Courageous Close was a ‘cricketer of the heart’

IN the history of English cricket, there was never a man quite like Brian Close, who died on Sunday at the age of 84. He was never a great batsman. His highest score in 22 Test matches, spread over 27 summers, was 70. Nor was he a great bowler. As a ‘cricketer of the heart’, however, to use John Arlott’s evocative phrase, he knew few equals. And when it came to demonstrations of physical courage, he knew none at all. Close the warrior is one of the game’s most enduring images. A century from now, people will still be talking of that savage evening in July 1976 when Close (below) and John Edrich, opening the batting against West Indies on a cracked pitch at Old Trafford, faced without flinching the ferocious fast bowling of Michael Holding, Andy Roberts and Wayne Daniel. What spectators saw that evening in Manchester resembled a form of war waged with a cricket ball. Even now, revisited on television, it makes harrowing viewing. Those born since 1976 might not believe their eyes. Yet those brave men took it. Team-mates at Yorkshire would watch with a mixture of admiration and trepidation as he positioned himself at the shortest of short legs to snaffle the catches and take the blows. Recalled by England at The Oval in 1966 to captain a team that had been walloped by the West Indies, he plonked himself at short leg the moment Garry Sobers came out to bat. ‘Bowl him a bouncer,’ he instructed John Snow, who obliged. Sobers hooked, got a top edge and Close made the catch. England won the game. Such a spirit made him England’s youngest ever Test cricketer when, aged 18, he played against New Zealand in 1949. Although Close’s Test career failed to bring fulfilment, he led a superb Yorkshire team to four County Championships. Close was truly hard, in his defiance of physical pain and in his understanding of a game that was forged in Yorkshire, the hardest school of all. But he was not a nasty or vindictive man. He had dignity, and could see the good in others. Close also had a spell as Scotland team manager at a pivotal period in the nation’s development. He was drafted in to lead the side during their first competitive campaign against county opposition in 1980. Yesterday, a Cricket Scotland spokesman paid tribute, saying: ‘In carrying out his role as manager Brian Close brought his experience of county cricket. His contribution to the national team was greatly valued.’