Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
Cricketer who set a Test record of 364 not out against Australia and captained England to regain the Ashes after 21 years.
On the island
Eight records
O Island In the sun. Built to me by my father's hand All my days I will sing in praise Of your forest waters, your shining sand. As morning breaks, the heaven on high
The keepsakes
No book or luxury recorded for this episode.
In conversation
Presenter asks
0:26What was the first proper match you played in?
As a schoolboy during the school holidays I went to all matches and hoped that there would be a men's short. None I remember one summer I played in 15 matches that I wasn't selected for. ... My first match I remember going in number 11. We wanted 26 to win and we did get these runs but the opposing captain closed the scorebook before I went in. I made it I think 18 not out, which I vividly remember.
Presenter asks
1:41When did you get your first cap?
In 1937 at Lourdes against New Zealand. I started my test career as I did my minor counties and first class career with a naught. ... But I remember so well that morning at Lord's when I went through those W G Grace gates with my cricket bag. And felt so embarrassed, so nervous, so shy. I wish that they hadn't selected me to play. The most horrible feeling and I do hope that when cricketers do play their first match at Lords or their first Test match for England, they never quite feel so bad as I felt on that particular morning.
Presenter asks
3:06How many Test appearances did you make altogether?
I think 79.
Presenter asks
4:06When did you first captain England?
Nineteen fifty two against uh India.
Presenter asks
5:39What have you found the most valuable piece of advice a batsman can be given?
Well, not only as a batsman, but as a cricketer, I would say this, that it is a good thing to listen to all advice, but to try to select out the bits of advice that you can use. Remember that you bowl differently, you bat differently, you feel differently to almost anyone else. So it is really yourself and playing your own game that matters, not trying to bat like Dennis Compton did, like Dom Braman did. I think the great thing is to play your own game and to stick to it, remembering of course that practice makes perfect and it is always a good thing to listen to people that have had more experience than you've had. But it is up to you to use your own intelligence and to sort out which is the stuff that you really want.
“But I remember so well that morning at Lord's when I went through those W G Grace gates with my cricket bag. And felt so embarrassed, so nervous, so shy. I wish that they hadn't selected me to play. The most horrible feeling and I do hope that when cricketers do play their first match at Lords or their first Test match for England, they never quite feel so bad as I felt on that particular morning.”
“I think somewhere in the region of thirteen hours, twenty minutes. Wow. I know it seemed a long time to the people that were watching and the people that were listening at their radios in various parts of England, but to me it was all so quick and possibly seemed two or three hours or something like that. I was concentrating so hard on the Australian bowlers and recapturing a record from Australian.”
“It was rather strange, but after each ball, somehow, I could never find a cat that would stay still, it would move a little, and I suppose after a time I did do it, a habit.”
“Well, not only as a batsman, but as a cricketer, I would say this, that it is a good thing to listen to all advice, but to try to select out the bits of advice that you can use. Remember that you bowl differently, you bat differently, you feel differently to almost anyone else. So it is really yourself and playing your own game that matters, not trying to bat like Dennis Compton did, like Dom Braman did. I think the great thing is to play your own game and to stick to it, remembering of course that practice makes perfect and it is always a good thing to listen to people that have had more experience than you've had. But it is up to you to use your own intelligence and to sort out which is the stuff that you really want.”