The Shorter Wisden 2013 (45 page)

ROBINSON
, HENRY BASIL OSWIN, died on December 21, aged 93. A Rhodes Scholar from Canada, Basil Robinson was a sharp-turning off-spinner who won Blues at Oxford
in 1947 and 1948. He took six for 55, which remained his best figures, against Worcestershire at New Road in his first season, and added six more in the 1947 Varsity Match, dismissing Trevor Bailey
in the first innings and Doug Insole in the second. The following year Robinson took five for 60 against Sussex, but was needed for only three wicketless overs at Lord’s as Oxford’s
seamers wrapped up an innings victory. Robinson went back to Vancouver after that, but returned to England in 1954 as captain of a strong Canadian touring team. He became a diplomat, and later
wrote a biography of Canada’s prime minister John Diefenbaker, as well as a family history entitled
This Family Robinson
.

ROWLANDS
, MEYRICK, collapsed and died shortly after being dismissed in a cricket match in Hook, Pembrokeshire, on July 24. He was 60, and had retired as
headmaster of the nearby Pennar Community School only four days earlier. “Cricket was his great passion,” said his colleague Martin Cavaney, one of the school’s governors.

SAFIULLAH KHAN
, who died on March 20, aged 71, was a left-arm seamer who played 42 first-class matches in Pakistan, mainly for Peshawar, between 1957 and 1975.
He took nine for 62 against Railways B at Peshawar in March 1972, and later took up umpiring, standing in several first-class matches.

SALVE
, NARENDRA KUMAR PRASADRAO, who died on April 1, aged 91, is the man usually credited with moving the World Cup to the subcontinent. He was the Indian
board president at the time of India’s upset victory over West Indies in the 1983 final and, having had trouble obtaining tickets for the big match at Lord’s, hatched the plan over
lunch the following day with his Pakistan counterpart, Nur Khan. There was a general assumption that the 1987 tournament, like its three predecessors, would be held in England – but Salve, a
long-serving Congress Party MP and minister in Rajiv Gandhi’s government, challenged that cosy arrangement, mobilising the support of sympathetic Full and Associate Members of the ICC in a
way not seen before, if increasingly familiar since. The 1987 World Cup was indeed staged in India and Pakistan, with the final at Kolkata: “He was responsible for it becoming the global
event it is today,” said N. Srinivasan, the current BCCI president. Salve was a useful club player in his youth in Nagpur, and also umpired three first-class games in the early 1950s. The
annual Challenger Trophy (trial matches for India’s one-day side) is named after him.

SARAIYA
, SURESH, who died on July 18, aged 76, had been a popular broadcaster on Test cricket since 1969, usually for All India Radio. “Few commentators
had his desire and preparation,” remembered his colleague Harsha Bhogle. “He was like a child when we broadcast from South Africa in 1992 – he had tears that morning in Durban,
when India played South Africa’s first home Test since 1970.”

SARGENT
, MURRAY ALFRED JAMES, died on February 28, aged 83. A late bloomer, Sargent had batted without distinction for the Glenelg club in Adelaide for over a
decade from 1947-48. During that time he had two seasons with Leicestershire, where modest success in the Second Eleven was not repeated in the senior side: in 1952, he averaged under 12 from 18
innings. But at the end of the 1950s he suddenly flowered as an opener, and at 32 found himself partnering Les Favell for South Australia for one successful season. Sargent’s obdurate methods
brought him 164 in nearly nine hours against Queensland. It was then back to grade cricket, where his run-making continued for another decade. He later turned to administration, serving as a South
Australian selector for seven seasons from 1984-85, and Glenelg’s president for 17.

SATHE
, ISHAN SUBODH, was found dead on April 18. He was 20. A promising leg- spinner who had played for Vidarbha’s age-group teams and in trials for
India’s Under-19 side, Sathe was found hanging from the ceiling fan in his room, not long after an argument with his girlfriend. Narendra Hirwani said: “He had that rare ability to turn
the ball sharply.” Sathe had also caught the eye of Sachin Tendulkar, who arranged for him to train with the Mumbai Indians, his IPL team.

SHARP
, PETER ANDREW, who died on February 18, aged 72, played eight first-class matches for Canterbury as an off-spinner in the 1960s, taking 21 wickets, but
was better known as a radio commentator. “One of the most famous voices in New Zealand cricket has fallen silent,” said his colleague Bruce Russell.

