Michael Colin Cowdrey, Baron Cowdrey of Tonbridge, was an English cricketer who played for Kent County Cricket Club from 1950 to 1976, and in 114 Test matches for England from 1954 to 1975. He was born in Ootacamund, Madras Presidency, British India and died in Littlehampton, West Sussex.
Sunil Manohar Gavaskar is an Indian cricket commentator and former cricketer who represented India and Bombay from 1971 to 1987. Gavaskar is acknowledged as one of the greatest opening batsmen of all time.
Sir Garfield St Aubrun Sobers, AO, OCC, also known as Sir Gary or Sir Garry Sobers, is a former cricketer who played for the West Indies between 1954 and 1974. A highly skilled bowler, an aggressive batsman and an excellent fielder, he is widely considered to be cricket's greatest ever all-rounder and one of the greatest cricketers of all time.
Alan Philip Eric Knott is a former cricketer who represented England at international level in both Tests and One-Day Internationals (ODI). Knott is widely regarded as one of the most eccentric characters in cricket and as one of the greatest wicket-keepers ever to play the game. He was described by cricket journalist Simon Wilde as "a natural gloveman, beautifully economical in his movements and armed with tremendous powers of concentration".
Sir Leonard Hutton was an English cricketer. He played as an opening batsman for Yorkshire County Cricket Club from 1934 to 1955 and for England in 79 Test matches between 1937 and 1955. Wisden Cricketers' Almanack described him as "one of the greatest batsmen in the history of cricket". He set a record in 1938 for the highest individual innings in a Test match in only his sixth Test appearance, scoring 364 runs against Australia, a milestone that stood for nearly 20 years. Following the Second World War, he was the mainstay of England's batting. In 1952, he became the first professional cricketer of the 20th century to captain England in Tests; under his captaincy England won the Ashes the following year for the first time in 19 years.
Leslie Ethelbert George Ames was a wicket-keeper and batsman for the England cricket team and Kent County Cricket Club. In his obituary, Wisden described him as the greatest wicket-keeper-batsman of all time. He is the only wicket-keeper-batsman to score a hundred first-class centuries.
Kenneth Frank Barrington, was an English international cricketer who played for the England cricket team and Surrey County Cricket Club in the 1950s and 1960s. He was a right-handed batsman and occasional leg-spin bowler, known for his jovial good humour and long, defensive innings "batting with bulldog determination and awesome concentration".
Dennis Leslie Amiss is a former English cricketer and cricket administrator. He played for both Warwickshire and England. Amiss is known for scoring the first ever century in ODI history, which was also his debut match. A right-handed batsman, he was a stroke maker particularly through extra cover and midwicket – his two favourite areas to score runs. He was an accomplished batsman in all forms of the game. He averaged 42.86 in first-class, 35.06 in List-A, 46.30 in Tests and 47.72 in One Day Internationals. In first-class cricket he scored 102 centuries, and his England record amassed over 50 Tests ranks him with the best England has produced.
Geoffrey Pullar was an English cricketer, who played for Lancashire and Gloucestershire and in 28 Tests for England.
Clifford Archibald Roach was a West Indian cricketer who played in West Indies' first Test match in 1928. Two years later, he scored the West Indies' first century in Test matches, followed two matches later by the team's first double century. Roach played for Trinidad, but before having any great success at first-class level, he was chosen to tour England with a West Indies team in 1928 and scored over 1,000 runs. When England played in the West Indies in 1930, he recorded his ground-breaking centuries but had intermittent success at Test level afterwards. He toured Australia in 1930–31 and returned to England in 1933, when he once more passed 1,000 runs, but was dropped from the team in 1935. Within three years, he lost his place in the Trinidad team. Roach was generally inconsistent, but batted in an attacking and attractive style. Outside of cricket, he worked as a solicitor. Later in his life, he suffered from diabetes which necessitated the amputation of both his legs.
