Lives in Cricket No 49 - Enid Bakewell

111 greatest ever female cricketers in 2014, but her thirst for cricket continues and she still plays regularly for a team in Surrey, travelling down from her Kirkby home for matches. As she said, she wants to play until she is at least 80 and never envisaged the success she has had. ‘I just enjoyed playing with the lads and being one of them,’ she added. ‘I never dreamed I would achieve so much.’ And, closer to home: “Former England cricketer Matthew Hoggard MBE visited Kirkby to officially unveil the new bronze cricket statues created as part of the town’s revamp. The statues celebrate Kirkby’s cricketing heritage, as home of legendary England cricketers Harold Larwood and Bill Voce ... He was joined by Kirkby swimming hero Ollie Hynd MBE and local women’s cricket legend Enid Bakewell, whose photographs are featured on the new art wall in the town centre. In Kirkby they have put up statues of Harold Larwood, Bill Voce and Don Bradman, but they also have Enid’s picture on the wall. On the ICC Hall of Fame is a picture of her batting (which was wrong way round but has been corrected). The local artist copying it got it right, though. In the same year Charlotte Edwards picked her ‘dream team’ for the Cricket Paper and included Enid: ‘An absolute legend of the game, So committed and even supports the team now, She followed us around whenever we play, sometimes even hitch-hiking over the country to get there. Not only that, but she was probably one of the most talented players ever, averaging nearly 60 with the bat for England in Tests and 16 with the ball. An honour to play alongside her when I got the chance.’ Of course, Enid is still playing. Now there are tributes galore. A website called Teninsider obsessively lists the ten greatest everything, and says of Enid: ‘This former cricketer from England is regarded as the fourth best female cricketer of all the time. At the same time, Enid is also regarded as the best all-rounder player of England. Enid was a right-handed batsman as well as an excellent slow left-arm bowler ... “Enid scored a total of 1,078 runs as also took 50 wickets in 12 Test matches and also bagged 500 runs as well as 25 wickets in 23 ODI matches. She is considered as one of the only two women cricketers who have scored consecutive centuries in the Test matches. In her last game of cricket, she became the very first English player in both male as well as female categories to have scored a century and taken 10 wickets at the same time. Her name has also been introduced in the Hall of Fame of ICC in the year 2012.’ Away from cricket, and back in the vicinity of Newstead, she lived in her daughter’s house for a while, but when her daughter’s pay as a physiotherapist was reduced she moved into semi-sheltered housing for Recognition