The Shorter Wisden 2013

by John Wisden

  There were many more such tales, some of which Pilling would retell at his bungalow outside Bolton. Speaking with quiet generosity of those he had played with and against, he sipped from a pint mug of tea and drew on a roll-up. His little dog never left his side, knowing there were boiled sweets in the pocket of his tracksuit trousers. “No matter where Harry goes now,” said Jack Simmons at his funeral, “he will be loved, because he’ll be as popular as he ever was.”

  RAIT KERR, DIANA MARY, who died on December 18, aged 94, was the first curator of the MCC Collection, principally responsible for the vast array of cricket memorabilia accrued at Lord’s over the years. Appointed in 1945, she oversaw the establishment of the MCC museum in 1953; previously, the most interesting items were dotted around the Pavilion. Her father, Colonel R. S. Rait Kerr, was the club’s secretary from 1936 to 1952, and “Miss RK” was one of the first women to attend an MCC dinner (in 1964, when the president Dick Twining began the evening with a well-received “Lady and gentlemen”). She was also – 31 years after her retirement – one of the first group of lady members elected in 1999. Rait Kerr co-wrote (with Ian Peebles) Lord’s 1946–70, a substantial sequel to Sir Pelham Warner’s earlier history of MCC and Lord’s. Although she had no formal library training, she became an expert on cricket’s literary and artistic history, and especially the evolution of players’ dress. She was a stickler for convention, and her sucessor Stephen Green for years remained worried that she might make an impromptu visit – or “inspection” – of the museum. “She did present an air of formidability,” agreed Trefor Jones, another Lord’s colleague. “But actually she was a typical English colonel’s daughter of that era, with more good-natured warmth about her than was apparent on first acquaintance.”

  RANA, NARENDRASINH PRATAPSINH, who died of liver failure on May 17, aged 41, was a tall fast bowler who took the new ball for Saurashtra for several seasons in the Ranji Trophy, occasionally with his younger brother Mahendrasinh. Opening the bowling for a weakish team on batsman-friendly pitches at Rajkot meant his overall figures were uninspiring – 46 wickets at 55, with a best of four for 66 against Maharashtra in November 1998 – but team-mates recalled a naturally talented cricketer, from a prominent local family, who was also a handy batsman.

  RANDALL, DAVID AARON, who died of bowel cancer on July 6, aged 27, was a fine schoolboy batsman who had been in the running for a place in the England Under-15 team, alongside his friend and club-mate Alastair Cook – they played together for Essex’s youth teams, and also for Maldon. Cook attended Randall’s funeral, and a few days later scored his 20th Test century against South Africa at The Oval. “It’s been an emotional time,” he said. “We’re lucky enough to play cricket, aren’t we? Unfortunately he can’t any more.”

  RAZAULLAH KHAN, who died on November 5, aged 75, played 24 matches for various first-class teams in a long career in Pakistan that stretched from 1957-58 to 1972-73, usually keeping wicket. He made 76, his highest score, opening for Khairpur against Karachi Blues – containing the future Test all-rounder Asif Iqbal, whom he stumped – in Lahore in 1961-62. Later he became president of the Hyderabad Cricket Association and a Pakistan board council member, and managed the national Under-19 side.

  REES-MOGG, LORD (William), who died on December 29, aged 84, was editor of The Times between 1967 and 1981, and a prominent Establishment figure for many years after that, yet he was best remembered for an editorial written in July 1967 that flew defiantly in the face of Britain’s ruling classes. Headlined “Who breaks a butterfly on a wheel?” it criticised the prison sentences handed out to Rolling Stones Mick Jagger and Keith Richards for minor drug offences, sparking an outcry that led to their release.

  Rees-Mogg was descended from a line of Somerset squires, and his roots remained planted in the county’s soil, even when he held high-profile metropolitan positions. He was an enthusiastic supporter of Somerset cricket, wrote frequently about the game, and had seen hundreds by Hammond and Bradman. When he picked his Somerset dream team for The Times in 2007, it drew on decades of first-hand experience. He was also waiting by the phone on the afternoon of September 16, 2010, when Somerset were on the brink of winning the County Championship for the first time. Rees-Mogg was only too willing to write an exultant piece for next day’s paper, but Nottinghamshire snatched the title.

