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.

Last days

After being relieved of the Lancashire captaincy, Statham announced that the 1968 season would be his last - indeed he announced early on he would not play after the August Bank Holiday match with Yorkshire. With Lancashire no longer dependent on him due to Higgs' great form, Statham still went off on a high note with a first innings return of 6 for 31. Statham had given such service to Lancashire that the county gave him a second benefit in 1969, though it raised only 1,850 pounds compared to over 13,800 pounds for his 1961 benefit.

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In his later years, despite his earnings as a cricketer, Statham was consistently troubled financially: in fact, he always lived in quite poor conditions off the cricket field. Even his appointment as president of the Lancashire County Cricket Club from 1995 to 1997 failed to improve his finances. Three years later, he died of leukemia a week before his seventieth birthday

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