80: Stephen Fleming
For all his undoubted talent with bat in hand or in the field, Stephen Fleming is most fondly remembered as a highly successful captain. An elegant left-hander, he was always pleasing to watch in any format but I would always will his New Zealand side to win a World Cup. He skippered the Black Caps to series victories over most Test nations, including England but, despite his on-field tactics and astute captaincy of an over-achieving NZ, sadly he never quite managed to lift a major international trophy.
79: Graham Rose
In his fifteen years with Somerset, Graham Rose proved himself one of the finest all-rounders not to play for England. In total he scored almost 14,000 runs and captured over 900 wickets without winning a single cap. It didn’t help that his best years coincided with the county’s most fallow period, although down in the West Country it made him all the more outstanding. With his nagging medium pace, Rose was a very consistent wicket-taker in the Nineties, and for a while he held the world record for the fastest ODI century, albeit against Devon.
78: Allan Donald
When South Africa were restored to international sport, they were fortunate to feature possibly the greatest fast bowler on the planet. Shaun Pollock may have subsequently surpassed his international wicket tallies but when in full flight, sunblock war-paint across his cheeks, Donald was a frightening sight. He averaged just 22 in both Tests and ODIs, as good as anyone in my lifetime. I saw him live just the once, for Warwickshire against Essex at Ilford in a Sunday match. Such was his pace that ‘keeper Keith Piper had to take his position halfway to the boundary!
77: Jimmy Cook
While Allan Donald was a common sight on the telly, I don’t recall seeing his fellow South African, Jimmy Cook, at all. Not once. However, his three County Championship seasons at Somerset featured such prolific run-getting that those who did witness him opening the batting still speak with awe. Between 1989 and 1991 the unflappable opener accumulated more than 7,500 runs for the county, including a barely believable 28 centuries. The following year Jimmy finally had a chance to play a Test match – and was caught off Kapil Dev first ball.
76: Darren Stevens
Stopping
off at Membury Services off the M4 a few years ago, I spotted the Kent CCC
coach in the car park. Inside I almost bumped into a chap with tight tweed
jacket and cap, sporting a greying goatee beard. It was only later that I
realised he was Darren Stevens! He just didn’t look like a cricketer, but in
the past ten years he has been the most consistent all-rounder in domestic
cricket. At Kent he was a blistering one-day batsman then in his forties topped
the first-class wicket table and just last September struck a career-best 237 v
Kent and took ten wickets in the match against Yorkshire. An evergreen talent
and class act to the end.
75: Ray East
A mainstay of the Essex attack for twenty-odd years, Ray East was always worth watching wherever he was on the cricket field. His ‘day job’ was as an orthodox slow left-arm spinner, yielding almost 1300 wickets in all cricket but was no mug with the bat either, striking useful runs in a side boasting a short tail (usually Acfield and Lever). However it’s as a fun-filled fielder that he is most fondly remembered. He particularly liked to feign frailty when running or leaping only to suddenly pounce on the ball and force running batsmen to dive for the crease as the throw arrowed towards the stumps. Such characters should be cherished in any era.
74: David Hughes
Like
East, David Hughes was a one-county man with a lengthy career spent mainly as a
leftarm twirler. Lancashire through and through, he went on to captain the side
in his final five seasons. In one of them, 1988, he was named at the age of 40
one of Wisden’s Five Cricketers of the Year. He also averaged more than 20 with
the bat in both first-class and one-day formats. I vividly recall watching the
TV in July 1971 when in appalling light he struck 24 in one over to take
Lancashire into the Gillette Cup final. It was extraordinarily tense drama and
Hughes rose to the occasion.
One of those Australians the Barmy Army loved to hate, Mitchell Johnson was a Marmite (Vegemite?) character on the pitch. While he could be extremely wayward and expensive, his vicious left-arm sllngers also produced devastating spells against England, such as in the 2013-14 and 2015 Ashes series. He seemed to thrive on barracking from opposition fans and I’m sure the banter flowed both ways. I saw him just the once, at an ODI in Cardiff where he consistently bowled at more than 90 mph from the River End. He also sported the best Aussie ‘tache since Merv Hughes.
72: Wes Durston
A cricketer whose popularity with fans outstripped actual talent, Wes Durston had a mixed county career. A spin-bowling batsman from the Millfield School assembly line, Wes struggled to hold down a regular place in the Somerset side before finding form in the mid-Noughties. After losing his county contract, in 2010 he was picked for the so-called Unicorns to make up numbers in the 40-over competition. He was so successful that Derbyshire snapped him up mid-season.
71: Ole Mortensen
I can’t recall any other Danish first-class cricketers but ‘Stan’ was probably good enough to play Test cricket in the Eighties had he been born in England. A late starter at senior level, he was often around the top of County Championship bowling averages and, leading Derbyshire’s attack, was incredibly economical in one-dayers. He retired in 1994 with more than 700 wickets to his name. Greatly under-rated in his day because of his unfashionable nationality Ole was nonetheless a Derby great.
