These days, long-serving county cricket stalwarts get a raw deal. Are they just 'bed blockers' for young talent? Unambitious journeymen content to merely turn up and get paid? Personally I have more respect for loyal servants good enough to enjoy a lengthy career than the so-called stars who decline contracts in order to wait for a bigger name or T20 franchise to snap them up.
When one of the unsung heroes of the sport passes away, it is always a sad occasion. Especially so when that man is Somerset legend Brian Langford, who has died aged 77. His career tally of 504 first-class games will never be beaten at Somerset. Let's face it, most modern bowlers baulk at playing only sixteen a year and fast bowlers retire in their mid-20s to focus on four-over stints! Langford was a right-arm off-spinner at a time when there were plenty of others in the English game. He made his debut for Somerset in a game remembered for all the wrong reasons: his side lost by an innings inside a day! Next time out at Bath he claimed fourteen cheap wickets, so it obviously didn't faze the teenager who moved from Birmingham to my recent stamping ground Bridgwater aged four.
IN the 1950s and '60s, young players often had their cricketing apprenticeships interrupted by the ludicrous practice of National Service, and Langford was no different. On the other hand, pitches often favoured bowlers, and scoring rates were stubbornly stodgy, boosting the stats of good bowlers of the era. Maybe that hastened the arrival of English county limited-overs cricket in 1963. I mentioned Brian's three-day appearances, but not the fact he took 1,410 wickets in 22 seasons at an average of just 24. He took 100 wickets a season five times. However, he will be best remembered in the history books for an achievement made in one of the first 40-over Sunday League games, played at Yeovil in 1969.
As was common in those days, Somerset were struggling in the new competition by late July. Their opponents that day, Essex, were flying high. It was Brian Langford's first summer as captain and he won the toss, putting Essex into bat. After losing early wickets, opener Brian Ward decided on a safety-first approach to the slow bowler, hoping to capitalise later on, especially when swashbuckling West Indian Keith Boyce joined him at the crease. Safety-first in the extreme! Ward made little attempt at upping the scoring rate, or scoring anything at all! IN his full eight-over complement, Langford bowled only a few balls at Boyce and ended up with the perfect statistics of 8-8-0-0. OK, so he didn't take any wickets but nobody has come close in that format. Let's face it, nobody could ever surpass that for economy. These days, a T20 bowler will congratulate himself for conceding fewer than seven an over. Dot balls are applauded almost as loudly as a wicket!
Somerset went on to win the match, but they still ended the year second-bottom. Brian Langford retired in 1974, helping to settle in a couple of young whippersnappers by the names of Botham and Richards. Sadly, it was the controversial sacking /resignation of these two Somerset and world superstars plus Joel Garner twelve years later which ended Langford's stint as chairman of the county's cricket committee.
Nevertheless he retained a special place in true Somerset fans' affections despite that hiccup, and his passing should ensure his commemorative poster inside the Taunton ground will attract additional knowing glances from now on.
