Famous Cricketers No 72 - Lord Cowdrey of Tonbridge, C.B.E.

Bowling O M R W BB Ave Other Matches (8-ball) 1 0 7 0 - - Career (6-ball) 664.1 85 } 2772 53 4-22 52.30 (8-ball) 14.3 0 1966 After the best season of his career, Cowdrey now suffered his worst. A miserable year for the weather, poor wickets were factors in a summer which brought him only one first-class hundred and that against a university. Otherwise it was just five championship fifties and a Gillette Cup hundred against a minor county. On the positive side Kent rose further up the County Championship table to 4th. England were torn apart by the West Indies. The heavy defeat at Old Trafford led to Smith losing the captaincy and Cowdrey’s re-appointment, only for his replacement unceremoniously two Tests later. Despite a 60 and a 90 in the series, he also lost his place as a batsman. As Wisden noted with “resources lamentably weak and the opposition strong”, England’s failure was inevitable. Own Team O M R W Opp Ct Total Total 466. Kent v Nottinghamshire, Trent Bridge, May (4), 5, 6 (Match drawn) * lbw b C.Forbes 39 100 133 3 50-1 467. Kent v Middlesex, Lord’s, May 7, 9, 10 (Kent won by 117 runs) * not out 53 170-5c 112 b R.S.Herman 41 261-7d 202 468. M.C.C. v West Indians, Lord’s, May 14, 16, 17 (Match drawn) c J.L.Hendriks b R.C.Brancker 15 383-8d 349-9d lbw b C.C.Hunte 13 67-2 246-9d 1 469. Kent v Glamorgan, Gravesend, May 18, 19, 20 (Match drawn) * b F.J.Davis 4 322-5d - - - - 83 2 2 0 13 0 385-5 470. Kent v Worcestershire, Worcester, May 25, 26, 27 (Worcestershire won by 80 runs) * b L.J.Coldwell 0 77 221-3c 1 b N.Gifford 8 226 162 1 471. ENGLAND v WEST INDIES, Old Trafford, June 2, 3, 4 (West Indies won by an innings and 40 runs) c and b L.R.Gibbs 12 167 484 1 c B.F.Butcher b G.St.A.Sobers 69 277 472. Kent v Surrey, Kennington Oval, June 11, 12, 13 (Match drawn) * c and b G.G.Arnold 68 179-8c 156-9c c A.Long b R.Harman 48 168-9 229 1 473. ENGLAND v WEST INDIES, Lord’s, June 16, 17, 18, 20, 21 (Match drawn) * c L.R.Gibbs b W.W.Hall 9 355 269 c D.W.Allan b W.W.Hall 5 197-4 369-5d 474. Kent v Oxford University, Canterbury, June 25, 27, 28 (Kent won by 139 runs) * not out 100 328-5d 243 did not bat - 161-1d 107 475. ENGLAND v WEST INDIES, Trent Bridge, June 30, July 1, 2, 4, 5 (West Indies won by 139 runs) * c J.L.Hendriks b C.C.Griffith 96 325 235 1 c G.St.A.Sobers b L.R.Gibbs32 253 482-5d 1 476. Kent v Gloucestershire, Folkestone, July 6, 7, 8 (Kent won by 173 runs) * c D.W.J.Brown b J.B.Mortimore 0 205-9c 131-9c did not bat - 296-4d 197 2 477. Kent v West Indians, Canterbury, July 9, 11, 12 (West Indians won by an innings and 56 runs) * c D.A.J.Holford b R.C.Brancker 19 202 382 c J.L.Hendriks b G.St.A.Sobers 1 124 49