Colin Cowdrey

Early life and school years

Colin Cowdrey was born on his family's tea plantation at Ootacamund, Madras Presidency, although his birthplace has often been misrecorded as Bangalore, 100 miles to the north. His father, Ernest Cowdrey, was a keen cricketer who had played in the Minor Counties Championship for Berkshire. Ernest made an application for Colin to join Marylebone Cricket Club while still an infant. Colin's mother was Molly Cowdrey (née Taylor), who played tennis and hockey. He had no schooling in India, but his father and the servants taught him how to play cricket from a very early age.

When Cowdrey was five, he was taken to England where he attended the Homefield Preparatory School in Sutton from 1938 to 1945. In 1945, aged 12, he went to Alf Gover's Cricket School for three weeks and his father enrolled him at Tonbridge School so that he could qualify for Kent County Cricket Club. On Gover's recommendation, Cowdrey was selected for the school's first team. In July 1946, aged thirteen, Cowdrey played at Lord's for Tonbridge School against Clifton College. He scored 75 and 44 and, bowling leg spin, took 3/58 and 5/33. Tonbridge won the match by two runs. The school later established the Cowdrey Scholarships for sporting excellence in his memory.

Cowdrey was asked to play for Kent Young Amateurs in 1948 and made 157 against Sussex Young Amateurs, 87 against Middlesex Young Amateurs and 79 against Surrey Young Amateurs. He was asked to join the Kent Second XI in 1949 and played three matches in August against Norfolk, Wiltshire and Devon in the Minor Counties Championship. In 1950, he was made captain of his school cricket team and scored 126* for the Public Schools XI against Combined Services at Lord's. Less than a week later, Kent selected Cowdrey for his first-class debut in a County Championship match against Derbyshire at the County Ground in Derby. He held a catch and took a wicket in Derbyshire's first innings of 345/6 declared. He was fifth in the Kent batting order and scored 15 in his debut innings before he was caught by Derbyshire captain Pat Vaulkhard off a ball by Cliff Gladwin. Kent were all out for 96 and Vaulkhard imposed the follow on. Cowdrey made Kent's top score of 26 in the second innings. He was bowled by Gladwin whose match return was 10/86. Kent were all out for 151 and Derbyshire won by an innings and 98 runs.

First-class and international career

1951 to 1954

Cowdrey left Tonbridge School in the summer of 1951 and, having been offered an exhibition, became a student at the University of Oxford. He was there till the summer of 1954 and studied geography at Brasenose College. He joined the Oxford University Cricket Club and, in each season from 1952 to 1954, played for them in the early weeks and then for Kent till the end of the season. He captained the Oxford team in 1954.

Before going into residence at Oxford in the autumn of 1951, Cowdrey scored his maiden first-class century against them for the Free Foresters. This match was played at the University Parks 2–5 June and Cowdrey scored 143 at a run a minute in the first innings. Free Foresters totalled 317 all out but the university replied with 395/5 declared. In their second innings, Free Foresters scored 355 all out. Errol Holmes was the top scorer with 162 and Cowdrey contributed 39. Oxford needed 278 and won by 8 wickets. Cowdrey made his debut in the Gentlemen v Players series soon afterwards, playing for the Gentlemen. In his first match for them at North Marine Road, Scarborough, he scored 106. The match ended in a draw. In all matches, Cowdrey scored 1,189 runs in the 1951 season and was awarded his Kent county cap. He received the cap from team captain David Clark after an innings of 71 against the touring South Africans. At the age of eighteen, he was the youngest player to be capped by Kent.

First international tour

Cowdrey was a surprise choice for the England tour of Australia in 1954–55. He was called in to replace the injured Willie Watson. According to Cowdrey, England captain Len Hutton later told him that his selection was a gamble, but it was thought that his technique would be good on the hard Australian wickets. Frank Tyson recalled Hutton telling Cowdrey and himself that they would be secondary players on the tour, there to gain experience with probably no involvement in the Test series.

On the team's arrival in Perth, Cowdrey received a telegram that his father had died, but the team rallied round him and he played in the opening match against a local Western Australian Country XI. He scored 48* and took 4/35 with his leg breaks. The party moved on to Sydney where Cowdrey was selected to play against New South Wales. This became a key match in his career as he scored a century in each innings and thereby earned his place in the England team for the first Test, even though he failed in the next match against Queensland.

