Famous Cricketers No 93 - Keith Fletcher O.B.E.

Keith William Robert Fletcher O.B.E. Keith William Robert Fletcher was born on 20th May 1944 at Worcester and arrived in first-class cricket on the 25th July 1962, at the age of 18 years and 67 days. It was to be twenty-six years later before he retired by which time he had captained his county to a string of successes, captained his country on a tour to India and in the inaugural Test versus Sri Lanka, acquired a Test average of 39.90 and had been a prime mentor in the growth of two Essex players, Graham Gooch and Nasser Hussein. Both went on to captain England. He received the O.B.E. in the Queen’s birthday honours list in 1985. A man of small stature Fletcher was never one to come to the wicket with a presence which would send a chill through opponents bowling attacks. However he left time and again leaving those same attacks ragged and glad to see the back of him. Capable of strokes all around the wicket, Fletcher was apt to withdraw into his shell, at times frustrating those who had watched his ability to command an attack, be it fast or slow. He earned a reputation of being suspect against fast bowling but anybody who watched him taking Wesley Hall and John Snow to the sword, would know that this reputation was not deserved. Maybe after lean periods when the fast ball beat him too frequently, the doubters felt justified, as no doubt they did when he faced Dennis Lillee and Jeff Thomson in their prime. His other reputation was earned as a player of spin, time and again he was described as the best of his era. As a middle order batsman he played many a rearguard innings when those around him failed. He compiled countless innings on poor wickets, many of them in days when covers were not used. As testimony to his reputation, his record in India, notorious for wickets taking spin, bears scrutiny. In 44 innings he remained unbeaten in 13, scoring 1638 runs at an average of 52.83. However the bowler to claim his first-class wicket the most was Derek Underwood. Underwood bowled both medium and slow left arm and we are not aware of the type of bowling which brought him his success against Fletcher. In both first-class and limited overs cricket he achieved a higher average at Test and International levels than he did for his career overall, demonstrating his strength on the big occasion. His occasional leg-break bowling was expensive but for all that he often chipped in with a wicket when most wanted, but he was never entirely sure where the ball would pitch. After two matches in his opening season, Keith Fletcher rapidly settled to a middle order batting role, in normal circumstances appearing anywhere from No. 3 to No. 6. He scored 1000 runs in his second season and went on to achieve this feat in no fewer than twenty of the twenty-seven seasons in which he played. He also joined the exulted group of players who have scored one thousand Test runs in a calendar year when he scored 1090 at an average of 60.55 in 1973. The Indian Cricketer selected him as one of four ‘Cricketers of the Year’ for 1973. In the 1974 Wisden Almanack he was named as one of the ‘Five Cricketers of the Year’. In the Wisden citation it was written of Fletcher “that he was one of the few players of his vintage who possessed the rare ability which divided the competent county workman from the true international. This showed not only in the runs scored, but also in the manner of their making.” In 1968 Fletcher was selected for England against the Australians at Headingley, a baptism which had Yorkshire fans roused to a fury. He had won a place, confidently expected by Yorkshiremen to be filled by the Yorkshire batsman Phil Sharpe. Keith Fletcher played his 59 Tests against all the Test playing nations of his era, with the exception of South Africa who were banned for twenty-one years from 1970. He achieved success against them all with the exception of the Australians against whom he never showed his true form in Test matches, not by far the first to suffer this fate, and not likely to be the last. He was one of the batsman to suffer 3