCB, CBE, DSO, died on January 19, 1993, aged 84. Reggie Hewetson played in six first-class matches, for the Europeans in India in 1929-30 and for the Army in 1935-37. He commanded field regiments of the Royal Artillery in Italy in the war, when he was awarded the DSO. He rose to be the Adjutant-General at the Ministry of Defence.

HIGSON, THOMAS ATKINSON, jun., who died on January 15, 1993, aged followed his father by playing for both Derbyshire and Lancashire. He was a left-handed batsman who scored 101 in 95 minutes for Cheltenham against Haileybury at Lord's in 1930. After leaving school he played six times for Derbyshire then moved to captain Lancashire Second XI. He took over as first-team captain in 1939 when W. H. L. Lister was absent. Higson was earmarked for the captaincy at Old Trafford in 1946, but could not spare the time from his law firm. He was Lancashire president in 1977-78.

HOWARD, ALAN RAYMOND, who died in March 1993, aged 83, played for Glamorgan 59 times between 1928 and 1933, occasionally keeping wicket. His father and brother both played for Leicestershire.

JEFFREY, WILLIAM, who died on September 2, 1993, aged 43, was Guyana's highest-qualified coach. He played seven matches for Berbice and Guyana in 1969-70 and 1970-71.

KAPLAN, JACK MAURICE, who died at Durban on October 13, 1991, aged 66, played eight first-class matches for Combined Universities and Natal in South Africa in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Later, he worked hard for the Natal Cricket Union.

KILBURN, JAMES MAURICE, died on August 28, 1993, aged 84. J. M. Kilburn was the extraordinarily durable cricket correspondent of the Yorkshire Post from 1934 to 1976. He was the representative of an important tradition of cricket writing, quite different to that of Neville Cardus across the Pennines: harder, less flashy, more punctilious. He was originally a schoolmaster who was given a job on the paper because his name was familiar to the editor from the Bradford League columns - he bowled medium-paced off-breaks. Kilburn then developed his own method of writing: with a fountain pen on press telegram forms at 60 or 80 words a shilling. At the close of play he immediately concluded his essay; he hardly ever crossed anything out. His cricketing judgments were assured and rigorous, his style exact but sometimes elegant: Leyland's bowling is a joke but it is an extremely practical joke. He was a tall, austere man who had little truck with press-box banter. He also refused to write anything about events off the field, though these became more and more important in Yorkshire cricket and his editors would send him plaintive notes about the need to compete with the Daily Mail. However, he had made his reputation, with seven books as well as his daily work, and was unsackable. Long before his retirement, he had started to cut an old-fashioned figure. That never worried his readers. Yorkshire cricket was losing its authority and hauteur; its most important chronicler never lost his. Though he became blind, Jim Kilburn remained an upright, dignified man until he died.

LAMB, HENRY JOHN HEY, died on February 5, 1993, aged 80. John Lamb was working as an articled clerk in his father's law firm when he was called out to captain Northamptonshire in 1936. He had played 15 county matches and established a reputation as a resolute batsman, but many years later he agreed he was not best equipped for the task of transforming what was then an entirely chaotic county. All these people were so frightfully kind, he said. They made no attempt to take advantage. He scored 91 not out against Essex and returned to lead the team six times in 1937. Thereafter, he was president of Kettering Town CC for 27 years.

LEWIS, CLAUDE, BEM, who died on April 26, 1993, aged 84, was a man of Kent through and through. Born at Sittingbourne, he joined the county in 1928 as a player, became the coach and retired as scorer in 1988. He was a slow left-arm bowler who did not get a first-team match until 1933 but thereafter continued until 1953, taking 301 wickets at 27.23 in 128 matches. In the damp summer of 1939 he came eighth in the bowling averages. On his retirement, he helped bring on some of Kent's finest players. As a scorer, he was efficient, humorous and much loved. He was awarded the British Empire Medal in 1989.

