At Leeds,
England is mercilessly grinding India – and all those pundits who spoke of
English weakness are singing a different tune altogether. The best meme read:
Virat Kohli won the toss and chose to bat and bowl on the same day ! .. as
Team India struggle, it is time, we searched about an Indian win ! – those of
you watching might have observed the black armband worn by English batsman.
Gleaning records,
read of that 5th Test at Chennai (Pongal Test) in 1962 - India: 428 & 190 beat England : (92.3 ov, target 338)281 &
209 by 128 runs. Famous Indian Offie
Erapalli Prasanna debuted in that match at Corporation Grounds, Madras !
Ted Dexter,
is no more ! - the man who has died aged 86, was a truly rare
cricketer, remembered beyond his playing days less for the quantity of runs he
scored than for the debonair manner in which he acquired them. At the crease he
looked every inch the aristocrat, tall and erect, and with a preference for
flamboyant strokeplay. Guardian’s
obituary reads : What made him doubly interesting was the sense of adventure
that went with an unpredictable mindset. Teammates often felt that while he was
fielding his thoughts were away from the cricket ground. Asked some years later
where his one Test double century was scored, he simply could not recall. And
when the telephone at home rang at an inconvenient time he answered: “This is
Ted Dexter. I’m sorry I can’t take your call at present. Please ring later,”
leaving the caller to assume that this had been a recorded response.
Former England Test
cricket captain Ted Dexter has died at the age of 86 following a 'recent
illness'. The former all-rounder - who captained his country in 30 of his 62
Test matches - passed away peacefully in the Compton Hospice in Wolverhampton
at midday on Wednesday surrounded by his family. Edward Ralph Dexter, CBE (15 May 1935 – 25
August 2021)- was son of Elise (nee
Dartnall) and Ralph Dexter, and was born
in Milan, Italy, where his father, a former major with the Royal Field
Artillery, was a
prosperous underwriter. An aggressive middle-order batsman of
ferocious power and a right-arm medium bowler, he captained Sussex and England
in the early 1960s. He captained England in 30 test matches out of his 62 test
match appearances. He is known by the nickname Lord Ted. He is credited for his
instrumental role in the formation of the modern ICC Player Rankings system. In June 2021,
he was inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame as one of the special
inductees to mark the inaugural edition of the ICC World Test Championship
final
On the outbreak of the
second world war, Ted and his brother were enrolled at several UK prep schools
before he went to Radley college in Oxfordshire. There he dedicated himself to
cricket, and was dubbed “Lord Edward” or “Lord Ted” by the coach, Ivor Gilliat,
for his insouciant (showing
a casual lack of concern) attitude. “It’s been applied with envy,
malice, sarcasm and downright good humour,” Dexter later wrote. “I’ve enjoyed
it.” Among the junior pupils he felt disposed to punish by caning was the
future comedian Peter Cook.
The MCC paid tribute to
their former president, describing him as 'remarkable' and as someone who
played the game with 'adventure and fun'. 'His off-field contribution to the
game was substantial too, most notably his work, with Colin Cowdrey, on the
Spirit of Cricket. 'Through his own PR agency, he became a pioneer in cricket's
digital technology revolution and was inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of
Fame earlier this summer. Dexter scored 4,502 runs as a strong middle-order
batsman for England and also combined that with excellent medium-pace bowling,
claiming 66 wickets for his country at an average of 34.93.
He made his Test debut
against New Zealand in 1958, and went on to captain England between 1961 and
1964 as well as Sussex, also during the early 1960s. One of his most famous
innings came against the West Indies at Lord's in 1963. Dexter came in with his
side a wicket down without a run on the board, but counterpunched in trademark
fashion by smashing 70 off just 73 balls. He missed the start of the 1964-65
tour to South Africa because he was standing as a Conservative Party candidate
for Cardiff South East. He would later join the team as vice-captain however
after coming second in the constituency. The hard-hitting former cricketer is
also just one of just five England batsmen to record a score of at least 50 in
six straight innings, an honour he shares along with Patsy Hendren, Ken
Barrington, Sir Alastair Cook and current skipper Joe Root.
He later
became the chairman on England's panel
of selectors between 1989 and 1993 after retiring, before being made MCC
president in 2002 a year on from being awarded a CBE. Dexter also devised a
method of ranking Test match players - known initially as the Deloitte Rankings
- in the late 1980s, which has now come to be implemented as the ICC Player
Rankings.
In that
Madras Test, in which Prasanna debuted, Indians captained by Nari Contractor
beat England by 128 runs and secured the Series two nil. Prasanna had an ordinary debut taking a
solitary wicket while Salim Durrani had match figures of 10/177. .. .. the reference is not only for an Indian
win, but the fact that Ted Dexter captained England at that Madras Test.
RIP Ted Dexter !!
26.8.2021.
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