Not a bad cricket record

When the news that former English cricketer - Alec Bedser died at the age of 91 came in, most of the cricket fans would have rushed to cybercafe to check out who this great cricketer was. And upon checking, though one would hardly rate him as an all time great cricketer, they would surely not close all gates for him. Not because his statistics reveal that he has a record of bowling out 256 batsmen in 51 tests and 71 innings which means that in 20 games that he has played, his team would have bowled in only one innings which suggests that there is a more probablity of him ending on the side which would have lost by an innings.

I bet no one would have even heard about this cricketer until yesterday when the million dollar news of his death broke out. May be in the near future, the ECB might honor him by naming one of the stands in any of a dozen cricket stadiums in England by his name. There might as well be a trophy named after him like there is the Border - Gavaskar trophy that is played between India and Australia. One need not confuse with the living legends namely Gavaskar & Border to have died. They are happily dancing around and can be seen roaring like lions in the commentary box for atleast a decade.

But, speaking statistics, one can notice his name preceeded by "Sir" which suggests that he was awarded the knighthood. Though not having an apealing statistics like some Sir Garfield Sobers or Sir Donald Bradman, his record is not too far behind. He was one of the few cricketers of the black and white era who returned with more than 200 test scalps. He played in that part of the time when there were no big bucks that is the case with today's cricketer. If at all there was a cricketer in those times, he should have had a liking for the game with his entire cricket career lasting close to decades but having played only in two countries.

Statistics suggest that Alec Bedser played between 1939 to 1960 but featured in only 51 test matches which brings up an average of just more than two test matches per year. Unlike in today's world where a player would have featured in atleast 10 to 12 test matches every year and plays with most of his intention being the money that he gets and the name that he earns. He was the chairman of selectors for the England team that made it to the finals of the Prudential cup in 1979 that lost to the mighty West Indies. Today's chairman of selectors can't even boast of selecting an English team which can even make it to the semis of the world cup.

Thinking wise, leaving behind the sorrow of his death, one has to also oblige the fact that he was alive and healthy until the age of 91.