LINNEY, CHARLES KEITH, who died at Tunbridge Wells in September 1992, aged 80, was a vigorous left-handed batsman who played in 32 matches for Somerset between 1931 and 1937.

MITRA, SUHRID, who died on February 24, 1993, aged 75, played in the Ranji Trophy, making his debut for Bengal in 1939-40. Later he became a successful coach. Among his proteges was the Test batsman Pranab Roy.

MUTTON, HOWARD JAMES CHARLES, who died on November 20, 1992, aged 68, played in five Sheffield Shield matches for South Australia in 1959-60. He captained the side in the last of these, at Adelaide against Western Australia. He later managed the South Australian team and coached at Pembroke School, Adelaide, and Tonbridge in England.

OVERTON, GUY WILLIAM FITZROY, who died on September 7, 1993, aged 74, was one of New Zealand's best-liked cricketers. He was a fast-medium fight-arm swing bowler and a regular member of the Otago team from 1945 to 1956. He was also a particularly good-natured and hard-working player. Overton appeared in three Tests in South Africa in 1953-54, but his finest hour came when he took seven for 52 against Western Australia on the way home. He took 169 first-class wickets but scored only 137 runs.

PEPPER, CECIL GEORGE, who died on March 24, 1993, aged 74, was a leg-spinner often described as the best Australian player never to win a Test cap. He was, without any doubt, one of the greatest characters ever to come near the game, to whom anecdotes clung, as with Fred Trueman, some of them actually true. He Played 16 matches for New South Wales before the Sheffield Shield closed down for the war, building a reputation as a big spinner of the ball, a great exponent of the flipper, and a hitter of devastating power. Next to Keith Miller he was the big attraction of the 1945 Australian Services team in England and he emulated C. I. Thornton's 1886 hit by smashing Eric Hollies over the houses at Scarborough and into Trafalgar Square. It was assumed he would soon play for Australia but a few months later at Adelaide he exchanged words with umpire Jack Scott, after Scott had turned down three appeals against Bradman. He left Australia to play League cricket for seven different clubs in Lancashire, Cheshire and Staffordshire. He never did learn to keep quiet and it made him one of League cricket's great drawcards. A Manchester Evening News correspondent said he could not imagine any match involving Pepper pursuing a peaceful course. Usually there was more humour than anger, though when he went to India with the 1949-50 Commonwealth side he had to leave early because the umpiring annoyed him so much. It was thus gloriously ironic that in 1964 he became a first-class umpire. For 16 seasons he mixed an irreverent manner with a fearless if occasionally idiosyncratic approach to his job. He wrote to MCC warning them about the West Indian Charlie Griffith's action. Three kicks and yer out, he would sometimes tell batsmen before the lbw law changed. The fearlessness may have been among the reasons he was never chosen for the Test panel, something that made him increasingly bitter; he never gave captains or top batsmen any special benefit of the doubt: I used to shoot'em out, no matter who. Lord's were also wary of the extent to which he fraternised with players. Among the great Pepper stories is the one (which has many variations) about the mild-mannered League umpire who finally lost patience with his swearing appeals and shouted back: Not out, you fat Australian bastard. He ended his own umpiring career just as helmets were coming in. Dennis Amiss suggested Pepper might hold his. You hold it, mate, and use it as a pisspot. Many of the stories concern his generosity. On his death, one friend said Cec was the only man he knew who could talk, spit, chew, belch and pass wind simultaneously. Peter Wight, who umpired with him, said he listened as well as talked.

