England’s gutsiest opener
EDRICH STOOD UP TO FEARSOME WINDIES AND LOVED ASHES DUELS IN CAREER OF 103 CENTURIES
John Edrich was arguably the gutsiest of all England openers, never more so than in his final Test innings in 1976 when, aged 39, he and the 45-year-old Brian Close survived a fearful barrage of short-pitched bowling from Michael holding and Andy Roberts at old Trafford.
At stumps on the third day of the third Test against West Indies, Edrich had ten and Close one — runs, that is, not bruises, which numbered many more. Edrich burst out laughing at the absurdity of it all.
Since there were no helmets in those days and little else by way of protection, their bravery became the stuff of legend. Yet, next morning, the sum total of their work was 24 runs for Edrich in two hours and 20 minutes and 20 for Close in two hours and 42 minutes.
once they fell, so did England — from 54 without loss to 126 all out, after a first-innings total of 71, to which Edrich had contributed eight in 108 minutes.
He was utterly selfless and his team-mates loved him for it. his death at the age of 83 feels like the passing of a simpler, harder era.
A first-class career that began with Surrey in 1956 and finished in 1978 had prepared him well for that ferocious evening in Manchester.
At various moments, he had his hand shattered by Fred Trueman and Frank Tyson, his head nearly knocked off by South Africa’s Peter Pollock and his ribs re-arranged by Dennis Lillee during England’s traumatic 1974- 75 Ashes defeat, when Edrich captained his country for the only time, at the SCG.
The title of his 1970 autobiography, Runs in the Family, referred to the fact he was the youngest of the five Edriches, a renowned norfolk cricketing family, to play at firstclass level. his most celebrated cousin, Bill, 21 years John’s senior, had lit up the 1947 summer for Middlesex and England with Denis Compton.
The opening line of John’s book was characteristically matter-of-fact: ‘Some of my best friends have put me in hospital.’
But Edrich was far more than an uncomplaining punchbag. Left-handed, well- organised, low on ego and the owner of a merciless square cut, he finished with 103 first-class centuries, including 12 for England. his 57 boundaries in an epic 310 not out against new Zealand in 1965 remains a Test record.
John Arlott captured his essence: ‘he had many technical l i mitations, knew them and played within them, never assuming too much, knowing invariably what to hit, what to play and what to leave.’
Edrich went on to become England’s batting coach and president of his beloved Surrey, where the gates at the oval’s Pavilion End are named after him. Mark Butcher, another Surrey left-hander, called him as a club legend, while Sir Ian Botham remembered a ‘wonderful man’.
It was typical that a terminal leukaemia diagnosis in 2000 proved wide of the mark. Given seven years to live, Edrich survived another 20. A fighter until t he end. Cricket was in mourning again last night after Edrich’s Surrey teammate, Test seamer Robin Jackman, died aged 75. Jackman took 1,402 first-class wickets in a 17-year career, playing four Tests for England.