The first Test, Cowdrey's international debut, was played at the Brisbane Cricket Ground and Australia scored 601/8 declared after Hutton had won the toss and sent them in. England's batting collapsed in the first innings, though Cowdrey made 40, and they had to follow on. Cowdrey scored 10 in the second innings and England, with totals of 190 and 257 were unable to avoid a heavy defeat by an innings and 154 runs. After that, England staged a recovery and won the second Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground by 38 runs, having been 74 behind on first innings. In the second innings, Cowdrey (54) shared a fourth wicket partnership of 116 with Peter May (104) which enabled England to reach 296 and left Australia needing 223 to win. Frank Tyson and Brian Statham bowled them out for 184 to level the series.

In the third Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, England were in trouble at 41/4 and were rescued by Cowdrey's maiden Test century. He scored 102 out of 191 after sharing partnerships of 74 with Trevor Bailey and 54 with Godfrey Evans. Some writers have said this was the highlight of Cowdrey's career as it laid a foundation for eventual victory by 128 runs after Tyson, with a return of 7/27, shattered Australia's batting in their second innings. Among those who praised Cowdrey's performance were Bill O'Reilly, who said it was the best Test innings he had ever seen and, Tyson who doubted if Cowdrey had "ever scored a better hundred". Cowdrey made 102 of England's first innings of 191 and once again this was enough for Tyson to bowl his team to victory as the tourists took a 2–1 lead in the series.

1955 to 1958

On his return from Australia, Cowdrey decided to drop out of Oxford and concentrate on his cricket career. As he was no longer an undergraduate, he was called up for national service in the Royal Air Force. However, he was almost immediately discharged because of a hereditary disability of rigid toes, on which he had previously had an operation. Cowdrey cemented his place in the England team and took part in each of the home series during this period. He also went to South Africa in 1956–57. In 1957, during the Test series against West Indies, Cowdrey and May shared a fourth wicket partnership of 411 at Edgbaston. Cowdrey scored 154 and May 285*. At the time, it was the third highest stand in Test cricket.

Before the 1957 season, Cowdrey was appointed captain of the Kent team, succeeding Doug Wright. Kent finished 14th in the County Championship, winning six of their 28 matches. Playfair Cricket Annual commented that Cowdrey had "infused the right spirit" into the team but pointed out that Kent cricket was still well short of resurgence. Cowdrey only played in 18 matches because of international calls and, without him, the team's batting was weak.

1958–59 to 1962

Cowdrey replaced Trevor Bailey as Peter May's vice-captain for the 1958–59 tour of Australia. The Test series was a disaster for England, who lost 4–0. Cowdrey had one notable innings when he scored 100* in the Third Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground and helped England to save that match as a draw. In 1959, Cowdrey had a successful series against India and scored 160 in the third Test at Headingley. Cowdrey captained England for the first time on their tour of the West Indies in 1959–60 after May was seriously injured. He took over from May for the last two matches of the series. Both were drawn and England, who had won the second Test, took the series 1–0.

With May out of action for the whole of 1960, Cowdrey captained England in the series against South Africa and won it 3–0. South Africa nearly won the last Test at The Oval after dismissing England for 155 and then scoring 479/9 declared. Cowdrey opened the England second innings with Geoff Pullar and they shared a first wicket stand of 290 which saved the match. Cowdrey scored 155 and Pullar 175.

May returned in 1961 and was expected to take back his captaincy, but declared himself unfit. Cowdrey was hurriedly brought to Lords and was told he would take over only a few days before the First Test. Although Richie Benaud had beaten England 4–0 in the last Ashes series the 1961 Australians were considered to be the weakest sent to England with Benaud and Alan Davidson struggling with injuries and many players unused to English conditions. They nearly upset England in the First Test at Edgbaston, leading by 321 runs in the first innings and Ted Dexter had to save the game with an innings of 180. Before the Second Test at Lords Cowdrey made 149 and 121 for Kent against the tourists and was 7 runs from victory when the game ended. May returned to the England team, but insisted that Cowdrey be captain despite pressure from the selectors. Benaud was unable to play, but the Australians under Neil Harvey rose to the occasion, Davidson taking 5/42 in the first innings, Bill Lawry making his maiden Test century of 130 and Garth McKenzie taking 5/37 to clear up the second innings in their 5 wicket victory. May agreed to lead England in the Third Test at Headingley and Cowdrey made 93 and 22 in a low scoring match as Fred Trueman took 11/93 to even the series. Cowdrey missed the Fourth Test at Old Trafford with a fever, where Australia won a nail-biting match to retain the Ashes. May thought England would have won if Cowdrey had played, even if he wasn't fit, but he returned for the drawn Fifth Test at the Oval.