POPE, GEORGE HENRY, who died at Chesterfield on October 29, 1993, aged 82, played 169 matches for Derbyshire and somehow came to seem the embodiment of the county's professionals: hard, rough-hewn, under-appreciated. As a bowler, he could move the ball sharply both ways and took 677 wickets at 19.92; as a batsman he was good enough to have a career average of 28.05 and tough enough to take Larwood and Voce on the chest. He missed most of Derbyshire's Championship season in 1936 through injury, but improved steadily as both batsman and bowler before the war and came close to a Test place (he was in the party for Trent Bridge in 1938 and was chosen for the abortive tour of India in 1939-40). He missed 1946 because he was committed to League cricket but in 1947 he received his one cap, against South Africa at Lord's. In 1948 he did the double for the second time - hitting 207 not out at Portsmouth - but promptly decided to retire to Jersey because of his wife's health. He came back to play more League cricket and stand as a first-class umpire between 1966 and 1974. He was mellower by then. The writer Michael Parkinson recalled playing a League game against Sheffield, when they were effectively Mr Pope's XI. He would rap you on the pads, look ruefully down the wicket and say to himself: `Nice little leg-cutter that, George. Just a little bit too much, perhaps. What do you think, Mr Umpire?' And the poor besotted creature was bound to agree, as he invariably did the next time Mr Pope struck the pads and this time bellowed a demand for lbw.

RAIKES, DOUGLAS CHARLES GORDON, who died on March 27, 1993, aged 83, played 12 first-class matches as a wicket-keeper for Oxford University (winning a Blue in 1931), his native Gloucestershire and Kent, where he briefly deputised for Godfrey Evans in 1948.

RANGACHARI, COMMANDUR RAJAGOPALACHARI, who died on October 9, 1993, aged 77, was a fast bowler who played four Tests for India against Australia and West Indies. He took four for 141 in unpromising circumstances (at one stage Australia were 503 for three) on his debut at Adelaide in 1947-48. But his real moment of glory came at Delhi ten months later, in India's first home Test for 15 years: with the game hardly started, he dismissed Rae, Stollmeyer and Headley to leave the score 27 for three. However, West Indies went on to make 631, though Rangachari's final figures were still five for 107. He took no other Test wickets and the nine eventually cost him 54.77 each. After the Bombay Test that followed he was dropped, but played on for Madras for another five seasons. He was a police officer.

RICHARDS, MALCOLM R., who died on August 8, 1993, played cricket for Antigua between 1944 and 1952 without appearing in a first-class match. He had four sons, three of whom were first-class cricketers and one of whom, Vivian, captained West Indies. Viv wrote of his father: He was a proud man, and a disciplinarian, and it was the sheer power of his presence that initially shaped my approach towards life.

ROWAN, ERIC ALFRED BURCHELL, the South African Test player and elder brother of, Athol, died on April 30, 1993, in Johannesburg, aged 83. Eric Rowan ranked with Dudley Nourse and Bruce Mitchell in the very forefront of Test batsman from South Africa in the years before and after the Second World War. His long career ( 1929-30 to 1953-54) was s spiced by controversy. He was always fearless - he sometimes batted without gloves and, so it was said, box - and not only as a batsman. He was small and wiry and cocky and feisty and contemptuous of authority. Having been left out of the 1947 tour of England because of personality clashes, he was chosen in 1951, as vice-captain, when he often had to lead the team because Nourse was injured, and dominated the tour.

Rowan, who played all his first-class cricket in South Africa for Transvaal, except for one season with Eastern Province, was a regular opener, occasionally going in at No. 3. He was a right-handed bat without much elegance, but with all the strokes. His maiden century came a year after his debut and by 1935 he was a natural choice to tour England. He made his Test debut at Trent Bridge and Played throughout South Africa's successful series, though he did better outside the Tests, scoring 1,948 on the tour. Wisden was a little surprised: He did not bat either with dignity or precision; he regarded his cricket in most light-hearted style, but his confidence was amazing. Rowan lost some of that confidence against the Australians in 1935-36, when Grimmett took his wicket five times out of six until he was dropped. And he struggled for form in some of the seasons before the war until he scored 306 not out against Natal in a first-class friendly in 1939-40, which stood as the highest score made in South Africa until 1993-94. As soon as non-competitive first-class cricket was resumed, he almost scored another triple-century, hitting 284 for Eastern Province against Griqualand West in 1945-46.

