There isn’t usually much of interest on the UK internet sport pages on Christmas Day but I notice that the deaths of not one, but two great Surrey and England cricketers were announced today.
In the morning I read that former batsman John Edrich had passed away aged 83. As a boy he was a regular sight on the TV screen, frequently forming a solid if somewhat boring opening partnership with Geoff Boycott for England, and piling on the runs for Surrey. He aggregated more than 5000 runs in 77 Tests, yet surprisingly only reached three figures 12 times. Mind you, one of those tons was a ‘triple’ made against New Zealand. However, he is one of the small army of batsmen to have scored more than a hundred first-class centuries.
Two memories of Edrich stand out. One was his courage against the fearsome West Indian pace barrage in 1976. With Tony Greig’s side struggling against the shot-pitched bowling, the old guard were chucked into the fray to show the youngsters how to soak up the hits. Brian Close was in his forties and Edrich a relatively sprightly 39 and both earned their spurs on the battlefield albeit in a losing cause. Coincidentally his Test career was bookended by matches against the Windies at Old Trafford thirteen years apart, both resulting in heavy defeats, but Edrich didn’t disgrace himself in either.
The other moment I remember came a year or two earlier. I forget the year and opponents but, presumably one Saturday morning, he was playing and missing a lot, prompting a spectator to rush onto the pitch carrying a home-made joke bat with an extremely broad blade This being the Seventies, the invader was not leapt upon by security and chucked in jail but allowed to reach the middle. Edrich saw the funny side, dropped his own willow and made some shadow strokes with the gift before returning it to the good-natured guest.
He wasn’t a natural limited-overs batsman but he made history by being one of the first pair to take guard in the inaugural ODI at the MCG in ’71. He even top-scored and scooped the very first Man of the Match award, striking a mighty four boundaries in 119 deliveries. So what if the Aussies won? Forget the 60-over format: John enjoyed a very good record in Ashes over the years.
He overlapped at Surrey with Robin Jackman who has died at 75. The fast-medium bowler was extremely economical, ending his career with 1,841 wickets, 1400 of them in first-class cricket. He didn’t get a chance in the England team until 1981, by the time he was 35. Bowling first change at Bridgetown he scooped the scalps of both Windies openers Greenidge and Haynes before England lost by 298 runs.
His controversial close associations with Apartheid-era South Africa led to a Guyana Test being cancelled and he retired the following year. However, I recall him being a regular at or near the top of the county averages throughout the Seventies. Despite being only 5 feet 9 tall. He was a clever exponent of seam and swing which also came in handy in one-day cricket. He was called up for fifteen ODIs spread over nine seasons and was a key figure in Surrey’s strong side at the time.
And so there is double reason for The Oval to fly flags at half mast, remembering the achievements of two of its finest players of their era.