Brian Statham

(John) Brian Statham (born June 17, 1930, Manchester; died June 10, 2000, Stockport, Cheshire) was one of the finest bowlers in the history of cricket. Initially a bowler of a brisk fast-medium pace, Statham was able to remodel his action to generate enough speed to become genuinely fast. This, together with unflagging accuracy and the ability to make the ball - new or old - break back, made Statham a consistent force both for Lancashire in the County Championship and in Test cricket, where his strikepower helped give England its strongest attack of the twentieth century during the 1950s. In all, he took 252 wickets in Test matches, a tally bettered only by Freddie Trueman at the time.

Lancashire Captain

Troubled by internal strife, Lancashire chose Statham as a full-time captain for 1965 (he had led them a few times in 1962).

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The cares of captaincy were, perhaps, not well-suited to Statham and many of the decision he made as captain between 1965 and 1967 were widely criticised - perhaps because Lancashire's form did not improve from its poor level of the 1961 to 1964 period. Yet, as a bowler, Statham, aided he admitted by some atrocious and deliberately untrue pitches, was as deadly as ever in the 1965 County Championship, taking 124 wickets for 12.41 apiece, and doing almost as well in 1966 and 1967. He in fact was so good that England recalled him at the age of thirty-five for the last Test against South Africa in 1965, and Statham did not disappoint, with an excellent five for 40 in the first innings. His form was so good it was known MCC would have selected him to tour Australia for the fifth time had Statham not made it known by then that he did not wish to be considered for tours.

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