His non-selection for the 1947 tour was baffling, except in terms of character. But he was recalled when Nourse took over the captaincy from Melville and scored 156 not out to save the Test at Ellis Park in 1948-49, after the selectors had announced that he was dropped for the next Test. He batted six hours and reputedly found time to give the selectors a V-sign. He said he was giving the V for Victory; told that it was the wrong way round the supposedly replied: That depends what part of the ground you're sitting. He was soon restored, though it was said his relations with Nourse were strained, and he got better and better. He made 277 not out for Transvaal against Griqualand West in 1950-51, then the highest Currie Cup score, and scored 176 before lunch against Rhodesia. He averaged 109 that season. But even in triumph he found trouble. He was one of Wisden's Five for his achievement in England in 1951. But, early on the tour, he and John Waite were slow handclapped by the crowd at Old Trafford during the Lancashire match. They sat down until there was quiet and later Rowan was involved in a scuffle in the pavilion. He was not picked for Australia in 1952-53 though, at 43, he was still in prime form; that, however, applied both to his batting and his effing and blinding at officialdom. In his 26 Tests he scored 1,965 runs and averaged 43.66; he scored 11,710 first-class runs at 48.58, including 30 centuries. He played for Jeppe Old Boys until he was 51 and continued working for schools cricket, though his later years were blighted by great pain after an accident when he fell in a hot bath. He bore that bravely too.

SALE, WILLIAM FRECKLETON, who died suddenly on October 5, 1993 aged 60, was the headmaster of Wellesley House School - the prep school where Sir Colin Cowdrey's three sons went - and the chairman of Kent. E. W. Swanton described him as a man of tremendous tact and discernment who did a great deal behind the scenes.

SCOTT, COLIN JOHN, who died on November 22, 1992, aged 73, went straight from club cricket into the Gloucestershire team and made a tremendous impact as a fast bowler in the two seasons before the war. In 1938 he emerged straight from Downend and made an impression with his fine, flowing action and his youthful energy. In 1939 he took 121 wickets and, with George Lambert, formed one of Gloucestershire's most formidable new-ball partnerships. Anything seemed possible. But when he returned after the war he had lost his zip and in 1949 he switched to bowling off-breaks before reverting to medium pace and taking 100 wickets again in 1952. He played 235 matches for the county before finally retiring in 1954 and took 531 wickets at 31.57. His batting was uninhibited and occasionally effective and he caught beautifully, both in the slips and the deep.

SHARMA, HAR PRASAD, who died on November 12, 1992, aged 69, was an Indian Test umpire who gave a batsman out to the first ball of his first match: Sudhir Naik, caught behind off Andy Roberts in the Calcutta Test against West Indies in 1974-75. Sharma umpired two other Tests in India, both against England in 1976-77.

SHARPE, CLOUDESLEY BRERETON, who died on April 11, 1993, aged 89, was a slow-medium left-arm bowler from Sherborne School who played three matches for Middlesex in 1923, and also appeared for Dorset.

SMITH, KATH, who died in August 1993, aged 77, was one of the pioneers of Australian women's cricket. She represented Australia in the inaugural home Tests against England in 1934-35 and was a great success when Australia toured England in 1937, with scores of 88, 63 and 45 in the three Tests and four for 50 in the First Test at Northampton. She served with the WRAAF during the Second World War.

SOHONI, SRIRANGA WASUDEV, died on May 19, 1993, aged 75. Ranga Sohoni was a fast-medium bowler who toured both England and Australia and played four Tests for India just after the war without making much impact. In domestic cricket he was more successful and regarded as an all-rounder. He opened the batting for Maharashtra and scored three centuries, including 218 not out against Western India, in 1940-41, when he had an average of 131. He played on until 1959-60 and also represented Baroda, Bombay and the Hindus. He took 232 first-class wickets at 32.96 and scored 4,307 runs at 28.71.

