Alec Bedser
Encyclopedia
Sir Alec Victor Bedser, CBE (4 July 1918–4 April 2010) was a professional English
cricket
er. He was the chairman of selectors for the English national cricket team, and the president of Surrey County Cricket Club
. He is widely regarded as one of the best English cricketers of the 20th century.
He was an outstanding right-arm medium-fast bowler for Surrey and England in a first-class
playing career that spanned twenty-one years. He took 1924 first-class wicket
s in 485 matches. In 51 Test matches for England he took 236 wickets.
(1918–2006) in Reading
, Berkshire
, where his father was stationed with the Royal Air Force
. Within six months the family moved to Horsell
, Surrey, where, at the age of seven, the brothers played their first organised cricket. Over the next decade they played together for Monument Hill School and Woking Cricket Club. After joining a local firm of solicitors, the twins were spotted practising in the nets for Woking Cricket Club by Surrey coach Alan Peach
, and he recruited them to the staff at The Oval
in 1938. A year later they made their first-class débuts for the county. Their careers were interrupted in 1939, when they joined the RAF to serve in World War II
: they saw action at Dunkirk and later served in North Africa
, Italy
and Austria
, both narrowly escaping from being shot in France. They were demobilised in 1946.
Alec Bedser's performances during war-time cricket matches were impressive: in games for the British RAF he took 6 wickets for 27 runs (including a hat-trick
) against the West Indies
and 9 for 36, featuring another hat-trick, against a Metropolitan Police team.
In his first full season for Surrey, in 1946, he passed 100 wickets before July and established himself in the England
Test
team. In each of his first two Tests, against the visiting Indians
, he took eleven wickets: 11 for 139 in his début at Lord's and 11 for 96 in the next game at Manchester
. His amazing season resulted in his nomination as a Wisden Cricketer of the Year for 1947. He was selected for the 1946-47 Ashes series in Australia
and for most of the next decade "carried England's bowling attack".
In Australia he was overbowled and exhausted and found that his natural in-swingers were liked by Australian leg-side batsmen like Sid Barnes
. To counter this he gripped the ball across the seam like a spinner and the result was an in-swinging leg-break which would be known as Bedser's "Special Ball". Don Bradman wrote "the ball with which Alec Bedser bowled me in the Adelaide Test Match was, I think, the finest ever to take my wicket. It must have come three-quarters of the way straight on my off-stump, then suddenly dipped in to pitch on the leg stump, only to turn off the pitch and hit the middle and off stumps."
In the 1950-51 Ashes series he began his dominance of Australian batsmen, taking 30 wickets (16.06) and 10/105 in the Fifth Test when he ended Australians unbeaten run of 26 Tests since 1938. In 1953 at 35, an age by which many fast bowlers have retired from first-class cricket, Bedser demonstrated his longevity by helping England regain the Ashes. He took 39 wickets at an average
of 17.48 at home to Australia, including career-best match figures of 14 for 99 in the Nottingham
Test. In the first Test of the 1954–5 tour of Australia he was usffering from shingles and took 1/131 as seven catches were dropped off his bowling, including Arthur Morris
(153) before he had scored - and England lost by an innings. He was subsequently diagnosed as suffering from shingles and despite a recovery and a green wicket tailor-made for his bowling in the second Test he was dropped from the side. He was recalled for one test in 1955 against South Africa.
In a Test career extending from 1946 to 1955, Bedser played 51 matches and took 236 wickets (average 24.89), at the time the most wickets taken in Test cricket. He was England's post-war bowling spearhead. He had 14 new ball partners, and took five wickets in an innings 15 times and ten wickets in a match 5 times. His entire first-class career spanned 485 matches, in which he helped Surrey to eight County Championship
s between 1950 and 1958, and took 100 wickets in a county season eleven times, figures that place him high amongst the game's greats. He took five or more wickets in an innings 96 times, and ten wickets or more in a match 16 times.
out of the England team for 1968's tour of South Africa. England won ten of the 18 series while Bedser was chairman of selectors. Bedser also managed two England overseas tours. Bedser was made president of Surrey in 1987 - recognition of his outstanding contribution to the county's cricketing fortunes over the previous five decades. He was knighted for his services to cricket in 1996. In October 2004 Bedser was selected in 'England's Greatest Post-War XI' by The Wisden Cricketer
, an authoritative monthly cricket magazine. In May 2009, Christopher Martin-Jenkins ranked Bedser 29th in picking his 100 greatest cricketers of all time.
Neither Alec nor his brother ever married. They lived together in Woking until Eric's death in 2006. Sir Alec Bedser died in hospital in Woking on 4 April 2010 after a short illness. Among those to pay tribute to the more famous of the two brothers was former Prime Minister and well-known cricket lover John Major
, who said: "Alec Bedser was one of the greatest medium-fast bowlers of all time. He was also one of the great thinkers about cricket and his wisdom was one of the great untapped resources of the modern game." For three months following the death of Arthur McIntyre on 26 December 2009, Bedser was the oldest surviving England Test cricketer. On Bedser's death, that distinction passed to Reg Simpson
.
Outside of cricket, Bedser was a founding member of the right-wing pressure group The Freedom Association
during the 1970s.
, Lord's, 1946
Last Test: vs South Africa
, Manchester
, 1955
Sir Alec Victor Bedser, CBE (4 July 1918–4 April 2010) was a professional English
cricket
er. He was the chairman of selectors for the English national cricket team, and the president of Surrey County Cricket Club
. He is widely regarded as one of the best English cricketers of the 20th century.
He was an outstanding right-arm medium-fast bowler for Surrey and England in a first-class
playing career that spanned twenty-one years. He took 1924 first-class wicket
s in 485 matches. In 51 Test matches for England he took 236 wickets.
(1918–2006) in Reading
, Berkshire
, where his father was stationed with the Royal Air Force
. Within six months the family moved to Horsell
, Surrey, where, at the age of seven, the brothers played their first organised cricket. Over the next decade they played together for Monument Hill School and Woking Cricket Club. After joining a local firm of solicitors, the twins were spotted practising in the nets for Woking Cricket Club by Surrey coach Alan Peach
, and he recruited them to the staff at The Oval
in 1938. A year later they made their first-class débuts for the county. Their careers were interrupted in 1939, when they joined the RAF to serve in World War II
: they saw action at Dunkirk and later served in North Africa
, Italy
and Austria
, both narrowly escaping from being shot in France. They were demobilised in 1946.
Alec Bedser's performances during war-time cricket matches were impressive: in games for the British RAF he took 6 wickets for 27 runs (including a hat-trick
) against the West Indies
and 9 for 36, featuring another hat-trick, against a Metropolitan Police team.
In his first full season for Surrey, in 1946, he passed 100 wickets before July and established himself in the England
Test
team. In each of his first two Tests, against the visiting Indians
, he took eleven wickets: 11 for 139 in his début at Lord's and 11 for 96 in the next game at Manchester
. His amazing season resulted in his nomination as a Wisden Cricketer of the Year for 1947. He was selected for the 1946-47 Ashes series in Australia
and for most of the next decade "carried England's bowling attack".
