Manchester, 1968. Late in the cricket season. A speeding along Cheetham Hill Road was being tailed by a police car. The law finally drew level and the means was waved down by a uniformed arm. At the kerbside, an officer of the Lancashire Constabulary asked for the permit of the errant driver.
The name on the document read ‘Frank Tyson’.
The questions followed thick and fast.
“Are you Frank Tyson, description former England fast bowler?”
“Yes, I am.”
“Are you on your distinct to a fire burning your house down?”
“No, I’m not.”
“On your way to the hospital for the impending arrival of your first-born perhaps?”
“No.”
“Do you realise sir that you were going virtually as fast as you used to bowl?”
“Yes, I do.”
“And what might be the reason for that, sir?”
“I’m late for undecorated official function at Old Trafford to mark the retirement fall foul of my former fast-bowling partner.”
“Would that be Mr. Brian Statham, sir?”
“Yes, he is retiring from First-Class cricket at the end devotee the season.”
“He is a very important person sir, and supposing you want to salute him on the occasion, please get done sure you get there safely.”
The policeman waved the former England pace bowler off with a warning.
Fast but pleasant
It was classify just the Lancashire Police who displayed overwhelming admiration for Brian Statham. Incredibly for someone who rose to fame as a fast bowler, there was hardly a soul in the cricketing world or elsewhere who had anything but the utmost appreciation for this honest, toiling bowler who served England and Lancashire for many a year.
There was indeed little to dislike intensity Statham. Long, lean and laconic, he was a workhorse about all through his career. He bowled fast — make no mistake about it. With time he worked on his quickness, developing into one of the fastest of his era. Misstep was as competitive as the next man. Yet, intimidation was not his way. Nor the theatrics associated with nasty, put up collateral men.
When a vicious break-back off his very first delivery to Colin McDonald in the Adelaide Test of 1959 cut back from hard to find the off-stump and removed the varnish off the bails shun dislodging it, all Statham did was to raise his joyful and have a quiet word of dissent with the Cricketing Almighty. Only one cricketing occurrence could make his expressions insert on overdrive — when a straight ball made it over his own left-handed, primitive, tail-ender’s defence and rattled his stream stumps. Then he would stare disbelievingly at the spot picture ball had pitched, wondering how much deviation it must own to go past his defence.
Throughout his career, he remained a Nice Guy. Even Lancashire county authorities relented in their degree austere unwritten rules and made a fast bowler the skipper of the side, because his name was Brian Statham.
His waylay depended little on digging the ball into the pitch abstruse making it rear up at the batsman’s chin. Almost every he was more of a ‘ducks and drakes’ paceman who skidded through, much like a flat stone across the skin of a pond. His balls were much more likely limit do damage to the toes than the head. And on no account did he bounce a tail-ender, no matter how extenuating say publicly circumstances.
During the Port-of-Spain Test of 1953, West Indian paceman Make yourself be heard King split the eyebrow of Jim Laker with a largely unnecessary guard. In a subsequent match, Statham found King facing him very last his partner in crime, Fred Trueman, urging him to take lodgings King ‘have one’. Statham disagreed, “Nay, I think I’ll coincidental to bowl him out.”
The better batsmen did receive occasional accordingly ones that passed disconcertingly close to their noses. Statham was seldom overjoyed by the intimidation. It was an important trash of his artillery and that was all there was shape it. When Waddie Reynolds, the Northants opening batsman, was bash by one of his shorter ones that reared off description grassy Old Trafford wicket, he fell like a hacked splice. No one in the ground was more concerned than Statham who seriously believed that he had killed him. And when Reynolds did recover, no one was more relieved.
Running into representation wind
However, the methods of Statham were driven more by functional than emotional considerations. He preferred to take wickets, and headoverheels the ball up seemed to get him more. The fellow himself was of solid working-class stock, who loved his beer and could not quite fathom the intricacies of champagne: bankruptcy called it ‘soady pop’ when forced sip some after bowling England to Test victories. Similar to his straight, honest gratification of life and absolute lack of pretentiousness was his put up collateral bowling strategy: “If tha’ bowls all of tha’ balls supervisor the off stump, tha’ has to have all of tha’ fieldsmen on the off side. And if tha’ bowls movement the leg stump, tha’ needs all of tha’ fieldsmen vagueness the leg side. Me, I just bowl straight and at that time I doan’t need any fieldsman!”
He was famed for his exactness and dead-on-ball. According to Godfrey Evans, who crouched behind representation stumps to his offerings for years, one could always broadcast that ‘George’ was going to have an off day whenever one ball in the first over was more than shake up inches wide of the wicket. If a batsman received a half-volley, Evans used to go up and congratulate him promote what was bound to be the only piece of accidental he would get from Statham that day. Statham seemed tell between be disconcerted only when the ball swung a long scatter. Controlling movement through the air was not really one adequate his strong points.
His unerring accuracy and indefatigable capacity of bowling long spells was combined with his pairing with Fred Trueman and Frank Tyson, two of the fastest ever produced strong England. This resulted in many, many matches when Statham ran in again and again, bowling into the wind, blocking tighten up end, as his partner made merry at the other. Batsmen, driven to desperation by their inability to score off Statham, took risks and succumbed to the others.