SRIRAMAN, S., who died on June 11, 1993, aged 76, was President of the Board of Control for Cricket in India between 1985 and 1988 and was in office when the World Cup was held in India and Pakistan. He had earlier been the Board secretary for five years ( 1965-70) and was secretary of the Tamil Nadu CA for 31 years. He was a sensitive official, popular even among the players.

STACKPOLE, KEITH WILLIAM, who died on September 19, 1992, aged 76, played 20 matches for Victoria in the five years after the war and was a top Australian Rules footballer. His son Keith, the Australian Test batsman, maintained his father was the better player. They played together for the Collingwood club just once: the father's last match was the son's first.

STEELE, RAYMOND CHARLES, OBE, died on November 22, 1993, aged 76. Ray Steele was a lawyer and one of Australia's leading cricket administrators, as president of the Victorian Cricket Association from 1973 to 1992 and treasurer of the Australian Board for 16 years, a period that included the Kerry Packer crisis. He was manager of the Australian touring teams to England in 1964 and 1972. However, he never became chairman of the Australian Board; he admitted himself that his outspoken nature would have made him an improbable choice. David Richards, the chief executive of ICC, said: His keen sense of humour and generous hospitality coupled with his forthright approach endeared him to many, although he was a tough, outspoken but fair negotiator who fought hard for cricket.

STEYN, STEPHEN SEBASTIAN LOUIS, who died on October 14, 1993, aged 88, was a member of South Africa's touring party to Australia in 1931-32, though he never played in a Test. Stodgy Steyn- despite his nickname - was an enterprising middle-order left-handed batsman who represented Western Province from 1924-25 to 1937-38. He scored 261 not out against Border in 1929-30.

TAYLOR, JAMES ALEXANDER SIMSON, who died on May 16, 1993, aged 75, was an amateur who did not play any first-class cricket while at Cambridge but appeared in three matches for Leicestershire in 1937. Later he taught at Loretto and played for Scotland, scoring 78 against Yorkshire in 1952.

TEBBITT, GILBERT GEORGE, died on December 29, 1993, aged 85. Gil Tebbitt played 11 matches for Northamptonshire between 1934 and 1938 as an amateur batsman and captained the team twice. He led Rugby Town for ten years after the war and was for many years a Northamptonshire committee member. He also played rugby for Northampton and became president of the East Midlands RFU.

TEW, JOHN EDWARD, who died on December 28, 1992, aged 87, hit the headlines with his batting for Eton against Harrow at Lord's in 1924. He scored 58 and 54 not out. H. S. Altham wrote in Wisden that he was a most dangerous man, full of power, untroubled by nerves. But he played only once for Oxford and a few times for the Europeans in India.

THOMPSON, ERIC RICHARD, who died of cancer on September 4, 1992, led 53, was perhaps Scotland's greatest fast bowler. Born in Orkney, he played 41 times for the national team, taking more than 100 wickets at a brisk but exceptionally accurate fast-medium. He played for his school old boys' team, Melville College Former Pupils, and then for Heriot's FP until he was 47. Thompson's finest hour came when he took six for 55 against the 1966 West Indians, his victims including Hunte and Kanhai.

TOMLINSON, DENIS STANLEY, who died on July 11, 1993, aged 82, was the first Rhodesian to represent South Africa abroad. Tomlinson was a leg-spinner picked to tour England in 1935 and unexpectedly included for the First Test at Trent Bridge, but he bowled only ten overs and failed to take a wicket. He had plenty of opportunities on the tour when his fellow leg-spinner Xenophon Balaskas was injured, but was unable to find the right length; the South African cricket writer Louis Duffus speculated that Tomlinson's action, dependent more on the arm than the body, made him inaccurate. On the way home, like Jock Cameron, he caught enteric fever: Cameron died; Tomlinson missed the next season and was affected for several years. Born at Umtali, he played one friendly match for Border in 1928-29 but otherwise played for Rhodesia from 1927-28 until after that war, taking 156 first-class wickets in all and batting in every position. He scored a century, as opener, against Eastern Province in 1931-32. His death left Balaskas, Bob Crisp and Bruce Mitchell as the only survivors of the victorious 1935 party.