In Australia he was overbowled and exhausted and found that his natural in-swingers were liked by Australian leg-side batsmen like Sid Barnes
. To counter this he gripped the ball across the seam like a spinner and the result was an in-swinging leg-break which would be known as Bedser's "Special Ball". Don Bradman wrote "the ball with which Alec Bedser bowled me in the Adelaide Test Match was, I think, the finest ever to take my wicket. It must have come three-quarters of the way straight on my off-stump, then suddenly dipped in to pitch on the leg stump, only to turn off the pitch and hit the middle and off stumps."
In the 1950-51 Ashes series he began his dominance of Australian batsmen, taking 30 wickets (16.06) and 10/105 in the Fifth Test when he ended Australians unbeaten run of 26 Tests since 1938. In 1953 at 35, an age by which many fast bowlers have retired from first-class cricket, Bedser demonstrated his longevity by helping England regain the Ashes. He took 39 wickets at an average
of 17.48 at home to Australia, including career-best match figures of 14 for 99 in the Nottingham
Test. In the first Test of the 1954–5 tour of Australia he was usffering from shingles and took 1/131 as seven catches were dropped off his bowling, including Arthur Morris
(153) before he had scored - and England lost by an innings. He was subsequently diagnosed as suffering from shingles and despite a recovery and a green wicket tailor-made for his bowling in the second Test he was dropped from the side. He was recalled for one test in 1955 against South Africa.
In a Test career extending from 1946 to 1955, Bedser played 51 matches and took 236 wickets (average 24.89), at the time the most wickets taken in Test cricket. He was England's post-war bowling spearhead. He had 14 new ball partners, and took five wickets in an innings 15 times and ten wickets in a match 5 times. His entire first-class career spanned 485 matches, in which he helped Surrey to eight County Championship
s between 1950 and 1958, and took 100 wickets in a county season eleven times, figures that place him high amongst the game's greats. He took five or more wickets in an innings 96 times, and ten wickets or more in a match 16 times.
out of the England team for 1968's tour of South Africa. England won ten of the 18 series while Bedser was chairman of selectors. Bedser also managed two England overseas tours. Bedser was made president of Surrey in 1987 - recognition of his outstanding contribution to the county's cricketing fortunes over the previous five decades. He was knighted for his services to cricket in 1996. In October 2004 Bedser was selected in 'England's Greatest Post-War XI' by The Wisden Cricketer
, an authoritative monthly cricket magazine. In May 2009, Christopher Martin-Jenkins ranked Bedser 29th in picking his 100 greatest cricketers of all time.
Neither Alec nor his brother ever married. They lived together in Woking until Eric's death in 2006. Sir Alec Bedser died in hospital in Woking on 4 April 2010 after a short illness. Among those to pay tribute to the more famous of the two brothers was former Prime Minister and well-known cricket lover John Major
, who said: "Alec Bedser was one of the greatest medium-fast bowlers of all time. He was also one of the great thinkers about cricket and his wisdom was one of the great untapped resources of the modern game." For three months following the death of Arthur McIntyre on 26 December 2009, Bedser was the oldest surviving England Test cricketer. On Bedser's death, that distinction passed to Reg Simpson
.
Outside of cricket, Bedser was a founding member of the right-wing pressure group The Freedom Association
during the 1970s.
, Lord's, 1946
Last Test: vs South Africa
, Manchester
, 1955
Sir Alec Victor Bedser, CBE (4 July 1918–4 April 2010) was a professional English
cricket
er. He was the chairman of selectors for the English national cricket team, and the president of Surrey County Cricket Club
. He is widely regarded as one of the best English cricketers of the 20th century.
He was an outstanding right-arm medium-fast bowler for Surrey and England in a first-class
playing career that spanned twenty-one years. He took 1924 first-class wicket
s in 485 matches. In 51 Test matches for England he took 236 wickets.
(1918–2006) in Reading
, Berkshire
, where his father was stationed with the Royal Air Force
. Within six months the family moved to Horsell
, Surrey, where, at the age of seven, the brothers played their first organised cricket. Over the next decade they played together for Monument Hill School and Woking Cricket Club. After joining a local firm of solicitors, the twins were spotted practising in the nets for Woking Cricket Club by Surrey coach Alan Peach
, and he recruited them to the staff at The Oval
in 1938. A year later they made their first-class débuts for the county. Their careers were interrupted in 1939, when they joined the RAF to serve in World War II
: they saw action at Dunkirk and later served in North Africa
, Italy
and Austria
, both narrowly escaping from being shot in France. They were demobilised in 1946.
Alec Bedser's performances during war-time cricket matches were impressive: in games for the British RAF he took 6 wickets for 27 runs (including a hat-trick
) against the West Indies
and 9 for 36, featuring another hat-trick, against a Metropolitan Police team.
In his first full season for Surrey, in 1946, he passed 100 wickets before July and established himself in the England
Test
team. In each of his first two Tests, against the visiting Indians
, he took eleven wickets: 11 for 139 in his début at Lord's and 11 for 96 in the next game at Manchester
. His amazing season resulted in his nomination as a Wisden Cricketer of the Year for 1947. He was selected for the 1946-47 Ashes series in Australia
and for most of the next decade "carried England's bowling attack".
In Australia he was overbowled and exhausted and found that his natural in-swingers were liked by Australian leg-side batsmen like Sid Barnes
. To counter this he gripped the ball across the seam like a spinner and the result was an in-swinging leg-break which would be known as Bedser's "Special Ball". Don Bradman wrote "the ball with which Alec Bedser bowled me in the Adelaide Test Match was, I think, the finest ever to take my wicket. It must have come three-quarters of the way straight on my off-stump, then suddenly dipped in to pitch on the leg stump, only to turn off the pitch and hit the middle and off stumps."
In the 1950-51 Ashes series he began his dominance of Australian batsmen, taking 30 wickets (16.06) and 10/105 in the Fifth Test when he ended Australians unbeaten run of 26 Tests since 1938. In 1953 at 35, an age by which many fast bowlers have retired from first-class cricket, Bedser demonstrated his longevity by helping England regain the Ashes. He took 39 wickets at an average
of 17.48 at home to Australia, including career-best match figures of 14 for 99 in the Nottingham
Test. In the first Test of the 1954–5 tour of Australia he was usffering from shingles and took 1/131 as seven catches were dropped off his bowling, including Arthur Morris
(153) before he had scored - and England lost by an innings. He was subsequently diagnosed as suffering from shingles and despite a recovery and a green wicket tailor-made for his bowling in the second Test he was dropped from the side. He was recalled for one test in 1955 against South Africa.
