Hendon Gooner (Only Easy Day Was Yesterday))
09-14-2015, 11:44 AM
84 years old - good innings Sir. :bow:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/cricket/11863319/Brian-Clos e-was-the-bravest-man-to-ever-play-cricket.html (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/cricket/11863319/Brian-Close-was-the-bravest-man-to-ever-play-cricket.html)
No question about the physically bravest man who has played professional cricket: Brian Close, the former captain of Yorkshire and England, who has died of lung cancer aged 84.
Nobody took so many blows to the body when batting in the age before helmets as Close, a lion-hearted lefthander and leader. Nobody took so many blows to the body when fielding close to the wicket.
Perhaps the scariest cricket ever seen to that point was the third evening of the Old Trafford Test of 1976. It was the dawn of the era of West Indian fast bowling – the dawn, in effect, of the modern era.
There had been pairs of fast bowlers before, like Dennis Lillee and Jeff Thomson of Australia, who had blown England aside in 1974-5. But the West Indians under Clive Lloyd unleashed three outright fast bowlers in Andy Roberts, Michael Holding and Wayne Daniel. England’s response in that hot summer of 1976 was to opt for age, not youth. They wheeled out the old ‘uns, to be physically but not mentally scarred: John Edrich, David Steele, Chris Balderstone and Close, after he had defied the West Indians in an innings of 88 for Somerset, even though he was 45 years old.
He was already famous for his bravery. In 1963 he had walked down the pitch at Lord’s to Charlie Griffith and Wes Hall, and let the ball hit him. Not madness, not masochism, at least not in Close’s view, but the way to avoid being leg-before-wicket; and he scored 70, his highest score in his 22 Tests.
So although he had never been a regular batsman for England – he had been dropped after an eccentric innings against Australia in the Old Trafford Test of 1961, immortalised by Richie Benaud – Close was reinstated in 1976. Nine years had passed since his previous Test in 1967, when he had been England’s captain, until he fell foul of a controversy. The second Test of 1976 at Lord’s went well enough. Close scored 60 and 46 at number four to force a second draw against West Indies. The third Test pitch however was “cracked, often unpredictable” according to Wisden, and baked hard in one of England’s hottest summers. For want of anyone else, Close was promoted to open.
England did not bat very well or for very long. While Gordon Greenidge hit England’s medium-pacers for a century in each innings, England were bowled out for 71 first time, Holding taking five for 17. On Saturday evening England began their second innings, needing 552 to win.
Close and Edrich, who was 38, were bounced and bombarded. Edrich took some evasive action, Close none. He did not want to give into the survival instinct of fending away the bouncers with his bat and offer a catch. He let the fiery fast bowling hit him – no helmet, no chest protector, no forearm guard, just gloves and a bat.
No limitation to the number of bouncers per over either, not two as now. Umpire Bill Alley had a word with Holding after he had bowled three in a row at Close, but that was it. After an hour’s play before the close, without loss of life or wicket, Close had scored one not out. Close was worse than black and blue after England had been dismissed for 126, he himself finishing with 20 after almost three hours under fire. His friend Geoff Cope, who also played for Yorkshire and England, saw him afterwards and said: “It was the sort of sunset you would not want to see on anybody.” Cope makes the additional point that the bruises were on Close’s right side: he did not turn away from the ball.
As a fielder Close was no less renowned for his bravery. The story was that when a ball hit him on the head at short-leg, he shouted “catch it!” Eric Morecombe joked that the start of the cricket season was the sound of leather on Brian Close.
Most human beings, if faced by Sir Garfield Sobers playing a hook shot two yards away, would flinch, even if wearing a helmet. Close, when appointed England captain in 1966 for the fifth Test against West Indies, stood at short-leg, watched the ball, caught it and led his team to victory by an innings.
In the dressing room Close’s wounds from batting or fielding were often seen by the rest of his team. “We all knew it hurt him,” Cope said, “but nobody was brave enough to mention it!”
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/cricket/11863319/Brian-Clos e-was-the-bravest-man-to-ever-play-cricket.html (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/cricket/11863319/Brian-Close-was-the-bravest-man-to-ever-play-cricket.html)
No question about the physically bravest man who has played professional cricket: Brian Close, the former captain of Yorkshire and England, who has died of lung cancer aged 84.
Nobody took so many blows to the body when batting in the age before helmets as Close, a lion-hearted lefthander and leader. Nobody took so many blows to the body when fielding close to the wicket.
Perhaps the scariest cricket ever seen to that point was the third evening of the Old Trafford Test of 1976. It was the dawn of the era of West Indian fast bowling – the dawn, in effect, of the modern era.
There had been pairs of fast bowlers before, like Dennis Lillee and Jeff Thomson of Australia, who had blown England aside in 1974-5. But the West Indians under Clive Lloyd unleashed three outright fast bowlers in Andy Roberts, Michael Holding and Wayne Daniel. England’s response in that hot summer of 1976 was to opt for age, not youth. They wheeled out the old ‘uns, to be physically but not mentally scarred: John Edrich, David Steele, Chris Balderstone and Close, after he had defied the West Indians in an innings of 88 for Somerset, even though he was 45 years old.
He was already famous for his bravery. In 1963 he had walked down the pitch at Lord’s to Charlie Griffith and Wes Hall, and let the ball hit him. Not madness, not masochism, at least not in Close’s view, but the way to avoid being leg-before-wicket; and he scored 70, his highest score in his 22 Tests.
So although he had never been a regular batsman for England – he had been dropped after an eccentric innings against Australia in the Old Trafford Test of 1961, immortalised by Richie Benaud – Close was reinstated in 1976. Nine years had passed since his previous Test in 1967, when he had been England’s captain, until he fell foul of a controversy. The second Test of 1976 at Lord’s went well enough. Close scored 60 and 46 at number four to force a second draw against West Indies. The third Test pitch however was “cracked, often unpredictable” according to Wisden, and baked hard in one of England’s hottest summers. For want of anyone else, Close was promoted to open.
England did not bat very well or for very long. While Gordon Greenidge hit England’s medium-pacers for a century in each innings, England were bowled out for 71 first time, Holding taking five for 17. On Saturday evening England began their second innings, needing 552 to win.
Close and Edrich, who was 38, were bounced and bombarded. Edrich took some evasive action, Close none. He did not want to give into the survival instinct of fending away the bouncers with his bat and offer a catch. He let the fiery fast bowling hit him – no helmet, no chest protector, no forearm guard, just gloves and a bat.
No limitation to the number of bouncers per over either, not two as now. Umpire Bill Alley had a word with Holding after he had bowled three in a row at Close, but that was it. After an hour’s play before the close, without loss of life or wicket, Close had scored one not out. Close was worse than black and blue after England had been dismissed for 126, he himself finishing with 20 after almost three hours under fire. His friend Geoff Cope, who also played for Yorkshire and England, saw him afterwards and said: “It was the sort of sunset you would not want to see on anybody.” Cope makes the additional point that the bruises were on Close’s right side: he did not turn away from the ball.
As a fielder Close was no less renowned for his bravery. The story was that when a ball hit him on the head at short-leg, he shouted “catch it!” Eric Morecombe joked that the start of the cricket season was the sound of leather on Brian Close.
Most human beings, if faced by Sir Garfield Sobers playing a hook shot two yards away, would flinch, even if wearing a helmet. Close, when appointed England captain in 1966 for the fifth Test against West Indies, stood at short-leg, watched the ball, caught it and led his team to victory by an innings.
In the dressing room Close’s wounds from batting or fielding were often seen by the rest of his team. “We all knew it hurt him,” Cope said, “but nobody was brave enough to mention it!”