In the midst of the heat and dust of the World Cup, it is easy to miss the passing of a relatively little-known English player of the 1950s. He had a rather traumatic childhood, but went on to be one of Yorkshire’s leading bowlers of his time. He played relatively few Tests, but played a major role in one of the major “negative” world records which his team inflicted on another.
Here is his writeup from Cricinfo:
http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/player/8554.html
This gives a good general idea of the difficulties he overcame, though it does not go much into his Test career. You can see that here:
He made his debut in the second test between England and Pakistan in 1954, in which he took his best figures of 5-51 which helped England to win by an innings. He missed the rest of the series but then played in 4 Ashes tests that winter, taking 11 wickets with Tyson wreaking havoc at the other end. His finest moment may have been the debacle of 26 all out in the tour of New Zealand that followed, where he was the main wicket taker with 4 for 7:
http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/62788.html
Take a closer look at the innings:
Also note the even more startling bowling figures of his Yorkshire colleague Johnny Wardle. Other odd things you will see are that one batsman did cross double figures, though there was another instance of 30 all out in a Test when no batsman got into double figures.
(Not long ago Australia were 21/9 against Philander and Steyn and the long-standing record of 26 all out looked to be in danger. They finally staggered to 47).
After this Test his career petered out, but he remained a well known figure in Yorkshire cricket until his recent death at 90. R.I.P.
abn397 