In a Test career extending from 1946 to 1955, Bedser played 51 matches and took 236 wickets (average 24.89), at the time the most wickets taken in Test cricket. He was England's post-war bowling spearhead. He had 14 new ball partners, and took five wickets in an innings 15 times and ten wickets in a match 5 times. His entire first-class career spanned 485 matches, in which he helped Surrey to eight County Championship
s between 1950 and 1958, and took 100 wickets in a county season eleven times, figures that place him high amongst the game's greats. He took five or more wickets in an innings 96 times, and ten wickets or more in a match 16 times.
out of the England team for 1968's tour of South Africa. England won ten of the 18 series while Bedser was chairman of selectors. Bedser also managed two England overseas tours. Bedser was made president of Surrey in 1987 - recognition of his outstanding contribution to the county's cricketing fortunes over the previous five decades. He was knighted for his services to cricket in 1996. In October 2004 Bedser was selected in 'England's Greatest Post-War XI' by The Wisden Cricketer
, an authoritative monthly cricket magazine. In May 2009, Christopher Martin-Jenkins ranked Bedser 29th in picking his 100 greatest cricketers of all time.
Neither Alec nor his brother ever married. They lived together in Woking until Eric's death in 2006. Sir Alec Bedser died in hospital in Woking on 4 April 2010 after a short illness. Among those to pay tribute to the more famous of the two brothers was former Prime Minister and well-known cricket lover John Major
, who said: "Alec Bedser was one of the greatest medium-fast bowlers of all time. He was also one of the great thinkers about cricket and his wisdom was one of the great untapped resources of the modern game." For three months following the death of Arthur McIntyre on 26 December 2009, Bedser was the oldest surviving England Test cricketer. On Bedser's death, that distinction passed to Reg Simpson
.
Outside of cricket, Bedser was a founding member of the right-wing pressure group The Freedom Association
during the 1970s.
, Lord's, 1946
Last Test: vs South Africa
, Manchester
, 1955
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
cricket
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
er. He was the chairman of selectors for the English national cricket team, and the president of Surrey County Cricket Club
Surrey County Cricket Club
Surrey County Cricket Club is one of the 18 professional county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Surrey. Its limited overs team is called the Surrey Lions...
. He is widely regarded as one of the best English cricketers of the 20th century.
He was an outstanding right-arm medium-fast bowler for Surrey and England in a first-class
First-class cricket
First-class cricket is a class of cricket that consists of matches of three or more days' scheduled duration, that are between two sides of eleven players and are officially adjudged first-class by virtue of the standard of the competing teams...
playing career that spanned twenty-one years. He took 1924 first-class wicket
Wicket
In the sport of cricket the word wicket has several distinct meanings:-Definitions of wicket:Most of the time, the wicket is one of the two sets of three stumps and two bails at either end of the pitch...
s in 485 matches. In 51 Test matches for England he took 236 wickets.
Early life and career
Bedser was born a few minutes after his identical twin brother EricEric Bedser
Eric Arthur Bedser was a cricket player for Surrey County Cricket Club. He was the elder identical twin brother of Sir Alec , widely regarded as one of England's top bowlers of the 20th century...
(1918–2006) in Reading
Reading, Berkshire
Reading is a large town and unitary authority area in England. It is located in the Thames Valley at the confluence of the River Thames and River Kennet, and on both the Great Western Main Line railway and the M4 motorway, some west of London....
, Berkshire
Berkshire
Berkshire is a historic county in the South of England. It is also often referred to as the Royal County of Berkshire because of the presence of the royal residence of Windsor Castle in the county; this usage, which dates to the 19th century at least, was recognised by the Queen in 1957, and...
, where his father was stationed with the Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
. Within six months the family moved to Horsell
Horsell
Horsell in Surrey is an ancient village nearby to the more modern 19th century Woking, probably best known because of its association with the story The War of the Worlds, written by H. G. Wells. It is the home of the book's narrator , and the landing site of the first Martian transport vessel...
, Surrey, where, at the age of seven, the brothers played their first organised cricket. Over the next decade they played together for Monument Hill School and Woking Cricket Club. After joining a local firm of solicitors, the twins were spotted practising in the nets for Woking Cricket Club by Surrey coach Alan Peach
Alan Peach
Herbert Alan Peach , was an English cricketer who played for Surrey. He was an all-rounder: a right-handed batsman and a right-arm medium pace bowler.Alan Peach was born at Maidstone, Kent...
, and he recruited them to the staff at The Oval
The Oval
The Kia Oval, still commonly referred to by its original name of The Oval, is an international cricket ground in Kennington, in the London Borough of Lambeth. In the past it was also sometimes called the Kennington Oval...
in 1938. A year later they made their first-class débuts for the county. Their careers were interrupted in 1939, when they joined the RAF to serve in World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
: they saw action at Dunkirk and later served in North Africa
North Africa
North Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, linked by the Sahara to Sub-Saharan Africa. Geopolitically, the United Nations definition of Northern Africa includes eight countries or territories; Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, South Sudan, Sudan, Tunisia, and...
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
and Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
, both narrowly escaping from being shot in France. They were demobilised in 1946.
Playing career
Alec Bedser founded England's eventual success. He toiled for hours without complaint, and never once looked annoyed at the missing of a catch, or at a rejected l.b.w.Leg before wicketIn the sport of cricket, leg before wicket is one of the ways in which a batsman can be dismissed. An umpire will rule a batsman out LBW under a series of circumstances which primarily include the ball striking the batsman's body when it would otherwise have continued on to hit the batsman's...
appeal. A great bowler, and an example to all who aspire to cricketing fame. The schoolboys who cheered him, and the elderly folk who applauded politely, all realised one thing. In Alec Bedser England had the best bowler Australia had seen for years, and friend and foe alike admitted the fact.
- John Kay
John Kay (cricket journalist)John Kay was a British cricket correspondent for the Manchester Evening News from the end of the Second World War to 1975 and for the Brighton Argus...
Alec Bedser's performances during war-time cricket matches were impressive: in games for the British RAF he took 6 wickets for 27 runs (including a hat-trick
Hat-trick
A hat-trick or hat trick in sport is the achievement of a positive feat three times during a game, or other achievements based on threes. The term was first used in 1858 in cricket to describe HH Stephenson's feat of taking three wickets in three balls. A collection was held for Stephenson, and he...
) against the West Indies
West Indian cricket team
The West Indian cricket team, also known colloquially as the West Indies or the Windies, is a multi-national cricket team representing a sporting confederation of 15 mainly English-speaking Caribbean countries, British dependencies and non-British dependencies.From the mid 1970s to the early 1990s,...
and 9 for 36, featuring another hat-trick, against a Metropolitan Police team.
In his first full season for Surrey, in 1946, he passed 100 wickets before July and established himself in the England
English cricket team
The England and Wales cricket team is a cricket team which represents England and Wales. Until 1992 it also represented Scotland. Since 1 January 1997 it has been governed by the England and Wales Cricket Board , having been previously governed by Marylebone Cricket Club from 1903 until the end...
Test
Test cricket
Test cricket is the longest form of the sport of cricket. Test matches are played between national representative teams with "Test status", as determined by the International Cricket Council , with four innings played between two teams of 11 players over a period of up to a maximum five days...
team. In each of his first two Tests, against the visiting Indians
Indian cricket team
The Indian cricket team is the national cricket team of India. Governed by the Board of Control for Cricket in India , it is a full member of the International Cricket Council with Test and One Day International status....