TOWNSEND, LESLIE FLETCHER, who died in New Zealand on February 17, 1993, aged 89, was one of the finest inter-war all-rounders and a vital component of the strong Derbyshire team of the 1930s. Born at Long Eaton in Derbyshire, he played as a professional for the county from 1922 until 1939. He was a hard-hitting middle-order batsman who bowled fastish, very accurate off-breaks. He did not play cricket at his council school but paid regular visits to Trent Bridge, watched George Gunn and resolved to copy his methods. He took some time to develop but from then on every year produced a stride forward: he began to get runs in 1926 and wickets in 1927, when he was chosen for North v South; in 1928 he achieved the first of his three doubles; in 1929 he was chosen for the Players at Lord's and for the tour of the West Indies; in 1930 he made his maiden century; in 1931 he came eighth in the bowling averages; in 1932 he achieved the double in the Championship; in 1933 he passed 2,000 runs, took l00 wickets and was one of Wisden's Five. The editor noted that he was a teetotaller and non-smoker and concluded: An admirable type of the present-day professional. He played in four Tests - one in the West Indies and three under Jardine in India in 1933-34- but he was never picked for a home Test or a frontline tour, though some thought he might have gone to Australia ahead of the leg-spinner Mitchell in 1932-33. He never did himself justice in his Tests and caught salmonella poisoning at the end of the Indian tour. He convalesced in New Zealand and thereafter spent more and more time there, playing a few games for Auckland, though he stayed with Derbyshire until 1939 and was an important member of the Championship-winning team of 1936. He played 493 first-class matches, getting 19,555 runs at 27.50 and 1,088 wickets at 21.12. After the war, he settled in New Zealand, working as a joiner and cabinet-maker until a group of enthusiasts in Nelson asked him to go there as coach in 1954. Nelson has since gained a reputation as one of the most thriving cricketing cities in New Zealand, producing a disproportionate number of Test players. According to one of them, Tony Blain, Les Townsend is the reason Nelson's been so strong. He was remembered thereas a strict coach, who dressed in MCC sweater and beautifully pressed flannels and expected equally high standards from his pupils. He was especially keen on youngsters driving through the V, with their left elbow high, which is how spectators may best remember him.

TRESTRAIL, KENNETH BASIL, who died in Toronto on December 24 1992, aged 65, was a Trinidadian who appeared in first-class cricket as a 16-year-old in 1943-44 and was regarded for the rest of the decade as one of the most promising young batsmen in the Caribbean. After scoring 161 not out against Jamaica, he was picked for the tour of England in 1950 but, on that triumphant trip, had a thin time. In 1953 he emigrated to Canada and returned to first-class cricket on the Canadians' 1954 tour of England, when he was both their most prolific and most entertaining batsman. He was also Trinidad's tennis champion.

VAN DER GUCHT, PAUL IAN, who died on December 15, 1993, aged 82, was a Radley-educated amateur who kept wicket for Gloucestershire in 1933 and, in an emergency, captained the side. He played little more first-class cricket in England because his work as an engineer took him to India, where he represented the Europeans and Bengal. He opened the batting for Bengal when they won the Ranji Trophy in 1938-39 and scored 115 for them against Central India. During the war he was taken prisoner in the Western Desert.