SLACK
, JOHN KENNETH EDWARD, DL, who died on May 6, aged 81, scored 135 on his first-class debut, for Cambridge University against Middlesex at Fenner’s
in 1954, and did enough in the other matches of his final year to win a Blue, although he was out for 12 and nought in the drawn Varsity Match at Lord’s. That was the end of his first-class
cricket: he turned down an offer to play for Middlesex, preferring to concentrate on his legal career, in which he rose to become a circuit judge known for his expertise in fraud trials. Slack had
not finished with cricket, though: a club regular for Beaconsfield, he played for Buckinghamshire, and captained them from 1967 to 1969.

SMITH
, ARCHIBALD WILLIAM, died on November 1, aged 89. Archie Smith was a pillar of Cornwall’s Minor Counties side for many years, taking 135 wickets,
including nine for 49 against Oxfordshire at Penzance in 1953. A headmaster, he founded the Cornwall Schools’ Cricket Association in 1956, and was their first secretary (and treasurer until
1977). “He was a real gentleman cricketer,” said his friend Michael Williams, a local author. “He never appealed for an lbw unless he was absolutely certain it was
necessary.”

SNOW
, PHILIP ALBERT,
OBE
, who died on June 5, aged 96, was a first-class cricketer by virtue of five matches,
captaining Fiji on a tour of New Zealand in 1947-48. These were given first-class status many years later, almost entirely due to Snow’s own lobbying at Lord’s. The tour caused
considerable interest since the Fijian players (not Snow) wore traditional skirts and no shoes, and entertained the crowds with South Sea songs. The team were competitive too, and beat both
Wellington and Auckland. As a cricketer, he failed to get even a trial at Cambridge, but in 1937 and 1938 he captained Leicestershire’s Second Eleven, before being appointed an administrator
and magistrate in Fiji. He was instantly elected chairman of the Suva Cricket Club, and fell in love with the place. After the war, he founded the Fiji Cricket Association, and set about organising
the New Zealand tour. On return to England, he became bursar of Rugby School and, in 1965, Fiji’s representative on the International Cricket Conference (later Council), a post he retained
for a record 30 years, devotedly championing Fiji’s cause. He wrote several books, mainly about the South Seas and his family. He also wrote at least twice in old age to the editor of
Wisden
enclosing his biography for the benefit of his obituarist, in the hope that he would match his older brothers (the novelist C. P. Snow and the Leicestershire cricket historian E. E.
Snow) by being included. That he has achieved, but perhaps his greatest wish – the advancement of Fijian cricket – remains unfulfilled.

SPURRIER
, MICHAEL CUMBY, who died on July 9, aged 79, was acknowledged as the leading expert on military links with cricket, a subject he covered in some
detail in
Wisden Cricket Monthly
in a series on cricketers decorated for gallantry. He had been in the army himself – a major in the Durham Light Infantry – and was apparently
once in charge of transport on an exercise in which he started with 400 vehicles, and returned with 401.

SRINIVASAN
, KRISHNASWAMI, died on April 27, aged 82. “Balaji” Srinivasan was an attacking batsman and a polished wicketkeeper who played for Mysore
(now Karnataka). He scored 106 against Madras in 1952-53, and the following year played twice for India against a strong Commonwealth XI, in what he was later disappointed to discover were
unofficial Tests. Opening in the first one at Nagpur after Frank Worrell had stroked 165, Srinivasan made 67. He was a keen student of the game. “I was interested in the poetry and prose of
cricket,” he said. “It made my modest career colourful and enjoyable.”

STOVOLD
, MARTIN WILLIS, died on May 11, aged 56. The younger brother of Andy, who had a long career with Gloucestershire, Martin Stovold played for the county
too, although his best score in 25 matches was an unbeaten 75 against Oxford University in the Parks in 1980. He managed a solitary half-century in the Championship, 52 against Warwickshire at
Nuneaton in 1982, in his penultimate match. After a spell in South Africa, where he coached the young Jacques Kallis in Cape Town, he returned home and took charge of the cricket at Cheltenham
College.

SURENDRANATH
, RAMAN, who died on May 5, aged 75, was an army officer and hard-working medium-pacer who played 11 Tests for India. He was effective in England
in 1959, taking 16 wickets at 26 in a series India lost 5–0, with five-fors at Old Trafford and The Oval. The pick, though, was probably the inswinger that knocked back Peter May’s off
stump at Lord’s. In all, Surendranath took 79 wickets on that tour (only the leg- spinner Subhash Gupte had more, with 95), although
Wisden
was rather sniffy about his tactic of
bowling down the leg side to keep the runs down. His Test career was over within 18 months, but he played on for Services until 1968-69. He had taken seven for 14 and six for 62 for them against
Railways in Delhi in January 1959, not long after winning his first Test cap, against West Indies, and made 119 against Southern Punjab at Patiala in December 1961.