, he took eleven wickets: 11 for 139 in his début at Lord's and 11 for 96 in the next game at Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
. His amazing season resulted in his nomination as a Wisden Cricketer of the Year for 1947. He was selected for the 1946-47 Ashes series in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
and for most of the next decade "carried England's bowling attack".
In Australia he was overbowled and exhausted and found that his natural in-swingers were liked by Australian leg-side batsmen like Sid Barnes
Sid Barnes
Sidney George Barnes was an Australian cricketer and cricket writer, who played 13 Test matches between 1938 and 1948. Able to open the innings or bat down the order, Barnes was regarded as one of Australia's finest batsmen in the period immediately following the Second World War...
. To counter this he gripped the ball across the seam like a spinner and the result was an in-swinging leg-break which would be known as Bedser's "Special Ball". Don Bradman wrote "the ball with which Alec Bedser bowled me in the Adelaide Test Match was, I think, the finest ever to take my wicket. It must have come three-quarters of the way straight on my off-stump, then suddenly dipped in to pitch on the leg stump, only to turn off the pitch and hit the middle and off stumps."
In the 1950-51 Ashes series he began his dominance of Australian batsmen, taking 30 wickets (16.06) and 10/105 in the Fifth Test when he ended Australians unbeaten run of 26 Tests since 1938. In 1953 at 35, an age by which many fast bowlers have retired from first-class cricket, Bedser demonstrated his longevity by helping England regain the Ashes. He took 39 wickets at an average
Bowling average
Bowling average is a statistic measuring the performance of bowlers in the sport of cricket.A bowler's bowling average is defined as the total number of runs conceded by the bowlers divided by the number of wickets taken by the bowler, so the lower the average the better. It is similar to earned...
of 17.48 at home to Australia, including career-best match figures of 14 for 99 in the Nottingham
Trent Bridge
Trent Bridge is a Test, One-day international and County cricket ground located in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England and is also the headquarters of Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club. As well as International cricket and Nottinghamshire's home games, the ground has hosted the Finals Day of...
Test. In the first Test of the 1954–5 tour of Australia he was usffering from shingles and took 1/131 as seven catches were dropped off his bowling, including Arthur Morris
Arthur Morris
Arthur Robert Morris MBE is a former Australian cricketer who played 46 Test matches between 1946 and 1955. An opener, Morris is regarded as one of Australia's greatest left-handed batsmen. He is best known for his key role in Don Bradman's Invincibles side, which made an undefeated tour of...
(153) before he had scored - and England lost by an innings. He was subsequently diagnosed as suffering from shingles and despite a recovery and a green wicket tailor-made for his bowling in the second Test he was dropped from the side. He was recalled for one test in 1955 against South Africa.
In a Test career extending from 1946 to 1955, Bedser played 51 matches and took 236 wickets (average 24.89), at the time the most wickets taken in Test cricket. He was England's post-war bowling spearhead. He had 14 new ball partners, and took five wickets in an innings 15 times and ten wickets in a match 5 times. His entire first-class career spanned 485 matches, in which he helped Surrey to eight County Championship
County Championship
The County Championship is the domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales...
s between 1950 and 1958, and took 100 wickets in a county season eleven times, figures that place him high amongst the game's greats. He took five or more wickets in an innings 96 times, and ten wickets or more in a match 16 times.
After retirement
After retiring from playing cricket in 1960, Bedser served as a national team selector for twenty-three years and was chairman of selectors from 1969 to 1981. He was on the board of selectors who controversially left Basil d'OliveiraBasil D'Oliveira
Basil Lewis D'Oliveira CBE , known affectionately around the world as "Dolly", was a South African-born English cricketer. D'Oliveira was classified as 'coloured' under the apartheid regime, and hence barred from first-class cricket, resulting in his emigration to England...
out of the England team for 1968's tour of South Africa. England won ten of the 18 series while Bedser was chairman of selectors. Bedser also managed two England overseas tours. Bedser was made president of Surrey in 1987 - recognition of his outstanding contribution to the county's cricketing fortunes over the previous five decades. He was knighted for his services to cricket in 1996. In October 2004 Bedser was selected in 'England's Greatest Post-War XI' by The Wisden Cricketer
The Wisden Cricketer
The Wisden Cricketer is the world's best-selling monthly cricket magazine.It was created in 2003 by a merger between The Cricketer magazine and Wisden Cricket Monthly....
, an authoritative monthly cricket magazine. In May 2009, Christopher Martin-Jenkins ranked Bedser 29th in picking his 100 greatest cricketers of all time.
Neither Alec nor his brother ever married. They lived together in Woking until Eric's death in 2006. Sir Alec Bedser died in hospital in Woking on 4 April 2010 after a short illness. Among those to pay tribute to the more famous of the two brothers was former Prime Minister and well-known cricket lover John Major
John Major
Sir John Major, is a British Conservative politician, who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1990–1997...
, who said: "Alec Bedser was one of the greatest medium-fast bowlers of all time. He was also one of the great thinkers about cricket and his wisdom was one of the great untapped resources of the modern game." For three months following the death of Arthur McIntyre on 26 December 2009, Bedser was the oldest surviving England Test cricketer. On Bedser's death, that distinction passed to Reg Simpson
Reg Simpson
Reginald Thomas Simpson is an English former cricketer, who played in twentry seven Tests from 1948 to 1955.-Life and career:...
.
Outside of cricket, Bedser was a founding member of the right-wing pressure group The Freedom Association
The Freedom Association
The Freedom Association is a pressure group in the United Kingdom that describes itself as non-partisan, centre-right and libertarian, which has links to the Conservative Party. TFA was founded in 1975 as the National Association for Freedom and gained public prominence through its anti-trade...
during the 1970s.
Tests
Test debut: vs IndiaIndian cricket team
The Indian cricket team is the national cricket team of India. Governed by the Board of Control for Cricket in India , it is a full member of the International Cricket Council with Test and One Day International status....
, Lord's, 1946
Last Test: vs South Africa
South African cricket team
The South African national cricket team represent South Africa in international cricket. They are administrated by Cricket South Africa.South Africa is a full member of the International Cricket Council, also known as ICC, with Test and One Day International, or ODI, status...
, Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
, 1955
- Bedser's best Test batting score of 79 was made against AustraliaAustralian cricket teamThe Australian cricket team is the national cricket team of Australia. It is the joint oldest team in Test cricket, having played in the first Test match in 1877...
, HeadingleyHeadingley StadiumHeadingley Stadium is a sporting complex in the Leeds suburb of Headingley in West Yorkshire, England. It is the home of Yorkshire County Cricket Club, rugby league team Leeds Rhinos and rugby union team Leeds Carnegie ....
, LeedsLeedsLeeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial...
