I keep meaning to write about some of the less renowned characters I remember from my childhood days spent watching one-day cricket on the BBC. Lancashire batsman Harry Pilling was certainly on my list and it is with great sadness that I read of his death last week aged just 69.
His first-class career may have begun in 1962 but I recall him being a mainstay of the Red Rose side in the 1970s, especially early in the decade when they were one of the top counties, especially in limited overs competitions. He was most famous for being only 5 feet three inches tall so was not the archetypal power-hitter. Yet he could keep the runs flowing whilst strokemakers like Frank Hayes, Clive Lloyd or 'Bumble' himself, David Lloyd, could pepper the boundary.
Over twenty years with Lancashire, he amassed almost 20,000 runs in total, including 26 centuries, averaging 32 in the first-class game, and was one of the most consistent batsmen never to play for England. Perhaps because of his height, the selectors never noticed him. A shame, because he would have been a pugnacious Test cricketer and a useful number three or four in the 50-over format, had it existed at the time (it didn't!). He did represent the MCC a few times but he will live long in the hearts of Lancastrians, as well as this Essex-born Somerset fan - and not because he was, like me, slightly vertically challenged. He was simply a great cricketer, whose name was part of my growing up.
