The Kent county cricket side of 1960 could be said to rely fairly heavily on two Test cricketers, Colin Cowdrey the captain and Peter Richardson, who had joined from Worcestershire. The remainder of the side, apart from the leading bowlers Fred Ridgway and David Halfyard, were not really household names and it would be some years before the likes of Underwood and Knott appeared and helped turn them into a championship winning side in 1970.
On the left of the back row is Peter Richardson, a left handed opening batsman who had a long career with Worcestershire from 1949 to 1958, where he formed an excellent opening partnership with Don Kenyon. He had already appeared for England before the move and scored a century in the famous 1956 Ashes Test at Old Trafford where Jim Laker took 19 wickets. He went on to play 34 Tests for England including five centuries. He played for Kent from 1959 to 1965.
Next to him is a relative unknown, Bob Wilkinson, who made only 23 appearances for Kent between 1959 and 1963. A right hand bat and medium pace bowler he was a regular in the 2nd XI, but did make a couple of fifties at first team level. He was a Londoner and his great uncle was Bobby Abel, the famous Surrey batsman.
Then we have Peter Jones, who was a left hand bat and slow left arm bowler who played for Kent from 1953 to 1967. He made his first team debut at the age of 18 against Yorkshire, but did not gain a regular place until seven years later in 1960. His best season was 1961 when he scored 1262 runs and took 77 wickets.
Colin Page was an off break bowler who played 200 matches between 1950 and 1963. He took 500 wickets before becoming Coach and then Manager of the club. Next to him on the back row is the larger than life figure of David Halfyard. His story could fill a book, never mind a brief mention in a blog. His career started with Surrey 2nd XI in 1954-55, but at that time there were few vacancies for bowlers in the all conquering first team.
Halfyard joined Kent in 1956 and became the mainstay of their bowling attack, taking a hundred wickets every season from 1958 to 1961. In 1962 he had already reached 98 wickets before being involved in a horrendous road accident which left him with a broken leg and other injuries which looked to have ended his cricketing career. However he did not give up and played league cricket for Greenock in Scotland for two years in 1966 and 1967 and at the same time qualified as a first class umpire.
While umpiring a game at Trent Bridge he had a go at bowling in the nets where he was noticed by the Notts committee and eventually signed on for a further three seasons of first class cricket. Finally in the 1970s he began playing Minor Counties cricket for Durham, Northumberland and finally Cornwall where he stayed from 1974-82. He then carried on playing league cricket and umpiring for the rest of his remarkable life.
Alan Dixon was an off break bowler and useful batsman who first played at the age of 16 in 1950. He went on to play until the championship season of 1970. He scored over 9,000 runs, including three centuries and took 935 wickets before becoming cricket coach at Tonbridge School.
Tony Catt was a wicket keeper who played with Kent from 1954 to 1964. Initially he deputised for Godfrey Evans when away on Test duties, along with Charlton footballer Derek Ufton. Evans retired in 1959 and Catt made more regular appearances until the arrival of Alan Knott in 1964 prompted his retirement.
First left on the front row is yet another Charlton footballer, Stuart Leary, a South African who scored lots of goals in First Division football and plenty of runs for Kent between 1951 and 1977. He scored 16,500 runs, including 18 centuries and took 146 wickets with his occasional leg breaks.
Fred Ridgway was Kent's best bowler in the immediate post war years and although not very tall he built a reputation as a hard working and consistent opening bowler which brought him five England caps on the tour of India in 1951-52. He suffered quite a lot with injuries and 1961 was his final season, with a total of over 1,000 wickets.
Colin Cowdrey was a legendary batsman for Oxford University, Kent and England for many years. He captained the county from 1957-1972, but of course missed many games due to his regular appearances for England, which totalled 114 in all, including a record six tours of Australia.
Leslie Ames, the team manager, also had a record breaking career as a batsman wicket keeper with Kent and England. He is the only wicket keeper to make a hundred centuries and was well known for his partnership with spinner Titch Freeman. So many batsmen were out stumped Ames bowled Freeman. In fact his 64 stumpings in the 1934 season will no doubt remain an all time record.
Arthur Phebey was a long serving opening batsman who played from 1946-1964. He played 327 games and scored thirteen centuries. Finally Bob Wilson was a left hand middle order batsman who played from 1952 to 1967. He was very consistent scoring over a thousand runs in thirteen consecutive seasons. His best year was 1964 when he made over 2,000 runs.
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