  At Charterhouse he was a contemporary of Peter May and was taught by Robert Arrowsmith, the obituaries editor of Wisden. Rees-Mogg was also the first-team scorer – John Woodcock called him “the keeper of the scorebook and, later, of The Times” – and he sometimes introduced cricket into opinion pieces about the great political issues of the day. Writing in The Sunday Times in 1964, he called for Alec Douglas-Home’s resignation in a piece headlined “A Captain’s Innings”. In 1994, he wrote a remarkably deft critique of another prime minister’s leadership: it did not mention John Major by name, but discussed at length the worthy, unspectacular attributes of the Somerset all-rounder Bertie Buse.

  ROBINSON, ALEXANDER WILLIAM, died on June 18, aged 87. His first-class career for Western Australia was confined to two matches in 1952-53, but Alex Robinson had a lasting influence in Perth as a club and school coach, and was one of the first to recognise the potential of the teenage Dennis Lillee. He later gained a master’s degree in recreation management from Loughborough University, and moved from teaching to sports administration, eventually being appointed deputy director of WA’s Department of Sport and Recreation. Robinson abhorred the sponsorship of sport by tobacco and alcohol companies, both on health and moral grounds, and ultimately resigned from his State coaching positions. His father (also Alex) represented WA against the 1907-08 MCC tourists and was an outstanding Australian Rules footballer, while his older brother, George, played an important role as a batsman when the state won the Sheffield Shield at their first attempt, in 1947-48.

  ROBINSON, HENRY BASIL OSWIN, died on December 21, aged 93. A Rhodes Scholar from Canada, Basil Robinson was a sharp-turning off-spinner who won Blues at Oxford in 1947 and 1948. He took six for 55, which remained his best figures, against Worcestershire at New Road in his first season, and added six more in the 1947 Varsity Match, dismissing Trevor Bailey in the first innings and Doug Insole in the second. The following year Robinson took five for 60 against Sussex, but was needed for only three wicketless overs at Lord’s as Oxford’s seamers wrapped up an innings victory. Robinson went back to Vancouver after that, but returned to England in 1954 as captain of a strong Canadian touring team. He became a diplomat, and later wrote a biography of Canada’s prime minister John Diefenbaker, as well as a family history entitled This Family Robinson.

  ROWLANDS, MEYRICK, collapsed and died shortly after being dismissed in a cricket match in Hook, Pembrokeshire, on July 24. He was 60, and had retired as headmaster of the nearby Pennar Community School only four days earlier. “Cricket was his great passion,” said his colleague Martin Cavaney, one of the school’s governors.

  SAFIULLAH KHAN, who died on March 20, aged 71, was a left-arm seamer who played 42 first-class matches in Pakistan, mainly for Peshawar, between 1957 and 1975. He took nine for 62 against Railways B at Peshawar in March 1972, and later took up umpiring, standing in several first-class matches.

  SALVE, NARENDRA KUMAR PRASADRAO, who died on April 1, aged 91, is the man usually credited with moving the World Cup to the subcontinent. He was the Indian board president at the time of India’s upset victory over West Indies in the 1983 final and, having had trouble obtaining tickets for the big match at Lord’s, hatched the plan over lunch the following day with his Pakistan counterpart, Nur Khan. There was a general assumption that the 1987 tournament, like its three predecessors, would be held in England – but Salve, a long-serving Congress Party MP and minister in Rajiv Gandhi’s government, challenged that cosy arrangement, mobilising the support of sympathetic Full and Associate Members of the ICC in a way not seen before, if increasingly familiar since. The 1987 World Cup was indeed staged in India and Pakist
an, with the final at Kolkata: “He was responsible for it becoming the global event it is today,” said N. Srinivasan, the current BCCI president. Salve was a useful club player in his youth in Nagpur, and also umpired three first-class games in the early 1950s. The annual Challenger Trophy (trial matches for India’s one-day side) is named after him.

  SARAIYA, SURESH, who died on July 18, aged 76, had been a popular broadcaster on Test cricket since 1969, usually for All India Radio. “Few commentators had his desire and preparation,” remembered his colleague Harsha Bhogle. “He was like a child when we broadcast from South Africa in 1992 – he had tears that morning in Durban, when India played South Africa’s first home Test since 1970.”