, 1948 - His best Test bowling figures for an innings, 7 for 44, came against Australia, at Trent BridgeTrent BridgeTrent Bridge is a Test, One-day international and County cricket ground located in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England and is also the headquarters of Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club. As well as International cricket and Nottinghamshire's home games, the ground has hosted the Finals Day of...
NottinghamNottinghamNottingham is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands of England. It is located in the ceremonial county of Nottinghamshire and represents one of eight members of the English Core Cities Group...
, 1953 - He dismissed Don Bradman, widely regarded as the greatest batsman of all time, on six occasions. Only Hedley VerityHedley VerityHedley Verity was a professional cricketer who played first-class cricket for Yorkshire and England between 1930 and 1939. A slow left arm orthodox bowler, he took 1,956 wickets in first-class cricket at an average of 14.90 and in 40 Tests he took 144 wickets at an average of 24.37...
(8 times) took Bradman's wicket more often.
External links
- Cricinfo player profile of Alec Bedser
- HowSTAT! statistical profile of Alec Bedser
- Alec Bedser at 90: Timeline
- Alec Bedser online memorial page
- Obituary: Sir Alec Bedser
- Sir Alec Bedser – Daily Telegraph obituary
- 1947 film footage of Alec Bedser in Melbourne test match
Sir Alec Victor Bedser, CBE (4 July 1918–4 April 2010) was a professional English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
cricket
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
er. He was the chairman of selectors for the English national cricket team, and the president of Surrey County Cricket Club
Surrey County Cricket Club
Surrey County Cricket Club is one of the 18 professional county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Surrey. Its limited overs team is called the Surrey Lions...
. He is widely regarded as one of the best English cricketers of the 20th century.
He was an outstanding right-arm medium-fast bowler for Surrey and England in a first-class
First-class cricket
First-class cricket is a class of cricket that consists of matches of three or more days' scheduled duration, that are between two sides of eleven players and are officially adjudged first-class by virtue of the standard of the competing teams...
playing career that spanned twenty-one years. He took 1924 first-class wicket
Wicket
In the sport of cricket the word wicket has several distinct meanings:-Definitions of wicket:Most of the time, the wicket is one of the two sets of three stumps and two bails at either end of the pitch...
s in 485 matches. In 51 Test matches for England he took 236 wickets.
Early life and career
Bedser was born a few minutes after his identical twin brother EricEric Bedser
Eric Arthur Bedser was a cricket player for Surrey County Cricket Club. He was the elder identical twin brother of Sir Alec , widely regarded as one of England's top bowlers of the 20th century...
(1918–2006) in Reading
Reading, Berkshire
Reading is a large town and unitary authority area in England. It is located in the Thames Valley at the confluence of the River Thames and River Kennet, and on both the Great Western Main Line railway and the M4 motorway, some west of London....
, Berkshire
Berkshire
Berkshire is a historic county in the South of England. It is also often referred to as the Royal County of Berkshire because of the presence of the royal residence of Windsor Castle in the county; this usage, which dates to the 19th century at least, was recognised by the Queen in 1957, and...
, where his father was stationed with the Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
. Within six months the family moved to Horsell
Horsell
Horsell in Surrey is an ancient village nearby to the more modern 19th century Woking, probably best known because of its association with the story The War of the Worlds, written by H. G. Wells. It is the home of the book's narrator , and the landing site of the first Martian transport vessel...
, Surrey, where, at the age of seven, the brothers played their first organised cricket. Over the next decade they played together for Monument Hill School and Woking Cricket Club. After joining a local firm of solicitors, the twins were spotted practising in the nets for Woking Cricket Club by Surrey coach Alan Peach
Alan Peach
Herbert Alan Peach , was an English cricketer who played for Surrey. He was an all-rounder: a right-handed batsman and a right-arm medium pace bowler.Alan Peach was born at Maidstone, Kent...
, and he recruited them to the staff at The Oval
The Oval
The Kia Oval, still commonly referred to by its original name of The Oval, is an international cricket ground in Kennington, in the London Borough of Lambeth. In the past it was also sometimes called the Kennington Oval...
in 1938. A year later they made their first-class débuts for the county. Their careers were interrupted in 1939, when they joined the RAF to serve in World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
: they saw action at Dunkirk and later served in North Africa
North Africa
North Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, linked by the Sahara to Sub-Saharan Africa. Geopolitically, the United Nations definition of Northern Africa includes eight countries or territories; Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, South Sudan, Sudan, Tunisia, and...
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
and Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
, both narrowly escaping from being shot in France. They were demobilised in 1946.
Playing career
Alec Bedser founded England's eventual success. He toiled for hours without complaint, and never once looked annoyed at the missing of a catch, or at a rejected l.b.w.Leg before wicketIn the sport of cricket, leg before wicket is one of the ways in which a batsman can be dismissed. An umpire will rule a batsman out LBW under a series of circumstances which primarily include the ball striking the batsman's body when it would otherwise have continued on to hit the batsman's...
appeal. A great bowler, and an example to all who aspire to cricketing fame. The schoolboys who cheered him, and the elderly folk who applauded politely, all realised one thing. In Alec Bedser England had the best bowler Australia had seen for years, and friend and foe alike admitted the fact.
- John Kay
John Kay (cricket journalist)John Kay was a British cricket correspondent for the Manchester Evening News from the end of the Second World War to 1975 and for the Brighton Argus...
Alec Bedser's performances during war-time cricket matches were impressive: in games for the British RAF he took 6 wickets for 27 runs (including a hat-trick
Hat-trick
A hat-trick or hat trick in sport is the achievement of a positive feat three times during a game, or other achievements based on threes. The term was first used in 1858 in cricket to describe HH Stephenson's feat of taking three wickets in three balls. A collection was held for Stephenson, and he...
) against the West Indies
West Indian cricket team
The West Indian cricket team, also known colloquially as the West Indies or the Windies, is a multi-national cricket team representing a sporting confederation of 15 mainly English-speaking Caribbean countries, British dependencies and non-British dependencies.From the mid 1970s to the early 1990s,...
and 9 for 36, featuring another hat-trick, against a Metropolitan Police team.
In his first full season for Surrey, in 1946, he passed 100 wickets before July and established himself in the England
English cricket team
The England and Wales cricket team is a cricket team which represents England and Wales. Until 1992 it also represented Scotland. Since 1 January 1997 it has been governed by the England and Wales Cricket Board , having been previously governed by Marylebone Cricket Club from 1903 until the end...
Test
Test cricket
Test cricket is the longest form of the sport of cricket. Test matches are played between national representative teams with "Test status", as determined by the International Cricket Council , with four innings played between two teams of 11 players over a period of up to a maximum five days...
team. In each of his first two Tests, against the visiting Indians
Indian cricket team
The Indian cricket team is the national cricket team of India. Governed by the Board of Control for Cricket in India , it is a full member of the International Cricket Council with Test and One Day International status....
, he took eleven wickets: 11 for 139 in his début at Lord's and 11 for 96 in the next game at Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
. His amazing season resulted in his nomination as a Wisden Cricketer of the Year for 1947. He was selected for the 1946-47 Ashes series in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
and for most of the next decade "carried England's bowling attack".
