Cricket Witness No 5 - Whites on Green

69 Swansea-by-the-sea Gilbert Parkhouse walks out to the middle at St. Helen’s in 1952 with his long-serving opening partner Emrys Davies. Tony himself was fulsome of praise of Gilbert’s efforts: “Gilbert was a very special player. He would take the ball late and run it off. I grew up as a kid watching him play in 1948 with his flowing drives. He was a class performer. The way he played [Frank] Tyson was beautiful because he could hook. Gilbert had amazing timing and footwork. He was one of those players who never slogged the ball... it just went. Colin Cowdrey used to get a large score at Canterbury and you never heard the ball on the bat all afternoon. Gilbert was similar. He was embryo top-class.” 4