  SARGENT, MURRAY ALFRED JAMES, died on February 28, aged 83. A late bloomer, Sargent had batted without distinction for the Glenelg club in Adelaide for over a decade from 1947-48. During that time he had two seasons with Leicestershire, where modest success in the Second Eleven was not repeated in the senior side: in 1952, he averaged under 12 from 18 innings. But at the end of the 1950s he suddenly flowered as an opener, and at 32 found himself partnering Les Favell for South Australia for one successful season. Sargent’s obdurate methods brought him 164 in nearly nine hours against Queensland. It was then back to grade cricket, where his run-making continued for another decade. He later turned to administration, serving as a South Australian selector for seven seasons from 1984-85, and Glenelg’s president for 17.

  SATHE, ISHAN SUBODH, was found dead on April 18. He was 20. A promising leg- spinner who had played for Vidarbha’s age-group teams and in trials for India’s Under-19 side, Sathe was found hanging from the ceiling fan in his room, not long after an argument with his girlfriend. Narendra Hirwani said: “He had that rare ability to turn the ball sharply.” Sathe had also caught the eye of Sachin Tendulkar, who arranged for him to train with the Mumbai Indians, his IPL team.

  SHARP, PETER ANDREW, who died on February 18, aged 72, played eight first-class matches for Canterbury as an off-spinner in the 1960s, taking 21 wickets, but was better known as a radio commentator. “One of the most famous voices in New Zealand cricket has fallen silent,” said his colleague Bruce Russell.

  SLACK, JOHN KENNETH EDWARD, DL, who died on May 6, aged 81, scored 135 on his first-class debut, for Cambridge University against Middlesex at Fenner’s in 1954, and did enough in the other matches of his final year to win a Blue, although he was out for 12 and nought in the drawn Varsity Match at Lord’s. That was the end of his first-class cricket: he turned down an offer to play for Middlesex, preferring to concentrate on his legal career, in which he rose to become a circuit judge known for his expertise in fraud trials. Slack had not finished with cricket, though: a club regular for Beaconsfield, he played for Buckinghamshire, and captained them from 1967 to 1969.

  SMITH, ARCHIBALD WILLIAM, died on November 1, aged 89. Archie Smith was a pillar of Cornwall’s Minor Counties side for many years, taking 135 wickets, including nine for 49 against Oxfordshire at Penzance in 1953. A headmaster, he founded the Cornwall Schools’ Cricket Association in 1956, and was their first secretary (and treasurer until 1977). “He was a real gentleman cricketer,” said his friend Michael Williams, a local author. “He never appealed for an lbw unless he was absolutely certain it was necessary.”

  SNOW, PHILIP ALBERT, OBE, who died on June 5, aged 96, was a first-class cricketer by virtue of five matches, captaining Fiji on a tour of New Zealand in 1947-48. These were given first-class status many years later, almost entirely due to Snow’s own lobbying at Lord’s. The tour caused considerable interest since the Fijian players (not Snow) wore traditional skirts and no shoes, and entertained the crowds with South Sea songs. The team were competitive too, and beat both Wellington and Auckland. As a cricketer, he failed to get even a trial at Cambridge, but in 1937 and 1938 he captained Leicestershire’s Second Eleven, before being appointed an administrator and magistrate in Fiji. He was instantly elected chairman of the Suva Cricket Club, and fell in love with the place. After the war, he founded the Fiji Cricket Association, and set about organising the New Zealand tour. On return to England, he became bursar of Rugby School and, in 1965, Fiji’s representative on the International Cricket Conference (later Council), a post he retained for a record 30 years, devotedly championing Fiji’s cause. He wrote several books, mainly about the South Seas and his family. He also wrote at least twice in old age to the editor of Wisden enclosing his biography for the benefit of his obituarist, in the hope that he would match his older brothers (the novelist C. P. Snow and the Leicestershire cricket historian E. E. Snow) by being included. That he has achieved, but perhaps his greatest wish – the advancement of Fijian cricket – remains unfulfilled.

  SPURRIER, MICHAEL CUMBY, who died on July 9, aged 79, was acknowledged as the leading expert on military links with cricket, a subject he covered in some detail in Wisden Cricket Monthly in a series on cricketers decorated for gallantry. He had been in the army himself – a major in the Durham Light Infantry – and was apparently once in charge of transport on an exercise in which he started with 400 vehicles, and returned with 401.

  SRINIVASAN, KRISHNASWAMI, died on April 27, aged 82. “Balaji” Srinivasan was an attacking batsman and a polished wicketkeeper who played for Mysore (now Karnataka). He scored 106 against Madras in 1952-53, and the following year played twice for India against a strong Commonwealth XI, in what he was later disappointed to discover were unofficial Tests. Opening in the first one at Nagpur after Frank Worrell had stroked 165, Srinivasan made 67. He was a keen student of the game. “I was interested in the poetry and prose of cricket,” he said. “It made my modest career colourful and enjoyable.”

