Alec Bedser passes away...

[Sooda]

R.I.P England legend, quality cut and swing bowler in his day and a selector for a long time too..

[achilles]

Saw it on TV. Rest In Peace, Sir Alec Bedser

[99.94]

Apparently he got Bradman out 6 times (which is a record). Rest in Peace..

[vvvslaxman]

RIP Bedser.

[SJS50]

Sad day indeed. One of the greatest medium paced bowlers of all time. A worthy successor to the legendary Maurice Tate. Bedser was also a great student of the game and a very popular and able administrator Rest in peace

[azanian]

Never heard of him until today

[SJS50]

Never heard of him until today

Thats almost as sad as his passing away :-(

[Sachinism]

RIP [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ccw87t0hbww]YouTube- Lord Kitchener - Alec Bedser Calypso[/ame]

[Guest BossBhai]

-- Removed on request of the user --

[Mr. Wicket]

Apparently he got Bradman out 6 times (which is a record). Rest in Peace..

Shameless plugging for my own article, but a FASCINATING backstory to some of those dismissals: http://www.cricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/255576.html

[Sachinism]

Salil on cricinfo :woot:

[Sooda]

That is a great read Wicky :two_thumbs_up: Id be quite pissed off if something similar happened today with India at the end..I bet O Reilley just wanted to get his own back

[SJS50]

I am going to start writing Bedser's obituary for CW starting today. Will post the link once it is done.

[SJS50]

Shameless plugging for my own article, but a FASCINATING backstory to some of those dismissals: http://www.cricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/255576.html

Thats true, the story about O'Reilly, Bedser and Bradman but I think you should temper that with what else O'Reily says in the book about Bradman not being the batsman he was in his youth. In fact, he marvels at Bradman's ability to overcome the clear problems he was having, particularly with moving his feet and playing lateral movement both from seamers as well as some ordinary spinners (ordinary by his standards for sure). He wonders aloud what Bradman would have done to England's bowling in his pre WW 2 days and even on the three consecutive dismissals to Bedser he says, and I quote, "In all Bradman's career, and I had seen a great deal of it, I had never known him to be guilty of falling in the same trap twice. This was his third time into the leg-slip trap and there were more to follow."

[Tapioca]

Thats true, the story about O'Reilly, Bedser and Bradman but I think you should temper that with what else O'Reily says in the book about Bradman not being the batsman he was in his youth. In fact, he marvels at Bradman's ability to overcome the clear problems he was having, particularly with moving his feet and playing lateral movement both from seamers as well as some ordinary spinners (ordinary by his standards for sure). He wonders aloud what Bradman would have done to England's bowling in his pre WW 2 days and even on the three consecutive dismissals to Bedser he says, and I quote, "In all Bradman's career, and I had seen a great deal of it, I had never known him to be guilty of falling in the same trap twice. This was his third time into the leg-slip trap and there were more to follow."

I have read Bedser's own version* about this but he does not mention O'Reilly's name. Even in 1946/7, Dick Pollard had managed to keep Bradman quiet by bowling a leg stump line with two short legs. In 1948, according to this version, Norman Yardley and Bedser expanded it to come up with the trap. Bedser also believed that he could not have got a pre-war Bradman so easily. *Read it in the anthology The Joy of Cricket. IIRC, it came from Bedser's book Cricket Choice

[SJS50]

I have read Bedser's own version* about this but he does not mention O'Reilly's name. Even in 1946/7, Dick Pollard had managed to keep Bradman quiet by bowling a leg stump line with two short legs. In 1948, according to this version, Norman Yardley and Bedser expanded it to come up with the trap. Bedser also believed that he could not have got a pre-war Bradman so easily. *Read it in the anthology The Joy of Cricket. IIRC, it came from Bedser's autobiography Twin Ambitions.

Well O'Reilly in his book Cricket Conquest, does not make it sound as if it was he who gave the idea to Bedser which is how it appears from the article on cricinfo. He clearly writes that Bedser noticed the apparent weakness at Trent Bridge where Bradman was batting at the end of the day with 130. O'Reily met Bedser in England's hotel and it was Bedser who mentioned that he was convinced Bradman had a problem with the ball that swung late and that he had been lucky not to be caught by one of the two short-legs. O'Reilly says he agreed with Bedser and the two of them talked about it and then it was decided to move the forward short leg squarer and the square short-leg finer. This gave Bradman an easy opportunity to pick up a single to wide mid-on if he connected well but they were not bothered about the single and it would have been worthwhile if he did snick it eventually which is what finally happened. The exact wording of O'Reilly are. . .

Yarning with Bedser that night he told me that he thought Bradman was not too clear about the ball which he had made go across his legs several times during the day and that the Australian captain had been trifle lucky in steering it clear of his two short-leg fieldsmen during his long innings. Having seen every ball bowled during the day, I agreed whole heartedly with the observation. We discussed the placing of the short-leg fieldsmen with the idea of turning the leg trap positions into an attacking medium purely and simply. It was decided that Bedser would move his forward short-leg fieldsman round to a position just behind short square-leg and also move the short-square leg man round finer. This meant that everytime that Bradman middled the ball properly he was going to have at least a single presented to him wide of mid-on. But the saving of singles was not important if the scheme were to prove successful.

[Sir john]

end of era for english fans,

[The Outsider]

Alec Bedser always reminded me of Kapil Dev - yeah, I know it's anachronistic, but I didn't really know about Bedser before Kapil. Having to shoulder an attack almost on his own, putting in long long spells because the team did not have many strike options, and being a success despite all that. Reading about the kind of spells he put in during the early part of his career really puts into perspective the kind of fitness he must have had to achieve that, after you see the likes of Akhtar and Flintoff dropping away like flies. At one point in his career, he clocked 1000+ overs in the English county season for 4 or 5 years running. For comparison, Flintoff bowled around 5000 overs in his entire career across all formats.

[rkt.india]

Alec Bedser always reminded me of Kapil Dev - yeah' date=' I know it's anachronistic, but I didn't really know about Bedser before Kapil. Having to shoulder an attack almost on his own, putting in long long spells because the team did not have many strike options, and being a success despite all that. Reading about the kind of spells he put in during the early part of his career really puts into perspective the kind of fitness he must have had to achieve that, after you see the likes of Akhtar and Flintoff dropping away like flies. At one point in his career, he clocked 1000+ overs in the English county season for 4 or 5 years running. For comparison, Flintoff bowled around 5000 overs in his entire career across all formats.[/quote'] He was just a medium pacer who used bowl cutters and swingers and was successful on unprepared and uncovered pitches and wicket keeper used to stand up on him, read his own interview on cricinfo, while Akhtar and Flintoff are genuine pacers who put a lot of effort in their bowling so the strain on Bedser's body was lesser in comparison...

[SJS50]

He was just a medium pacer who used bowl cutters and swingers and was successful on unprepared and uncovered pitches and wicket keeper used to stand up on him' date=' read his own interview on cricinfo, while Akhtar and Flintoff are genuine pacers who put a lot of effort in their bowling so the strain on Bedser's body was lesser in comparison...[/quote'] Interesting