The Cricket Statistician No 195

30 Mt In NO Runs HS Av. 100 50 9 17 2 1108 164 73.86 3 8 This sequence was almost extended in 1972 when he was run out for 49. Strangely he had also begun the 1968 series with being run out for 49, attempting an all-run four to complete his half-century! John Edrich played in 38 consecutive Test Matches (half of his career) between 1967/68 and 1972. The following shows his almost symmetrical career before and after this sequence: Mt In NO Runs HS Av. 100 50 1963-67 21 30 2 1142 310* 40.78 4 1 1967/68 -72 38 69 4 2741 164 42.16 6 15 1974-76 18 28 3 1255 175 50.20 2 8 2. His record against Australian teams From 1961 to 1977 his record for Surrey, TN Pearce’s XI, MCC and England against a variety of Australian teams in England and Australia was as follows: Mt In NO Runs HS Av. 100 50 60 104 11 4607 175 49.53 11 24 In 1961 he began with two matches for Surrey (10, 6, 0, 0), his ‘pair’ in the second match being his second and last in first class cricket. He followed this with 110 and 20 for TN Pearce’s XI. After his ‘pair’ he registered only one more duck (in 1974/75) in exactly one hundred further innings against Australian teams; in 57 Test innings against Australia he was never dismissed for a duck! His Test matches against Australia began with a century (120) in 1964 and almost concluded with another century (96) in 1975. He was dismissed for 96 three times in his whole Test career, his only dismissals in the ‘nervous nineties’. Edrich’s very last innings against an Australian team was the 70 he scored for Surrey in 1977. He scored at least one fifty or century in each of the six English seasons and three tours in which he played against Australian opposition. 3. Positions in the batting order John Edrich was of course essentially an opening batsman. However, at Test level (especially in Australia) he often batted at no. 3 or 4. The value of having an opening batsman coming in first wicket down has since been proved by others, notably by David Boon for Australia and Mark Butcher for England – after the latter’s great performances as such against Australia in 2001 why was he not recognised as one of the Wisden Cricketers of the year, an accolade he was never to receive? John Edrich’s Test Match record divides as follows: In NO Runs HS Av. 100 50 Opening 82 5 3430 310* 44.54 8 14 Batting at 3 38 2 1393 115* 38.69 3 8 Batting at 4 7 2 315 100* 63.00 1 2