Famous Cricketers No 74 - Bill Edrich

In 1945, he participated in the hastily arranged five “Victory” Tests against Australia and also for England against The Dominions. Edrich was offered a permanent commission in the Royal Air Force and nearly gave up cricket. He was demobbed in December 1945. At this time he was in dispute with Middlesex and was offered only a one-year contract. Returning to the cricketing fray in 1946, Middlesex again finished second to Yorkshire and Edrich scored 1,900 runs finishing ninth in the averages. He eventually regained his England place - his Test career always dogged by selectors’ inconsistencies. His was the last name to be announced for the 1946/47 tour to Australia and New Zealand. It was a tough series with England having a limited bowling attack. On a sticky wicket at Brisbane in the First Test, he scored 16 runs in just under two hours but this was considered by many who saw the innings as one of the most skilful displays of the art of batting. He scored a century in the Second Test and 89 in the third, being given out lbw when everybody knew he had hit the ball. In New Zealand, he was affected by a cyst on the eye. At the end of 1946 he received a business offer allowing him time to play cricket and in 1947 he changed status from professional to amateur, thus becoming one of only eight cricketers to have played for both the Gentlemen and Players. He captained Middlesex from 1951 to 1957, in harness with Denis Compton during 1951 and 1952, and, after his retirement from first-class cricket in 1958, played for his native Norfolk until 1971. In his 571 games in first-class cricket, Edrich scored 36,965 runs, including 86 centuries, with an average of 42.39. His highest score was 267 not out, against Northamptonshire in 1947. He also took 479 wickets and 529 catches, and made a solitary stumping. In 39 Test matches he scored 2,440 runs for an average of 40, and took 41 wickets. His cricket career in both first-class and Minor Counties cricket shows the following total figures:- M I NO Runs HS Ave Balls M Runs W Ave First-class 571 964 92 36965 267* 42.39 32950 943 15956 479 33.31 Minor Cties 178 281 47 8308 152 35.50 19606 872 8161 417 19.57 TOTAL 749 1245 139 45273 267* 40.93 52556 1815 24117 896 26.91 Edrich approached his cricketing duties with much the same fervour with which he tackled his romantic ventures. Gusto and valour were his watchwords. As a batsman, he was a courageous player of quick bowling, relishing the hook and the pull-drive, and dealing plainly and authoritatively with much that he faced. Through his clashes with authority, he did not play in as many Test matches as his talent warranted but he was a devoted servant to both Middlesex and Norfolk throughout his career. As a bowler, he rushed intrepidly into the attack off an eleven pace run, hurling the ball awkwardly at often-startled opponents. This is reflected in his statistics where 57% of the batsmen dismissed were either bowled, lbw or hit wicket; a very high proportion. Later in his career he turned into an off-spin bowler. He was a most effective fielder, initially in the out-field, but mainly in the slips. Above all, he was, in cricket as in domestic life, abundantly cheery and optimistic. A very popular sportsman, he was only a little short of the highest rank of cricketers and his fame was very much bound up with his sparkling relationship with Denis Compton. The sports journalist R.C.Robertson-Glasgow wrote that, while Compton was poetry, Edrich was ‘prose, robust and clear’. Ian Wooldridge has written of him “Bill Edrich epitomised the particularly British breed of incurable scallywag. He loved life too much to harbour grudges, sustain feuds, or niggle opponents with whom, like as not, he’d be out on the tiles at close of play. But there was a bottom line to the roistering. You had to be there before the start of play, next day. Then, hungover or otherwise, you had to fight”. 6