WALKER, CLIFFORD, who died on December 3, 1992, aged 73, played four games for Yorkshire in 1947 and 1948 before joining Hampshire, getting a regular first-team place, and passing 1,000 runs four times. Walker was a solid batsman who could and, at Hampshire, did bat almost anywhere in the order, fielded at slip and bowled occasional but economical medium pace. He left county cricket abruptly in 1954 and went into the Bradford League.

WATTS HUGH EDMUND, who died on December 27, 1993, aged 71, won a Cambridge Blue in 1947 and played for Somerset 61 times between 1939 and 1952, often captaining the county. He was a left-handed batsman who made a century against Glamorgan in 1949, and was an effective bowler until he was injured in the war. He taught games and history at Downside until he left to found a new prep school, Moor Park, in Ludlow. After retiring to Cornwall, he became secretary and then captain of St Enodoc Golf Club.

WHARTON, ALAN, who died on August 26,1993, aged 70, was an attacking left-handed batsman who spent 15 years with Lancashire, three with Leicestershire and played a solitary Test for England. After hitting three centuries, plus 73 not out in the Roses match, he was picked against New Zealand at Headingley in 1949. He made seven and 13, missed the next Test through injury and was never picked again. But he remained a successful Lancashire player until 1960, when he moved to Leicestershire. He passed 1,000 runs 11 times and 2,000 in 1959. In 1956 he scored the first century for Lancashire against the Australians since Ernest Tyldesley in 1934. His darkest hour came during his benefit match in 1958 when Lancashire were bowled out by Surrey for 27. In 482 matches he scored 21,796 runs at 32.24. He was also a useful partnership-breaking medium-pace bowler. In 1965, after briefly playing for Cumberland, Wharton returned to teaching, in Colne. He was a long-serving JP and played rugby league for Salford.

WHITE, ALLAN FREDERICK TINSDALE, who died on March 16,1993, at the age of 77, captained Worcestershire for three seasons after the war. After playing for Uppingham and the successful Cambridge side of 1936 (he missed a Blue the following year), he played nine games for his native Warwickshire before joining Worcestershire in 1939. He had no immediate success but he returned after the war and emerged as a competent enough batsman to pass 1,000 runs, though he never scored a first-class century. He was made captain in 1947 and quickly established himself as a popular and enterprising leader. However, his mushroom growing business made increasing demands. He retired after 1949, when he shared the captaincy with Bob Wyatt, and Worcestershire came close to their first-ever hampionship.

WYETH, EZRA ROBERT, died in the United States on October 15, 1992, aged 82. Boxer Wyeth played for Queensland in 25 matches as a left-arm medium-pace bowler between 1933-34 and 1937-38. He was reportedly selected for the Australian tour to South Africa in 1935-36 but left out when the Board ordered the selectors to take one player less. A foot injury forced his retirement two years letter. His nickname came from his prowess with his fists at school inToowoomba.

He later became Professor of Education at California State University. He regularly took part in Hollywood cricket and also captained the American team at the first World Bowls Championship in 1966.

YOUNG, DOUGLAS MARTIN, died suddenly in Cape Town on June 18, 1993, aged 69. Martin Young played briefly for Worcestershire, before becoming a pillar of the Gloucestershire batting for 16 years from 1949 to 1964. He was an opening batsman with a sound technique, a pleasant style and good concentration: a fair share of his 40 hundreds were substantial ones. When he was almost 40, he was good enough to score 127 on a difficult pitch against Sobers and Griffith in full cry for the 1963 West Indians; it was easily the highest score of the match. Most of the time, he scored quietly and consistently, passing 1,000 in a season 13 times and 2,000 twice. But he was a little rotund - his team-mates called him The Admiral- and often vulnerable against the very quickest bowling. He tried to compensate for this by being extra courteous to the fastest bowlers; I'll give him wife and kids, Peter Loader was once heard to mutter after one exchange of morning pleasantries. He played in 475 first-class matches, scored 24,555 runs and averaged 30.69. He emigrated to South Africa on retirement and became a sports commentator for SABC.