DOUBLE DEPARTURE..

I was sorry to learn of the death of Sir Alec Bedser over the weekend, not only because of his outstanding contribution to the world of cricket but also because he was yet another in the list of my boyhood heroes who are no longer with us. In a way, the announcement of his death at the age of 91 immediately set my mind thinking back to those endless summer days of my youth, when cricket was still a game to be played for the sheer exhuberant enjoyment of it all.

I remember first seeing Alec Bedser on a nine-inch black and white television screen, enhanced by a stick-on magnifying glass, when England were winning the Ashes series of 1953. I had just entered my teens and just entered the world of village cricket. I didn`t know whether I was a bowler or a batsman; I had had no coaching, no-one to show me how it was all done and so I studied the players on the tv screen and from the very occasional visit to the county ground in Southampton. I was impressed by the bowling actions of Ray Lindwall (who apparently modelled his own action on the incomparable Harold Larwood) and particularly by the `gather` of Alec Bedser.

I put these two elements together to develop my right arm unpredictables, which stood me in good stead throughout an undistinguished but exhuberantly enjoyable `career` with Basted CC, playing the outposts of Kent and consistently doing the Basted Double of 100 runs and 10 wickets in a season. A singular achievement indeed.

Now, the world of cricket is today in fulsome praise of Alec Bedser and rightly so and I have no need here to duplicate any of that, for it is there for all to see. But what I do recall is also the passing of Alec`s twin, Eric, just three years ago. The twins were inseperable, growing up together, playing for Surrey, golfing, entering into business and living together all their lives. Neither of them ever married and they shared the same house in Woking that they had always done. They were intensely loyal to each other and rejoiced in each other`s achievements without the slightest hint of envy. In many ways, they both, collectively and individually, epitomised a former age, one where loyalty, honesty, decency and modesty were its sporting hallmarks. I mourn as much as for that bygone age as I do for the passing of those, like Alec Bedser, who were the role models for the eagreness of youth.

Well played.... and thank you.