Famous Cricketers No 44 - Sir Alec V. Bedser, C.B.E.

ALEC BEDSER Alec Bedser was born in Reading on 4th July 1918, ten minutes after his identical twin brother Eric. Their father was a bricklayer, and later in their lives in 1953 helped his sons build their own house. They grew up in Woking and showed an interest in sport from an early age playing cricket in a local Club. At the age of 14, they started work as solicitor’s clerks in Lincoln’s Inn Fields, London. When they were 17, Alan Peach, the Surrey Coach at the time, opened a Cricket School in Woking, assisted by Harry Baldwin. The Bedser brothers spent many hours at the Cricket School and during this period a fateful decision was taken by the toss of a coin. They were both medium-fast bowlers with identical run-ups and to give them a chance of pursuing a career in cricket, they decided one should change their bowling style. Eric lost the toss and with the help of Alan Peach, changed to an off-break bowler. After a lot of deliberation, they then decided to become full time cricketers and joined the Surrey staff in April 1938. For two seasons, they both played for the Club and Ground Team and the Second XI, where Eric played in 41 matches, scoring 1053 runs with a highest score of 120 and took 47 wickets at 21.82, whilst Alec played 24 matches, scored 229 runs and took 101 wickets at an average of 16.81. They both made their first class debut against Oxford University in 1939, but had to wait until 1946 before playing County Championship matches. They received their call-up papers for the Second World War in June 1939, but managed to obtain deferment until the end of the cricket season. Originally they were instructed to report to the Royal Artillery, but when these arrangements were cancelled, they volunteered for the Royal Air Force. After training in the Security Wing, they were posted to France and following the German breakthrough in 1940 found themselves stranded at the roadside, but were rescued by a Surrey member fromWimbledon who recognised them and gave them a lift to the Coast where they managed to get back to the United Kingdom. Whilst stationed in England, there were opportunities to play cricket and Alec drew the attention of prominent people at Lord’s, particularly Sir Pelham Warner, when he played in one-day wartime fixtures against Australia, West Indies and the Dominions. He also represented the RAF against the London Fire Brigade at Lord’s taking 4-44. However, in late 1943 they were both posted abroad to Algiers and moved on to Italy and finally Austria. They were both promoted to Warrant Officer, which would have meant they would be separated so Alec declined promotion and they stayed in the same unit. They returned to Kennington Oval in time for the start of the 1946 season, by which time they were 27 years old. In his first match against M.C.C. at Lord’s, Alec Bedser took 6-14 in the second innings, followed by five wickets in Surrey’s match against the Indian Touring Team. Alec was awarded his Surrey cap on June 12th and was picked to play in his first Test Match after having played only 12 first-class matches. His dream start involved taking 11 wickets in the match which was followed by a further 11 wickets in the next Test match. From 1946 until the arrival of Tyson and Statham, he was England’s prime pace bowler. During these years he was both wicket-taker and stock bowler - in 51 Tests Bedser bowled 15,918 balls; in 16 more Tests (67), Fred Trueman bowled 15,718 balls. Alec Bedser was listed as one of the “Five Cricketers of the Year” in the 1947 Wisden , where he was compared favourably with Maurice Tate and it was noted that the Bedser twins simply lived for cricket and were popular wherever they appeared. 4