1962–63 to 1967

The tour manager Bernard Fitzalan-Howard, 16th Duke of Norfolk joined the team with three of his daughters and announced "You may dance with my daughters. You may take them out and wine them and dine them, but that is all you may do", though years later Cowdrey would marry the eldest, Lady Anne. Cowdrey had a poor start to the tour and made three successive ducks, which Jack Fingleton blamed on his fondness for golf. However, Cowdrey made the highest score of his career against South Australia on Christmas Eve (his birthday). He caressed his way to 307 in 369 minutes, beating Frank Woolley's 305 not out against Tasmania in 1911–12 as the highest score by a tourist in Australia; it was the highest first-class score in Australia for 18 years. Cowdrey added 103 runs with David Sheppard (81), 98 with Ken Barrington, then stroked 344 runs with fellow stylist Tom Graveney (122 not out), striking 4 sixes and 29 fours, until he was out and Dexter declared on 586/5. Fresh from his triumph at Adelaide Cowdrey made his only century of the series in the Second Test at Melbourne after joining Dexter at 19/2. They withstood Alan Davidson's burst of speed, but the other bowlers failed to trouble them and by stealing quick ones, twos and threes they rebuilt the innings. Dexter was out for 93, but the stand had made 175 runs and Cowdrey made 113, his third and highest century in Australia, but the celebrations were short lived as he hooked into the hands of Peter Burge off Garth McKenzie. In the second innings he took 30 minutes to score after being dropped off his first ball, but made 52 not out and hit the winning runs to give England a 1–0 lead.

Despite Cowdrey's first innings of 85, Australia won the Third Test to level the series and keep the Ashes, as the final two Tests were drawn. He finished third in the averages with 397 runs (43.77). The tour continued in New Zealand where Cowdrey made 292 runs (146.00) in the three Tests, which England won 3–0. Cowdrey made 86 in the First at Auckland, 128 not out in the Second at Wellington and 43 and 35 not out in the Third at Christchurch. The 128 not out at Wellington made him the first batsman to make a century against six countries, having already made hundreds against Australia, South Africa, the West Indies, India and Pakistan. He made an unbeaten stand of 163 with the wicket-keeper Alan Smith (69 not out) which was a Test record for the 9th wicket until beaten by Asif Iqbal and Intikhab Alam, who made 190 for the 9th wicket against England at the Oval in 1967.

In 1963 Frank Worrell led an exciting West Indies team on their tour of England. They won the First Test at Old Trafford by an innings, with Cowdrey being bowled round his legs by Hall for 4 after swaying away from a delivery which kept lower than he expected. The Second Test at Lord's was one of the best he played in. Fred Trueman took 6/100 and Cowdrey three catches to dismiss the tourists for 301 and the captain Ted Dexter thrashed Wes Hall and Charlie Griffith round the ground for 70 off 75 balls in England's reply of 297. Dexter couldn't field due to an injury taken when batting so Cowdrey led the team and took 3 more catches as Trueman took 5/52 and the West Indies' 229 relied almost entirely on Basil Butcher's 133. Needing 234 to win England were reduced to 31/3, but had recovered to 72/3 when Cowdrey fended a bouncer from Hall off his face and broke his wrist, retiring hurt on 19. Ken Barrington (60) and Brian Close (70) took England to the verge of victory and when Derek Shackleton was run out in the last over they were 228/9, needing five runs to tie, six runs to win, one wicket to lose or to survive two balls for a draw. Cowdrey returned to the crease with his arm in plaster and stood at the non-striker's end while Dave Allen blocked the last two balls for a draw. England won the Third Test, but lost the series 3–1 and Cowdrey was unable to play for the rest of the season.

1967–68 to 1971

The tour got off to a bad start when they were outscored in the warm up match against the Barbados Colts, but Cowdrey made 139 against the West Indies Board President's XI, adding 249 with Geoff Boycott (135). They batted poorly against Trinidad and Tobago and Colin Milburn made 139 against the Trinidad Colts, but the fast bowler John Snow was ill and went into the First Test at the Port of Spain as underdogs. It was Cowdrey's 92nd Test, taking him past Godfrey Evans's record of 91 Test caps. He won the toss and made 72 batting at number three, followed by Ken Barrington (143) and vice-captain Tom Graveney (118) to be all out for 568. The West Indies were made to follow on after making 363, but drew the match with 243/8 in the second innings.