In Australia he was overbowled and exhausted and found that his natural in-swingers were liked by Australian leg-side batsmen like Sid Barnes
Sid Barnes
Sidney George Barnes was an Australian cricketer and cricket writer, who played 13 Test matches between 1938 and 1948. Able to open the innings or bat down the order, Barnes was regarded as one of Australia's finest batsmen in the period immediately following the Second World War...
. To counter this he gripped the ball across the seam like a spinner and the result was an in-swinging leg-break which would be known as Bedser's "Special Ball". Don Bradman wrote "the ball with which Alec Bedser bowled me in the Adelaide Test Match was, I think, the finest ever to take my wicket. It must have come three-quarters of the way straight on my off-stump, then suddenly dipped in to pitch on the leg stump, only to turn off the pitch and hit the middle and off stumps."
In the 1950-51 Ashes series he began his dominance of Australian batsmen, taking 30 wickets (16.06) and 10/105 in the Fifth Test when he ended Australians unbeaten run of 26 Tests since 1938. In 1953 at 35, an age by which many fast bowlers have retired from first-class cricket, Bedser demonstrated his longevity by helping England regain the Ashes. He took 39 wickets at an average
Bowling average
Bowling average is a statistic measuring the performance of bowlers in the sport of cricket.A bowler's bowling average is defined as the total number of runs conceded by the bowlers divided by the number of wickets taken by the bowler, so the lower the average the better. It is similar to earned...
of 17.48 at home to Australia, including career-best match figures of 14 for 99 in the Nottingham
Trent Bridge
Trent Bridge is a Test, One-day international and County cricket ground located in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England and is also the headquarters of Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club. As well as International cricket and Nottinghamshire's home games, the ground has hosted the Finals Day of...
Test. In the first Test of the 1954–5 tour of Australia he was usffering from shingles and took 1/131 as seven catches were dropped off his bowling, including Arthur Morris
Arthur Morris
Arthur Robert Morris MBE is a former Australian cricketer who played 46 Test matches between 1946 and 1955. An opener, Morris is regarded as one of Australia's greatest left-handed batsmen. He is best known for his key role in Don Bradman's Invincibles side, which made an undefeated tour of...
(153) before he had scored - and England lost by an innings. He was subsequently diagnosed as suffering from shingles and despite a recovery and a green wicket tailor-made for his bowling in the second Test he was dropped from the side. He was recalled for one test in 1955 against South Africa.
In a Test career extending from 1946 to 1955, Bedser played 51 matches and took 236 wickets (average 24.89), at the time the most wickets taken in Test cricket. He was England's post-war bowling spearhead. He had 14 new ball partners, and took five wickets in an innings 15 times and ten wickets in a match 5 times. His entire first-class career spanned 485 matches, in which he helped Surrey to eight County Championship
County Championship
The County Championship is the domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales...
s between 1950 and 1958, and took 100 wickets in a county season eleven times, figures that place him high amongst the game's greats. He took five or more wickets in an innings 96 times, and ten wickets or more in a match 16 times.
After retirement
After retiring from playing cricket in 1960, Bedser served as a national team selector for twenty-three years and was chairman of selectors from 1969 to 1981. He was on the board of selectors who controversially left Basil d'OliveiraBasil D'Oliveira
Basil Lewis D'Oliveira CBE , known affectionately around the world as "Dolly", was a South African-born English cricketer. D'Oliveira was classified as 'coloured' under the apartheid regime, and hence barred from first-class cricket, resulting in his emigration to England...
out of the England team for 1968's tour of South Africa. England won ten of the 18 series while Bedser was chairman of selectors. Bedser also managed two England overseas tours. Bedser was made president of Surrey in 1987 - recognition of his outstanding contribution to the county's cricketing fortunes over the previous five decades. He was knighted for his services to cricket in 1996. In October 2004 Bedser was selected in 'England's Greatest Post-War XI' by The Wisden Cricketer
The Wisden Cricketer
The Wisden Cricketer is the world's best-selling monthly cricket magazine.It was created in 2003 by a merger between The Cricketer magazine and Wisden Cricket Monthly....
, an authoritative monthly cricket magazine. In May 2009, Christopher Martin-Jenkins ranked Bedser 29th in picking his 100 greatest cricketers of all time.
Neither Alec nor his brother ever married. They lived together in Woking until Eric's death in 2006. Sir Alec Bedser died in hospital in Woking on 4 April 2010 after a short illness. Among those to pay tribute to the more famous of the two brothers was former Prime Minister and well-known cricket lover John Major
John Major
Sir John Major, is a British Conservative politician, who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1990–1997...
, who said: "Alec Bedser was one of the greatest medium-fast bowlers of all time. He was also one of the great thinkers about cricket and his wisdom was one of the great untapped resources of the modern game." For three months following the death of Arthur McIntyre on 26 December 2009, Bedser was the oldest surviving England Test cricketer. On Bedser's death, that distinction passed to Reg Simpson
Reg Simpson
Reginald Thomas Simpson is an English former cricketer, who played in twentry seven Tests from 1948 to 1955.-Life and career:...
.
Outside of cricket, Bedser was a founding member of the right-wing pressure group The Freedom Association
The Freedom Association
The Freedom Association is a pressure group in the United Kingdom that describes itself as non-partisan, centre-right and libertarian, which has links to the Conservative Party. TFA was founded in 1975 as the National Association for Freedom and gained public prominence through its anti-trade...
during the 1970s.
Tests
Test debut: vs IndiaIndian cricket team
The Indian cricket team is the national cricket team of India. Governed by the Board of Control for Cricket in India , it is a full member of the International Cricket Council with Test and One Day International status....
, Lord's, 1946
Last Test: vs South Africa
South African cricket team
The South African national cricket team represent South Africa in international cricket. They are administrated by Cricket South Africa.South Africa is a full member of the International Cricket Council, also known as ICC, with Test and One Day International, or ODI, status...
, Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
, 1955
- Bedser's best Test batting score of 79 was made against AustraliaAustralian cricket teamThe Australian cricket team is the national cricket team of Australia. It is the joint oldest team in Test cricket, having played in the first Test match in 1877...
, HeadingleyHeadingley StadiumHeadingley Stadium is a sporting complex in the Leeds suburb of Headingley in West Yorkshire, England. It is the home of Yorkshire County Cricket Club, rugby league team Leeds Rhinos and rugby union team Leeds Carnegie ....
, LeedsLeedsLeeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial...
, 1948 - His best Test bowling figures for an innings, 7 for 44, came against Australia, at Trent BridgeTrent BridgeTrent Bridge is a Test, One-day international and County cricket ground located in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England and is also the headquarters of Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club. As well as International cricket and Nottinghamshire's home games, the ground has hosted the Finals Day of...
NottinghamNottinghamNottingham is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands of England. It is located in the ceremonial county of Nottinghamshire and represents one of eight members of the English Core Cities Group...