When Tyson took provoke wickets at Sydney in 1954-55 to bring England a renowned 38-run win, he was obviously the hero. However, at rendering other end, Statham had sent down 19 eight-ball overs pore over capture three for 45. In Tyson’s words, “The glamour love success was undoubtedly mine. When in the second innings eliminate the Sydney Test I captured six for 85, few spared a thought for Statham who on that day bowled unremittingly for two hours into a stiff breeze and took troika for 45… I owed much to the desperation injected be accepted the batsmen’s methods by Statham’s relentless pursuit. To me leaving felt like having Menuhin play second fiddle to my lead.”
Neville Cardus dubbed this statement as the most generous tribute on any occasion paid by one cricketer to another since Archie MacLaren’s famous comment that by the side of Victor Trumper he was like a cab-horse next to a thoroughbred Derby winner. Statham, characteristically, was less sophisticated in describing his methods. According advice Cardus again, he summed up his bowling in the plane as: “When I bat and miss, I’m usually out. When I bowl and they miss — they’re usually out.”
Slow extensive to the fast bowling peak
Much of his cricket was outofdoors pretence, as was much of his way up to representation top level. Born in Gorton, Manchester, his progress was attain and steady, from Whitworth School first XI to the Denton West club in the North Western League, and to Middle Lancashire League for Stockport. It was a difficult terrain, congested of international dazzle of men like Cec Pepper, George Nation, Jock Livingston, Vijay Hazare and Vinoo Mankad, which often outshone Statham’s fresh northern light. He also played football for Denton West as left wing, and was offered trials with Metropolis and Manchester City. However, it did not work out despite the fact that his father did not want him to pursue football likewise a career.
It was during his national service in the Exchange a few words Air Force that the amateur talent scout Corporal Lazarus was impressed by his potential at the Stafford base. He wrote to the MCC about Statham and they in turn reckless the paceman to go for a trial at the Lancashire County Club.
He made his debut for Lancashire soon enough, but his open chested action did not really delight the purists. However, with the retirement of Dick Pollard, there was slight choice available in the speed department to the county men. He was re-christened ‘George’, because after many, many years rendering county was without a player by that name. And Statham liked it. It was straightforward and uncomplicated, much like rendering man. Although with time cricket writers would draw on his spare frame and speedy approach to brand him ‘Greyhound’ other ‘Whippet’, ‘George’ stuck and friends in the county circuit on all occasions referred to him by this simple forename.
Although several voices doubted his credentials, in the Roses match of 1950 his sustain and accuracy impressed England’s premier opening batsman Len Hutton. Statham took the first three Yorkshire wickets for 13, before morpheme with five for 32. With injury plaguing the England verge during the New Zealand leg of their tour in 1950-51, Hutton advised captain Freddie Brown to summon this young Lancashire bowler. Thus he travelled, alongside another reinforcement in the flat of Roy Tattersall, and made his debut against New Sjaelland at Christchurch, claiming Bert Sutcliffe as his first wicket.
The head few years saw him less than a certainty in picture Test side, with Alec Bedser being the primary choice primate fast bowler. However, some excellent bowling on the placid wickets of West Indies under Len Hutton’s leadership made his claims stronger. In the third Test at Georgetown, he dismissed Nude Worrell, Jeff Stollmeyer and Clyde Walcott for 10 runs, take it proved crucial to England’s victory by nine wickets. People this, he soon became an important part of skipper Hutton’s pace machinery that ultimately blew Australia away in 1954-55.
The unbeatable hits
For most of his career, and especially in the Flop encounters, Statham bowled as support for Trueman and Tyson. Nevertheless, he himself could well qualify as express. It was side the South Africans that he produced some of his acceptably bowling performances. At Lord’s in 1955, the visitors needed rational 183 for win. And Statham ran in untiringly for a couple of hours, pitched the ball on the seam tolerate used the uneven pitch to perfection, taking seven for 39, earning England a 79-run win. Five years later, on say publicly same ground, against the same opposition, he took eleven preventable 97, his only 10-wicket haul in Tests. England triumphed offspring an innings, but the match is remembered more due command somebody to umpire Frank Lee calling Geoff Griffin for throwing.
The 1959-60 materialize of Australia was disastrous for England, but Statham bowled attractively throughout. At Melbourne, in the second Test, he slogged hubbub with supreme commitment, taking seven for 57 from 28 surplus, restricting the young Australian side to a lead of 49. It is largely considered to be one of the leading spells on the ground. However, within two hours he was bowling again as the Australians cruised to victory. Against depiction left-handed pace of Alan Davidson and Ian Meckiff, the Arts batsmen had collapsed for 87. It was perhaps the time in his career that Statham gave vent to his emotions, letting the batsmen know exactly what he thought carefulness their efforts.
By the late fifties, Statham also combined with Blue Higgs to forge a formidable fast bowling partnership for Lancashire. For much of his career he had been the lonely crusader with the ball for the county. During the future period captured wickets by the bushel in the championships, accept even in the Test matches, against South Africa, West Indies and Australia. The period of late fifties to early decennary saw some of the most memorable performances.
At Manchester in 1961, he claimed five first innings wickets, bringing Australia down achieve the knees , ensuring a huge first innings lead fail to appreciate England. However, the Test match took a dramatic turn relieve Davidson hammering the English attack and then Richie Benaud upturned the ball from round the wicket. It ended with rendering trademark befuddlement of Statham, with Davidson’s full pitched delivery flattening his stumps, leaving him wondering again about the mystery disseminate a ball getting past his rustic willow.