10 cricketers who passed away in 2014

The year 2014 saw the death of unarguably the most shocking death in cricket history that moved the entire cricketing world and beyond. The sudden and shocking death of young Phil Hughes while batting in a domestic game in Australia was numbing. What followed was reminiscent of the farewell the world gave to Lady Diana following her unfortunate death.

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Sudatta Mukherjee recalls the many cricketers who left us for heavenly abode in the year gone by:

1. Graham Stevenson: January 21, 2014

Graham Stevenson played two Tests for England during 1980-81. The bowler, who occasionally kept wickets, Stevenson played 177 First-Class matches for Yorkshire. He even scored two hundreds while playing for Yorkshire and 16 half-centuries and took 488 First-Class wickets at an average of 28.84, with 18 five-for and two 10-wicket hauls. Stevenson’s 149-run partnership with Geoff Boycott remains a record for the 10th wicket for Yorkshire.

2. John Mortimore: February 13, 2014

The Gloucestershire captain was quite unlucky when it came to his international career. He played nine Tests for England, and featured in most of the matches when England’s situation was dismal. Adding to that, England had exceptional off-spinners who could bat (the likes of Ray Illingworth, David Allen and Fred Titmus) which restricted his international appearances. However, Mortimore had a remarkable First-Class career. He scored 15,891 runs and had taken 1,807 wickets from 640 matches. He played 594 matches for Gloucestershire and captained them from 1965 to 1967. Incidentally, Mortimore made his First-Class debut with Tom and Ken Graveney and played his last match with Ken’s son David.

3. Phil Sharpe: May 20, 2014

The Yorkshire batsman was the Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1963. Selected mainly for his catching ability at slips, Sharpe played 12 Tests for England. However, Sharpe had a Test average of 46.23 and scored 786 runs. In his First-Class career, Sharpe played 493 matches, scoring 22,530 runs. He hit 29 hundreds and 111 fifties. His highest score was 228 against Oxford University. Former England skipper Geoff Boycott in 1987 clarified his reason for opposition of making Sharpe a captain as his “tactical skills were limited”, and “social, rather weak and insipid attitude to cricket.” Sharpe also served as a Test selector for England after retirement.

4. Madhav Mantri: May 23, 2014

Madhav Mantri, maternal uncle of Sunil Gavaskar, played four Tests between 1951 and 1955. As an opener, he led Bombay to three Ranji Trophy titles. Many consider him to be the man who evolved Bombay into an all-conquering team. Mantri served as President of the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA).

5. David Allen: May 24, 2014

David Allen played 39 Tests for England and had a better batting and bowling average than Fred Titmus and Ray Illingworth. Allen has the reputation of playing against all Test playing nations at that time inside six years. He played the crucial innings at Lord’s in 1963, facing Wes Hall’s final over and protected Colin Cowdrey, who was forced to bat with a plastered broken arm. The match ended in a draw. Allen played 456 First-Class matches for Gloucestershire and was later on a part of the club’s committee. He was elected the president of the club in 2011.

6. Arvind Apte: August 5, 2014

Arvind Apte played one Test for India. He was selected for the tour of England 1959 following a brilliant domestic season of 1958-59. He scored 639 runs at 53.25, which included 141 against Gujarat and 149 against Baroda in 1958-59. In Ranji Trophy, he managed 564 at 70.50 — a tally which is second to only Pankaj Roy (100.83).

7. Graham Gedye: August 10, 2014

Graham Gedye played four Tests for New Zealand. After a good First-Class season in 1963-64, he was selected for the three-match series against South Africa. However, after the first Test against Pakistan, in the same season, he was dropped. In 1965, he announced his retirement from First-Class cricket too.

8. Norman Gordon: September 2, 2014

Famously known as the oldest living Test cricketer before his death, Norman Gordon played five Tests for South Africa around 1938-39. He was the last living cricketer to have played Test before World War II till his death. Gordon also ran a sports shop in Johannesburg.

9. Ian Craig: November 16, 2014

Ian Craig represented Australia in 11 Tests and is the youngest in the country to have scored a First-Class double century. However, he could not stand up to the tag of being the ‘next Bradman’. The teenage prodigy made his Test debut against South Africa in 1953. Craig at the age of 21 was made the captain of Australian team, thus becoming the youngest to lead the country Tests till now. However, he couldn’t make much of an impact. He was one of the board of directors of the Bradman Museum in Bowral and later on became the chairman of the organisation.

10. Phil Hughes: November 25, 2014

One of the saddest losses of the game was the untimely death of 25-year-old Phil Hughes. While playing a Sheffield Shield match, Hughes was struck by a short ball on the lower back of his head. He fainted on the ground after standing dazed for few seconds and never regained consciousness. Two days later he was taken off life support. His funeral at his hometown of Macksville was attended by numerous cricketers and former players and watched over many all around the world. Among his many achievements from the short Test career, Hughes was famous for scoring 115 in the second Test of his career, following it with 160 in the second innings, thus making him youngest cricketer to score centuries in both innings. In 2013, he became the first Australian to score a century on ODI debut. In 2014, he scored 202 not out in a List A match for Australia A against South Africa A. Tipped to take Michael Clarke’s spot in the first Test against India, Hughes was also a part-time wicketkeeper.

Not to forget

Anandji Dossa: September 22, 2014

Even though Anandji Dossa never played international cricket, but he was more popular as a statistician. He played cricket at school and college. Dossa was a statistician for All India Radio, Indian cricketer board’s statistical committee. In 1980s the Association of Indian Cricket Statisticians and Scorers (ACSSI) and he was the President of the organisation. The library at Cricket Club of India in Brabourne Stadium is named after at him.

(Sudatta Mukherjee is a reporter with CricLife. Other than writing on cricket, she spends penning random thoughts on her. When she is not writing, you will catch her at a movie theatre or watching some English television show on her laptop. Her Twitter id is @blackrosegal)