Irvine Theodore Shillingford was a West Indian cricketer who played four Tests and two ODIs in 1977 and 1978. He also played a further 88 first class games, 49 of them for the Combined Islands, whom he represented from its inception in 1961 until the dissolution of the team in 1981. He also played first class cricket for the Windward Islands.
Alan David Ogilvie is a former Australian cricketer who played in five Tests from 1977 to 1978 during World Series Cricket.
Christopher James Tavaré (;), is a retired English international cricketer who played in 31 Test matches and 29 One Day Internationals between 1980 and 1989. His style of play was characterised by long periods at the crease and a relatively slow rate of run-scoring.
Maurius Pacheco Fernandes, known as Maurice Fernandes, was a West Indian Test cricketer who played first-class cricket for British Guiana between 1922 and 1932. He made two Test appearances for the West Indies, in 1928 and 1930. Fernandes played as a right-handed top-order batsman and occasional wicket-keeper. He scored 2,087 first-class runs in 46 appearances at an average of 28.20.
Oscar Constantine Da Costa was a West Indian cricketer who played in five Test matches for the West Indies cricket team during the 1930s. He was born at Kingston, Jamaica in September 1907 and died there prematurely in October 1936, aged just 29.
Peter May captained the English cricket team in Australia in 1958–59, playing as England in the 1958–59 Ashes series against the Australians and as the MCC in their other matches on the tour. It was widely regarded as one of the strongest teams to depart English shores, comparable with the great teams of Johnny Douglas in 1911-12 and Percy Chapman in 1928-29. It had no obvious weaknesses, and yet it was beaten – and beaten badly. By the First Test the top batsmen had made runs, the Surrey trio of Loader, Laker and Lock had taken wickets, as had Lancashire's Brian Statham. South Australia, Victoria and an Australian XI had all been beaten – the last by the crushing margin of 345 runs – and all seemed rosy for Peter May's touring team. But in the Brisbane Test they lost by 8 wickets and the rest of the series failed to offer any hope of reversing their fortunes. The reasons for their failure were manifold; the captain was too defensive; injuries affected their best players; others were too young and inexperienced such as Arthur Milton, Raman Subba Row, Ted Dexter, Roy Swetman and John Mortimore, or at the end of their career; Godfrey Evans, Trevor Bailey, Jim Laker, Willie Watson and Frank Tyson. Their morale was further bruised when faced with bowlers of dubious legality and unsympathetic umpires. Peter May was criticised for seeing his fiancée Virginia Gilligan, who was travelling with her uncle the Test Match commentator Arthur Gilligan. The press blamed the poor performance on the team's heavy drinking, bad behaviour and lack of pride – a foretaste the treatment losing teams would receive in the 1980s. It was not a happy tour by any means and it would take 12 years to recover The Ashes. As E.W. Swanton noted
It was a tour which saw all sorts of perverse happenings – from an injury list that never stopped, to the dis-satisfaction with umpiring and bowlers' actions that so undermined morale. From various causes England gave below their best...
The West Indian cricket team played 16 first-class cricket matches in England in 1988, under the captaincy of Viv Richards. They enjoyed considerable success during the tour, while England endured a "disastrous summer" of continuous change.
The English cricket team in the West Indies in 1959–60 played five Test matches, eight other first-class matches and two minor games. England won the Test series by one match to nil, with the other four matches being drawn.
The Australian cricket team toured the West Indies in the 1977–78 season to play a five-match Test series against the West Indies. The tour also encompassed a pair of One Day Internationals, plus six tour matches against the West Indies' first class sides.
George Alphonso Headley OD, MBE was a West Indian cricketer who played 22 Test matches, mostly before World War II. Considered one of the best batsmen to play for the West Indies and one of the greatest cricketers of all time, Headley also represented Jamaica and played professional club cricket in England. West Indies had a weak cricket team through most of Headley's playing career; as their one world-class player, he carried a heavy responsibility and the side depended on his batting. He batted at number three, scoring 2,190 runs in Tests at an average of 60.83, and 9,921 runs in all first-class matches at an average of 69.86. He was chosen as one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year in 1934.
