Chris Old was 6 feet 3, athletic and accurate with his seamers, possessing a venomous late out-swinger. He played second — nay, the third — fiddle to Bob Willis and Ian Botham in the England pace bowling line-up, but could be as potent and deadly as the two more illustrious names.
In fact his 143 wickets for England came at 28 in spite of a spate of injuries to his leg and back is testimony to his class. It was his 5 for 21 that wrecked the Indians alongside Geoff Arnold when they were bowled out for 42 in 1974. In 1978, he captured 4 wickets off 5 balls at Edgbaston against the Pakistanis. A successor in the Yorkshire bowling line-up after Fred Trueman called it a day, Old did much that his great predecessor could be proud of.
He was a fine batsman as well, with 6 First-Class hundreds constructed with left-handed biffing. At Edgbaston, in 1977, he hammered the third-fastest hundred of all time, off just 72 balls, reaching his second fifty in just 9 minutes. He played a major role with bat a few times in Test cricket as well. In Calcutta, his 52 and 5 wickets was one of the reasons for England’s win in 1976-77. At Headingley, in 1981, he was one of the late order partners of Ian Botham as he hit 29 and helped him add 67 on the way to that incredible win.
In the England-India 1975 World Cup encounter made infamous by Sunil Gavaskar’s 36 not out, Old slammed 4 fours and 2 sixes in a whirlwind 51 not out from 40 balls and then bowled 12 overs to finish with 1 for 26.
Old was invited by Tony Greig to be a part of World Series Cricket, but refused. But his Test career ended in a different demonstration of anti-establishmentarianism. He went on the rebel tour to South Africa in 1982 and never played for England again.
Old’s elder brother Alan was an England Rugby Union fly-half.
Arunabha Sengupta
Career | M | In | R | NO | HS | Avg | BF | SR | 100s | 50s | 4s | 6s | Ct | St |
Test | 46 | 66 | 845 | 9 | 65 | 14.82 | 2163 | 39.06 | 0 | 2 | 103 | 8 | 22 | 0 |
ODIs | 32 | 25 | 338 | 7 | 51* | 18.77 | 401 | 84.28 | 0 | 1 | 29 | 6 | 8 | 0 |
T20s | 0 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | |
World Cup | 9 | 7 | 91 | 2 | 51* | 18.20 | 76 | 119.7 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 3 | 2 | 0 |
Career | M | B | R | W | Avg | EC | SR | 5WI | 10WM | BBI | BBM |
Test | 46 | 8442 | 4020 | 143 | 28.11 | 2.857 | 59. | 4 | 0 | 7/50 | 9/88 |
ODIs | 32 | 1677 | 999 | 45 | 22.20 | 3.574 | 37.26 | 0 | 0 | 4/8 | 4/8 |
T20s | 0 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | ||
World Cup | 9 | 543 | 243 | 16 | 15.18 | 2.685 | 33.93 | 0 | -- | 4/8 | 4/8 |
Test Debut
India v England at Eden Gardens, Kolkata, December 30, 1972
Last Test
England v Australia at Edgbaston, Birmingham, July 30, 1981
ODI Debut
England v West Indies at Headingley, Leeds, September 5, 1973
Last ODI
West Indies v England at Arnos Vale Playing Field, Kingstown, February 4, 1981
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