SWABY
, EATON OHIO, who died on February 9, aged 85, was a Jamaican-born fast bowler who made a name for himself in club cricket in south London. He took more
than 1,000 first-team wickets for Mitcham – where part of the outfield of their ancient ground became known as “Swabes’s Corner” – before joining Sutton CC in his
fifties and turning to coaching.

SWANEPOEL
, HEINDRICH, who died of a suspected heart attack while on holiday in Morocco in October, aged 43, was a pillar of England’s blind cricket team,
almost ever-present since the side were formed in 1996. He played for the Metro club in London, and was part of the team that won the Blind Ashes in 2004 and 2008. He won a bronze medal in the
javelin at the 2000 Sydney Paralympics. “Heindrich was a giant,” said the ECB’s disability cricket manager Ian Martin, “both in physical stature and in terms of his
contribution to the blind game as a player and an administrator.”

TAYLOR
, PHILIP HENRY, who died on December 1, aged 95, had been the oldest surviving England football international: he won three caps in 1947. He was a key
member of the Liverpool team that won the first post-war League Championship in 1946-47, and captained them in the 1950 FA Cup final against Arsenal. Taylor, who was born in Bristol, also excelled
at cricket, and opened the batting for Gloucestershire Second Eleven in the late 1930s. For his one first-class outing, however, he batted at No. 8, making two and 12 in a ten-wicket defeat by Kent
at Gloucester in June 1938. He later managed Liverpool, and his resignation in 1959 paved the way for the arrival of Bill Shankly.

THAKURI
, GANESH BAHADUR SHAHI, died on December 13, aged 40. A wicketkeeper-batsman who played in the 2001 ICC Trophy in Canada, he was “the best Nepali
wicketkeeper I have seen,” according to the former national captain Pawan Agrawal. “More importantly, he was a better human being.”

THOMAS
, DAVID JAMES, died of multiple sclerosis on July 28, aged 53. There was a time in the early 1980s when David “Teddy” Thomas looked as if he
was shaping up to be just the sort of cricketer England were looking for. A left-arm quick bowler who threw everything into his delivery stride following an energetic run-up, he might have added
useful variety to the attack, and contributed rapid runs down the order. But he never got the chance to be the new Botham, perhaps because the old Botham was still in full working order. Thomas was
named in squads for home Tests, and was twelfth man at Trent Bridge against New Zealand in 1983. It was as close as he came.

Not that he was a man to let it spoil his fun. Thomas – the “Teddy” sobriquet was bestowed because of a hairstyle that had echoes of the 1950s – was a valued member of
the Surrey team for ten years, not just for his wickets and runs but for his sense of humour. He also spent one season with Gloucestershire, and in South Africa played for Natal and North
Transvaal. But his career ended at 29 when he was diagnosed with MS. He spent his final years in a wheelchair, but remained a jocular, upbeat figure who relished reunions with former colleagues. He
had been a chairman of Surrey’s former players’ association.

Thomas came to the attention of Surrey while playing for Beaconsfield, and made his first-class debut in 1977, aged 18. Micky Stewart had captained him in club and ground games, and thought him
“hyperactive but a loveble, likeable lad. He couldn’t do anything slowly”. Stewart also recognised his talent: “He had quick hands with the bat and he could whack it. He was
an exciting cricketer.” Three appearances for England Under-19s against West Indies in 1978 underlined his potential, but progress for Surrey was no more than steady. Robin Jackman
remembered: “He bowled his left-armers at a lively pace and with aggression, but he struggled to swing the ball back into the right-hander, which would have produced many more wickets.
Against left-handers, bowled and lbw became serious options.”

Thomas had two exceptional summers for Surrey. In 1983, he took 57 wickets at 31 and scored 937 runs at 36, including centuries against Nottinghamshire and Sussex. The following season he took
60 wickets at 27, including a career-best six for 36 against Somerset at The Oval. Another great moment came in the 1982 NatWest final, when Surrey at last won a one-day trophy after three
successive defeats. Thomas took the match award for his three for 26, including Dennis Amiss and Geoff Humpage for ducks. But after 1984 his returns became more modest as injuries reduced his
effectiveness. He moved to Gloucestershire in 1988, but MS was discovered when he was examined for a neck injury sustained in a car accident while he had been at Surrey. He retired after making 150
first-class appearances, in which he took 336 wickets at just under 34, and scored 3,044 runs at 20. He was, however, a cricketer remembered for more than bare statistics. “He brought life
and soul into any dressing-room,” said Jackman.