Cowdrey made 107 when the MCC beat Jamaica by 174 runs and they went into the Second Test at Kingston with more confidence. He won the toss again and made 101 in England's 376 and forced the West Indies to follow on again when Snow's 7/49 dismissed them for 143. The West Indies were 204/5 on the day four and when Basil Butcher was caught behind off Basil D'Oliveira the crowd rioted and threw bottles onto the outfield. Cowdrey tried to calm the crowd without success and play was abandoned as the police used tear gas to restore order. Cowdrey and the manager Les Ames reluctantly agreed to resume play to help placate the crowd and an extra 75 minutes was added on the sixth day to make up for lost time. Sobers thought it wouldn't be needed as they had battled so badly, but the riot had unsettled the England team. The West Indian captain made 113 not out and was able to declare at 391/9, leaving England 190 to win on the extra day. Boycott and Cowdrey made ducks and English crashed to 43/4 at the end of day five and barely survived with 68/8 after the extra time on day six. Sobers took 3/33 and Lance Gibbs 3/11, which would have grave repercussions in the Fourth Test.

Cowdrey took the next two matches off (which were drawn), but was with Fred Titmus when the off-spinner had four toes cut off by a boat propeller while swimming and drove him to the hospital for surgery, which enabled him to return to cricket after the tour. The Third Test at Bridgetown was a dull draw, with Sobers winning the toss and the West Indies making 349, followed by 449 from England with Boycott (146) and John Edrich (90) adding 172 for the 1st wicket. They returned to Port of Spain for the Fourth Test, Sobers won the toss again and his team made 526/7. England replied with 404, Cowdrey top-scoring with 148 and hitting 21 boundaries. The game looked doomed to another draw when Sobers suddenly declared at 92/2 on the fifth day, leaving England 215 runs to win in 165 minutes. Sobers disliked the thought of playing out five draws in a series and remembered the sudden English collapse in the Third Test which might give him a surprise victory. Though he needed Tom Graveney and Ken Barrington to overcome his natural inclination to safety they set about the runs with Boycott holding up one end with 80 not out and adding 118 in 75 minutes with Cowdrey (71) for a 7 wicket victory with three minutes to spare. Sobers was lambasted throughout the West Indies for his declaration and Cowdrey found him drinking alone in a bar that evening when he was usually surrounded by fans.

1972 to 1976

Cowdrey continued to play for Kent under Mike Denness (who succeeded Ray Illingworth as England captain in 1973) and the county continued its success. It came second in the County Championship in 1972 and fourth in 1973, but slipped to 10th in 1974. However, Kent did win the John Player League in 1972 and 1973, the Benson and Hedges Cup in 1973 (Cowdrey hitting 25 not out) and the Gillette Cup again in 1974, beating Lancashire by four wickets in the final. With his Test career seemingly over he was appointed a CBE by the Prime Minister Ted Heath in 1972. Cowdrey's great milestone was his 100th first-class century, 100 not out against Surrey at Maidstone on 5 July 1973, after which he had a celebratory luncheon at Lords with ex-prime minister Sir Alec Douglas-Home as the guest speaker.

After the disastrous First Test in Brisbane the tour selectors sent back to London for the 41-year-old Cowdrey as a replacement batsmen. Cowdrey was highly regarded by the MCC team and in particular by Mike Denness, who had succeeded him as captain of Kent. In his 20-year Test career he had faced the Australian fast bowlers Keith Miller, Ray Lindwall, Alan Davidson, Ian Meckiff, Gordon Rorke and even the young Dennis Lillee. Although the Australian press was aghast at such a recall – Cowdrey had not played a Test in four years – the tourists were keen to have a man with the technique and strength of purpose to play the fastest of bowlers. He arrived in Perth with the wives of the MCC team after a 19-hour delay in Bombay, too late to play a practice match, and was called up for the Second Test two days after he arrived and with three hours in the nets. This was his sixth tour of Australia, matching the record of the Lancashire spinner Johnny Briggs.