, 1953 - He dismissed Don Bradman, widely regarded as the greatest batsman of all time, on six occasions. Only Hedley VerityHedley VerityHedley Verity was a professional cricketer who played first-class cricket for Yorkshire and England between 1930 and 1939. A slow left arm orthodox bowler, he took 1,956 wickets in first-class cricket at an average of 14.90 and in 40 Tests he took 144 wickets at an average of 24.37...
(8 times) took Bradman's wicket more often.
External links
- Cricinfo player profile of Alec Bedser
- HowSTAT! statistical profile of Alec Bedser
- Alec Bedser at 90: Timeline
- Alec Bedser online memorial page
- Obituary: Sir Alec Bedser
- Sir Alec Bedser – Daily Telegraph obituary
- 1947 film footage of Alec Bedser in Melbourne test match
Sir Alec Victor Bedser, CBE (4 July 1918–4 April 2010) was a professional English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
cricket
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
er. He was the chairman of selectors for the English national cricket team, and the president of Surrey County Cricket Club
Surrey County Cricket Club
Surrey County Cricket Club is one of the 18 professional county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Surrey. Its limited overs team is called the Surrey Lions...
. He is widely regarded as one of the best English cricketers of the 20th century.
He was an outstanding right-arm medium-fast bowler for Surrey and England in a first-class
First-class cricket
First-class cricket is a class of cricket that consists of matches of three or more days' scheduled duration, that are between two sides of eleven players and are officially adjudged first-class by virtue of the standard of the competing teams...
playing career that spanned twenty-one years. He took 1924 first-class wicket
Wicket
In the sport of cricket the word wicket has several distinct meanings:-Definitions of wicket:Most of the time, the wicket is one of the two sets of three stumps and two bails at either end of the pitch...
s in 485 matches. In 51 Test matches for England he took 236 wickets.
Early life and career
Bedser was born a few minutes after his identical twin brother EricEric Bedser
Eric Arthur Bedser was a cricket player for Surrey County Cricket Club. He was the elder identical twin brother of Sir Alec , widely regarded as one of England's top bowlers of the 20th century...
(1918–2006) in Reading
Reading, Berkshire
Reading is a large town and unitary authority area in England. It is located in the Thames Valley at the confluence of the River Thames and River Kennet, and on both the Great Western Main Line railway and the M4 motorway, some west of London....
, Berkshire
Berkshire
Berkshire is a historic county in the South of England. It is also often referred to as the Royal County of Berkshire because of the presence of the royal residence of Windsor Castle in the county; this usage, which dates to the 19th century at least, was recognised by the Queen in 1957, and...
, where his father was stationed with the Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
. Within six months the family moved to Horsell
Horsell
Horsell in Surrey is an ancient village nearby to the more modern 19th century Woking, probably best known because of its association with the story The War of the Worlds, written by H. G. Wells. It is the home of the book's narrator , and the landing site of the first Martian transport vessel...
, Surrey, where, at the age of seven, the brothers played their first organised cricket. Over the next decade they played together for Monument Hill School and Woking Cricket Club. After joining a local firm of solicitors, the twins were spotted practising in the nets for Woking Cricket Club by Surrey coach Alan Peach
Alan Peach
Herbert Alan Peach , was an English cricketer who played for Surrey. He was an all-rounder: a right-handed batsman and a right-arm medium pace bowler.Alan Peach was born at Maidstone, Kent...
, and he recruited them to the staff at The Oval
The Oval
The Kia Oval, still commonly referred to by its original name of The Oval, is an international cricket ground in Kennington, in the London Borough of Lambeth. In the past it was also sometimes called the Kennington Oval...
in 1938. A year later they made their first-class débuts for the county. Their careers were interrupted in 1939, when they joined the RAF to serve in World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
: they saw action at Dunkirk and later served in North Africa
North Africa
North Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, linked by the Sahara to Sub-Saharan Africa. Geopolitically, the United Nations definition of Northern Africa includes eight countries or territories; Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, South Sudan, Sudan, Tunisia, and...
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
and Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
, both narrowly escaping from being shot in France. They were demobilised in 1946.
Playing career
Alec Bedser founded England's eventual success. He toiled for hours without complaint, and never once looked annoyed at the missing of a catch, or at a rejected l.b.w.Leg before wicketIn the sport of cricket, leg before wicket is one of the ways in which a batsman can be dismissed. An umpire will rule a batsman out LBW under a series of circumstances which primarily include the ball striking the batsman's body when it would otherwise have continued on to hit the batsman's...
appeal. A great bowler, and an example to all who aspire to cricketing fame. The schoolboys who cheered him, and the elderly folk who applauded politely, all realised one thing. In Alec Bedser England had the best bowler Australia had seen for years, and friend and foe alike admitted the fact.
- John Kay
John Kay (cricket journalist)John Kay was a British cricket correspondent for the Manchester Evening News from the end of the Second World War to 1975 and for the Brighton Argus...
Alec Bedser's performances during war-time cricket matches were impressive: in games for the British RAF he took 6 wickets for 27 runs (including a hat-trick
Hat-trick
A hat-trick or hat trick in sport is the achievement of a positive feat three times during a game, or other achievements based on threes. The term was first used in 1858 in cricket to describe HH Stephenson's feat of taking three wickets in three balls. A collection was held for Stephenson, and he...
) against the West Indies
West Indian cricket team
The West Indian cricket team, also known colloquially as the West Indies or the Windies, is a multi-national cricket team representing a sporting confederation of 15 mainly English-speaking Caribbean countries, British dependencies and non-British dependencies.From the mid 1970s to the early 1990s,...
and 9 for 36, featuring another hat-trick, against a Metropolitan Police team.
In his first full season for Surrey, in 1946, he passed 100 wickets before July and established himself in the England
English cricket team
The England and Wales cricket team is a cricket team which represents England and Wales. Until 1992 it also represented Scotland. Since 1 January 1997 it has been governed by the England and Wales Cricket Board , having been previously governed by Marylebone Cricket Club from 1903 until the end...
Test
Test cricket
Test cricket is the longest form of the sport of cricket. Test matches are played between national representative teams with "Test status", as determined by the International Cricket Council , with four innings played between two teams of 11 players over a period of up to a maximum five days...
team. In each of his first two Tests, against the visiting Indians
Indian cricket team
The Indian cricket team is the national cricket team of India. Governed by the Board of Control for Cricket in India , it is a full member of the International Cricket Council with Test and One Day International status....
, he took eleven wickets: 11 for 139 in his début at Lord's and 11 for 96 in the next game at Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
. His amazing season resulted in his nomination as a Wisden Cricketer of the Year for 1947. He was selected for the 1946-47 Ashes series in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
and for most of the next decade "carried England's bowling attack".
In Australia he was overbowled and exhausted and found that his natural in-swingers were liked by Australian leg-side batsmen like Sid Barnes
Sid Barnes
Sidney George Barnes was an Australian cricketer and cricket writer, who played 13 Test matches between 1938 and 1948. Able to open the innings or bat down the order, Barnes was regarded as one of Australia's finest batsmen in the period immediately following the Second World War...
