Should Cowdrey be Captain part 2

posted by John Winn

In January 1962 The Reverend David Shepherd was visited by that most acerbic of cricket wriers EM Wellings of the Evening News. The purpose of Wellings' visit was to urge Shepherd to go to Australia the following winter as captain of England. Word spread of Wellings' initiative and Shepherd came under pressure to make himself available and in May he announced that he would play for Sussex that summer and be available for the Australian tour. Thus a third candidate joined the mix of those wishing to captain their country, Dexter, Cowdrey and Shepherd and there were those that suggested that the last of these should captain the side against Pakistan side for the last two tests. That there were those who wanted a man who had not played first class cricket for two years and had last appeared in an England sweater five years ago  to be given a shot at the captaincy underlines that in such people's eyes neither Dexter nor Cowdrey were up to the job.

The crunch came in July when Cowdrey was forced to withdraw from captaining The Gentlemen at Lord's and Dexter took over with Shepherd in his side. If batting form was the chief indicator then Shepherd stole the show with a century on the first day, an innings good  enough to convince the popular press that he would be in charge in Australia. Dexter hit 55 and next day it was announced that he had accepted the invitation to be captain. The hare that Wellings had set running had come to rest.

There followed a relatively stable period with Dexter leading the England XI until 1964 when he announced that he would not be available to tour South Africa as Lord Ted fancied a seat in The House of Commons and he stood as the Conservative candidate in Cardiff South East where the Labour Candidate was Jim Callaghan. Over 22000 voted for Dexter but this was almost 8000 fewer than put their X against the future PM's name. He now joined the tour but as vice-captain to MJK Smith. For the second time in three years Cowdrey opted out of an overseas tour and that you might have thought would be the end of his opportunities to skipper England.

Not a bit of it for although MJK was reasonably successful in three overseas tours he was dumped after a heavy defeat at Old Trafford in 1966 by West Indies and almost as night follows day replaced by Cowdrey. Three tests later, one draw two defeats, and he too was sacked and lost his place in the side. Replaced by Brian Close and after another winter's rest, England were without a tour, Cowdrey forced his way back in to the national side for the second and third tests against Pakistan who followed India in a two series summer. When Close fell foul of MCC following allegations of time wasting in a championship match the selectors preference was to recall Mike Smith but that came to nothing and for the fourth time they turned to Cowdrey. His appointment was not universally acclaimed, especially in the north but he came through a difficult tour well both as captain and batsman. 

Australia were the visitors in 1968 and older readers may remember how the series was squared when at The Oval Cowdrey organised a mopping up operation after heavy rain and Underwood bowled England to victory. 9see picture below)

In May 1969  it was confirmed that Cowdrey would be captain of England for that summer's two series against West Indies and New Zealand but on the day of the announcement he snapped an Achilles tendon playing for Kent in a televised match. This time he was replaced by Leicestershire skipper Ray Illingworth who confounded expectations by scoring runs consistently and confirmed what everybody in Yorkshire knew, that he was a shrewd tactician. Cowdrey returned from his injury but was only vice captain when the Ashes were recovered in 70-71 by Illingworth's team. And that was it, 27 tests as captain spread over ten years and only four defeats. It is perhaps this last statistic which, while surprising in its way, highlights one of the most consistent criticisms of Colin Cowdrey's captaincy, namely that he was too defensive. Even when presented with a golden opportunity by Gary Sobers who in 1969 at Bridgetown set England 215 to win in a little over three words it took strong words from Graveney and Barrington before Cowdrey was convinced they should go for victory. 

Throughout Peel's autobiography there are constant references to Cowdrey's good manners and concern for those in his charge but balancing this it is clear that he did not like the nasty side. When players had to be told that they had been dropped they sometimes had to refer to the scorecard to discover the news. Championship cricket also showed his defensive side, when it came to declarations he was no Ingleby Mackenzie.  He did however do much to revive Kent's fortunes and it was under his captaincy that they won the championship in 1970 for the first time since 1913. 

 

The umpire raises his finger to confirm the dismissal of John Inverarity at The Oval in 1968 and skipper Cowdrey at first slip raises his arms in triumph. Just six minutes remained. That evening the selectors met to pick the side to tour South Africa that forthcoming winter. They did not pick Basil D'Oliveira and the rest is history.