  STOVOLD, MARTIN WILLIS, died on May 11, aged 56. The younger brother of Andy, who had a long career with Gloucestershire, Martin Stovold played for the county too, although his best score in 25 matches was an unbeaten 75 against Oxford University in the Parks in 1980. He managed a solitary half-century in the Championship, 52 against Warwickshire at Nuneaton in 1982, in his penultimate match. After a spell in South Africa, where he coached the young Jacques Kallis in Cape Town, he returned home and took charge of the cricket at Cheltenham College.

  SURENDRANATH, RAMAN, who died on May 5, aged 75, was an army officer and hard-working medium-pacer who played 11 Tests for India. He was effective in England in 1959, taking 16 wickets at 26 in a series India lost 5–0, with five-fors at Old Trafford and The Oval. The pick, though, was probably the inswinger that knocked back Peter May’s off stump at Lord’s. In all, Surendranath took 79 wickets on that tour (only the leg- spinner Subhash Gupte had more, with 95), although Wisden was rather sniffy about his tactic of bowling down the leg side to keep the runs down. His Test career was over within 18 months, but he played on for Services until 1968-69. He had taken seven for 14 and six for 62 for them against Railways in Delhi in January 1959, not long after winning his first Test cap, against West Indies, and made 119 against Southern Punjab at Patiala in December 1961.

  SWABY, EATON OHIO, who died on February 9, aged 85, was a Jamaican-born fast bowler who made a name for himself in club cricket in south London. He took more than 1,000 first-team wickets for Mitcham – where part of the outfield of their ancient ground became known as “Swabes’s Corner” – before joining Sutton CC in his fifties and turning to coaching.

  SWANEPOEL, HEINDRICH, who died of a suspected heart attack while on holiday in Morocco in October, aged 43, was a pillar of England’s blind cricket team, almost ever-present since the side were formed in 1996. He played for the Metro club in London, and was part of the team that won the Blind Ashes in 2004 and 2008. He won a bronze medal in the javelin at the 2000 Sydney Paralympics. “Heindrich was a giant,” said the ECB’s disability cricket manager Ian Martin, “both in physical stature and in terms of his contribution to the blind game as a player and an administrator.”

  TAYLOR, PHILIP HENRY, who died on December 1, aged 95, had been the oldest surviving England football international:
he won three caps in 1947. He was a key member of the Liverpool team that won the first post-war League Championship in 1946-47, and captained them in the 1950 FA Cup final against Arsenal. Taylor, who was born in Bristol, also excelled at cricket, and opened the batting for Gloucestershire Second Eleven in the late 1930s. For his one first-class outing, however, he batted at No. 8, making two and 12 in a ten-wicket defeat by Kent at Gloucester in June 1938. He later managed Liverpool, and his resignation in 1959 paved the way for the arrival of Bill Shankly.

  THAKURI, GANESH BAHADUR SHAHI, died on December 13, aged 40. A wicketkeeper-batsman who played in the 2001 ICC Trophy in Canada, he was “the best Nepali wicketkeeper I have seen,” according to the former national captain Pawan Agrawal. “More importantly, he was a better human being.”

  THOMAS, DAVID JAMES, died of multiple sclerosis on July 28, aged 53. There was a time in the early 1980s when David “Teddy” Thomas looked as if he was shaping up to be just the sort of cricketer England were looking for. A left-arm quick bowler who threw everything into his delivery stride following an energetic run-up, he might have added useful variety to the attack, and contributed rapid runs down the order. But he never got the chance to be the new Botham, perhaps because the old Botham was still in full working order. Thomas was named in squads for home Tests, and was twelfth man at Trent Bridge against New Zealand in 1983. It was as close as he came.

  Not that he was a man to let it spoil his fun. Thomas – the “Teddy” sobriquet was bestowed because of a hairstyle that had echoes of the 1950s – was a valued member of the Surrey team for ten years, not just for his wickets and runs but for his sense of humour. He also spent one season with Gloucestershire, and in South Africa played for Natal and North Transvaal. But his career ended at 29 when he was diagnosed with MS. He spent his final years in a wheelchair, but remained a jocular, upbeat figure who relished reunions with former colleagues. He had been a chairman of Surrey’s former players’ association.