Lives in Cricket No 3 - George Duckworth

more than it would be to deny him some consciousness, as a cricketer, of the theatrical entertainment inherent in his trademark appeal. All of us present different facets of our personality in different contexts. George Duckworth spent years of his career working and living with colleagues who had not what Barbara de Prez, in a sensitive phrase, calls her father’s ‘mental resources’. It is unlikely that he would have engaged Eddie Paynter in a conversation on Alfred, Lord Tennyson, one of ‘Ducky’s favourite poets. Eddie Paynter, the batsman brilliant enough to spot Bill O’Reilly’ faster ball because ‘he shows his teeth’, enjoyed little luck either in his upbringing or in his post-cricket existence. Conversely, George Duckworth may not have included prize poultry in his discourses with Pandit Nehru. Such a well-integrated personality, rounded rather than split, meant that he could go and would be welcomed anywhere. Rudyard Kipling might have been prescient about his future admirer when he sang, ‘if you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue, or walk with kings – nor lose the common touch . . .’ Couple The Legacy 63 George Duckworth talking to the Indian Prime Minister, Mr Pandit Nehru, at a reception during the Commonwealth tour of 1950/51.