Cowdrey showed he had lost none of his timing and that his bat was as straight as ever until he was bowled behind his legs by Thomson (2/45) for 22. In the second innings he volunteered to open with David Lloyd instead of the badly bruised Brian Luckhurst. Cowdrey was dropped by Ian Redpath off Lillee, hit on the arm, survived a confident appeal by Rod Marsh before he was finally caught lbw by Thomson for 41, his highest score of the series. After the Second Test Cowdrey made 78 and took 2/27 against South Australia. Before the Third Test at Melbourne Frank Tyson recalled "Colin Cowdrey and John Edrich were unable to practice on Christmas Eve – mainly because of the drizzling rain but also because Cowdrey wanted to spend his birthday in comparative peace. Since both batsmen wanted to feel the ball on bat before the Test, I volunteered the use of the Hawthorn Indoor Cricket Centre, in which I was a partner, for a two-hour work-out on Christmas morning. It was quite a contrast to open the children's presents in the early hours and to open the bowling at the two English batsmen before lunch. My fifteen old son, Philip, thought the latter experience to be quite the best of his Christmas presents". He played his 114th and last Test at Melbourne, and opened the innings again as Lloyd was injured, but only made 7. Even so, England made 529 and won by an innings, with Cowdrey dismissing Rick McCosker for his 120th catch. He was given a warm farewell by his fans in "an impromptu little gathering on the outfield in front of the banner reading 'M.C.G. FANS THANK COLIN – 6 TOURS'. The central figure, wearing a large straw sun-hat, was signing endless autographs, posing for photographs and exchanging friendly talk with young and old in the way that has made him as popular a cricketer as has ever visited Australia".

International centuries

Cowdrey made 22 Test centuries to equal Wally Hammond's England record. This has subsequently been exceeded by a number of players.

Of the 22 Tests in which Cowdrey made a hundred, England won 10, drew 11 and lost one; the defeat was the 1965 match against South Africa at Trent Bridge, in which Cowdrey scored 105. He was the first batsman to score a Test century against six different teams: Australia, South Africa, the West Indies, New Zealand, India and Pakistan – they were the only Test teams other than England during his career. The table below is a list of Cowdrey's Test centuries:

Style and personality

As a batsman, Cowdrey's favourite stroke was the cover drive, at which he excelled, but he had the full array of stokes all around the wicket. His quick reflexes also made him an outstanding slip fielder. Tom Graveney described him as "a masterly batsman with an excellent technique (who) delighted crowds throughout the world with his style and elegance". However, Cowdrey always feared that his wicket was too important to be thrown away and he was sometimes too cautious when facing certain bowlers. John Arlott noticed this and commented: "Cowdrey could sink into pits of uncertainty when the fire ceased to burn, allowing himself to be dominated by bowlers inferior to him in skill". Cowdrey himself said: "The proudest thing in my career was that I kept surviving".

Cowdrey adopted a mostly cautious approach to captaincy but always listened to his players. He would usually set a field as recommended by the bowler and then stick to it, rather than making frequent changes. His greatest asset was man-management as he genuinely cared about his players. For example, he always thanked each bowler at the end of a spell and each batsman at the end of an innings. Tom Graveney said Cowdrey was the best captain he played under.

Personal life and post-retirement

While still a player, Cowdrey was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 1972 New Year Honours for services to cricket. Following his retirement in 1976, he worked closely behind the scenes at Kent and became President of the MCC in 1986. He was Chairman of the International Cricket Council from 1989 to 1993, when referees and neutral umpires were introduced to international cricket. He served on the board at House of Whitbread Frelims and Barclays Bank International and was a member of the Council of the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust, a Member of the Council of The Cook Society (affiliate of Britain–Australia Society) Having been knighted in the 1992 New Year Honours, Cowdrey became a life peer as Baron Cowdrey of Tonbridge in the 1997 Queen's Birthday Honours List; he is one of only two cricketers to be given a life peerage for their services to the sport, the other being Learie Constantine in 1969. Cowdrey was named President of Kent County Cricket Club in 2000, the year he died.

He was married twice. His first wife was Penny Chiesman from 1956 until their divorce in 1985. They were the parents of Kent cricketers Chris and Graham Cowdrey. Cowdrey's second wife was Lady Anne Fitzalan-Howard, whom he married in 1985. Cowdrey died of a heart attack on 4 December 2000, aged 67. He is the fourth most recent sportsman to be honoured with a memorial service in Westminster Abbey, following Sir Frank Worrell, Lord Constantine and Bobby Moore. The Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) Spirit of Cricket Cowdrey Lecture was inaugurated in his memory.