. To counter this he gripped the ball across the seam like a spinner and the result was an in-swinging leg-break which would be known as Bedser's "Special Ball". Don Bradman wrote "the ball with which Alec Bedser bowled me in the Adelaide Test Match was, I think, the finest ever to take my wicket. It must have come three-quarters of the way straight on my off-stump, then suddenly dipped in to pitch on the leg stump, only to turn off the pitch and hit the middle and off stumps."
In the 1950-51 Ashes series he began his dominance of Australian batsmen, taking 30 wickets (16.06) and 10/105 in the Fifth Test when he ended Australians unbeaten run of 26 Tests since 1938. In 1953 at 35, an age by which many fast bowlers have retired from first-class cricket, Bedser demonstrated his longevity by helping England regain the Ashes. He took 39 wickets at an average
Bowling average
Bowling average is a statistic measuring the performance of bowlers in the sport of cricket.A bowler's bowling average is defined as the total number of runs conceded by the bowlers divided by the number of wickets taken by the bowler, so the lower the average the better. It is similar to earned...
of 17.48 at home to Australia, including career-best match figures of 14 for 99 in the Nottingham
Trent Bridge
Trent Bridge is a Test, One-day international and County cricket ground located in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England and is also the headquarters of Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club. As well as International cricket and Nottinghamshire's home games, the ground has hosted the Finals Day of...
Test. In the first Test of the 1954–5 tour of Australia he was usffering from shingles and took 1/131 as seven catches were dropped off his bowling, including Arthur Morris
Arthur Morris
Arthur Robert Morris MBE is a former Australian cricketer who played 46 Test matches between 1946 and 1955. An opener, Morris is regarded as one of Australia's greatest left-handed batsmen. He is best known for his key role in Don Bradman's Invincibles side, which made an undefeated tour of...
(153) before he had scored - and England lost by an innings. He was subsequently diagnosed as suffering from shingles and despite a recovery and a green wicket tailor-made for his bowling in the second Test he was dropped from the side. He was recalled for one test in 1955 against South Africa.
In a Test career extending from 1946 to 1955, Bedser played 51 matches and took 236 wickets (average 24.89), at the time the most wickets taken in Test cricket. He was England's post-war bowling spearhead. He had 14 new ball partners, and took five wickets in an innings 15 times and ten wickets in a match 5 times. His entire first-class career spanned 485 matches, in which he helped Surrey to eight County Championship
County Championship
The County Championship is the domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales...
s between 1950 and 1958, and took 100 wickets in a county season eleven times, figures that place him high amongst the game's greats. He took five or more wickets in an innings 96 times, and ten wickets or more in a match 16 times.
After retirement
After retiring from playing cricket in 1960, Bedser served as a national team selector for twenty-three years and was chairman of selectors from 1969 to 1981. He was on the board of selectors who controversially left Basil d'OliveiraBasil D'Oliveira
Basil Lewis D'Oliveira CBE , known affectionately around the world as "Dolly", was a South African-born English cricketer. D'Oliveira was classified as 'coloured' under the apartheid regime, and hence barred from first-class cricket, resulting in his emigration to England...
out of the England team for 1968's tour of South Africa. England won ten of the 18 series while Bedser was chairman of selectors. Bedser also managed two England overseas tours. Bedser was made president of Surrey in 1987 - recognition of his outstanding contribution to the county's cricketing fortunes over the previous five decades. He was knighted for his services to cricket in 1996. In October 2004 Bedser was selected in 'England's Greatest Post-War XI' by The Wisden Cricketer
The Wisden Cricketer
The Wisden Cricketer is the world's best-selling monthly cricket magazine.It was created in 2003 by a merger between The Cricketer magazine and Wisden Cricket Monthly....
, an authoritative monthly cricket magazine. In May 2009, Christopher Martin-Jenkins ranked Bedser 29th in picking his 100 greatest cricketers of all time.
Neither Alec nor his brother ever married. They lived together in Woking until Eric's death in 2006. Sir Alec Bedser died in hospital in Woking on 4 April 2010 after a short illness. Among those to pay tribute to the more famous of the two brothers was former Prime Minister and well-known cricket lover John Major
John Major
Sir John Major, is a British Conservative politician, who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1990–1997...
, who said: "Alec Bedser was one of the greatest medium-fast bowlers of all time. He was also one of the great thinkers about cricket and his wisdom was one of the great untapped resources of the modern game." For three months following the death of Arthur McIntyre on 26 December 2009, Bedser was the oldest surviving England Test cricketer. On Bedser's death, that distinction passed to Reg Simpson
Reg Simpson
Reginald Thomas Simpson is an English former cricketer, who played in twentry seven Tests from 1948 to 1955.-Life and career:...
.
Outside of cricket, Bedser was a founding member of the right-wing pressure group The Freedom Association
The Freedom Association
The Freedom Association is a pressure group in the United Kingdom that describes itself as non-partisan, centre-right and libertarian, which has links to the Conservative Party. TFA was founded in 1975 as the National Association for Freedom and gained public prominence through its anti-trade...
during the 1970s.
Tests
Test debut: vs IndiaIndian cricket team
The Indian cricket team is the national cricket team of India. Governed by the Board of Control for Cricket in India , it is a full member of the International Cricket Council with Test and One Day International status....
, Lord's, 1946
Last Test: vs South Africa
South African cricket team
The South African national cricket team represent South Africa in international cricket. They are administrated by Cricket South Africa.South Africa is a full member of the International Cricket Council, also known as ICC, with Test and One Day International, or ODI, status...
, Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
, 1955
- Bedser's best Test batting score of 79 was made against AustraliaAustralian cricket teamThe Australian cricket team is the national cricket team of Australia. It is the joint oldest team in Test cricket, having played in the first Test match in 1877...
, HeadingleyHeadingley StadiumHeadingley Stadium is a sporting complex in the Leeds suburb of Headingley in West Yorkshire, England. It is the home of Yorkshire County Cricket Club, rugby league team Leeds Rhinos and rugby union team Leeds Carnegie ....
, LeedsLeedsLeeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial...
, 1948 - His best Test bowling figures for an innings, 7 for 44, came against Australia, at Trent BridgeTrent BridgeTrent Bridge is a Test, One-day international and County cricket ground located in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England and is also the headquarters of Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club. As well as International cricket and Nottinghamshire's home games, the ground has hosted the Finals Day of...
NottinghamNottinghamNottingham is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands of England. It is located in the ceremonial county of Nottinghamshire and represents one of eight members of the English Core Cities Group...
, 1953 - He dismissed Don Bradman, widely regarded as the greatest batsman of all time, on six occasions. Only Hedley VerityHedley VerityHedley Verity was a professional cricketer who played first-class cricket for Yorkshire and England between 1930 and 1939. A slow left arm orthodox bowler, he took 1,956 wickets in first-class cricket at an average of 14.90 and in 40 Tests he took 144 wickets at an average of 24.37...
(8 times) took Bradman's wicket more often.