Trevor Bailey
Encyclopedia
Trevor Edward Bailey CBE (3 December 1923 – 10 February 2011) was an England Test
Test cricket
Test cricket is the longest form of the sport of cricket. Test matches are played between national representative teams with "Test status", as determined by the International Cricket Council , with four innings played between two teams of 11 players over a period of up to a maximum five days...

 cricket
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...

er, cricket writer and broadcaster.

An all-rounder
All-rounder
An all-rounder is a cricketer who regularly performs well at both batting and bowling. Although all bowlers must bat and quite a few batsmen do bowl occasionally, most players are skilled in only one of the two disciplines and are considered specialists...

, Bailey was known for his skilful but unspectacular batting. As the BBC reflected in his obituary: "His stubborn refusal to be out normally brought more pleasure to the team than to the spectators." This defensive style of play brought him the first of his nicknames, "Barnacle Bailey", but he was a good enough cricketer that he has retrospectively been calculated to have been the leading all-rounder in the world for most of his international career.

In later life, Bailey wrote a number of books and commentated on the game. He was particularly known for the 26 years he spent working for the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

 on the Test Match Special
Test Match Special
Test Match Special is a British radio programme covering professional cricket, broadcast on BBC Radio 4 , Five Live Sports Extra and the internet to the United Kingdom and the rest of the world...

 radio programme.

Early life

Bailey was born in Westcliff-on-Sea
Westcliff-on-Sea
Westcliff-on-Sea is a suburb of Southend-on-Sea, a seaside resort in the East of England and unitary authority in Essex. It is situated on the northern bank of the Thames Estuary and about 34 miles east of London.-Geography:...

, Essex
Essex
Essex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England, and one of the home counties. It is located to the northeast of Greater London. It borders with Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent to the South and London to the south west...

. His father was a civil servant in the Admiralty
Admiralty
The Admiralty was formerly the authority in the Kingdom of England, and later in the United Kingdom, responsible for the command of the Royal Navy...

. Bailey grew up in modest affluence: "The family lived in [a] semi-detached house at Leigh-on-Sea, complete with a live-in maid on 12 shillings a week; they did not, however, own a car." He first learned to play cricket on the beach.

He won sporting scholarships to attend Alleyn Court Prep School
Alleyn Court Prep School
Alleyn Court Prep School is a preparatory school in Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex. It was started in 1904 by the Wilcox family.The school has a very good reputation in all areas and for many years boys could be seen in their famous bright pink caps and ties....

, where he learned cricket from former Essex
Essex County Cricket Club
Essex County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh national cricket structure, representing the historic county of Essex. Its limited overs team is called the Essex Eagles, their team colours this season are blue.The club plays most of its home games...

 captain Denys Wilcox, and then Dulwich College
Dulwich College
Dulwich College is an independent school for boys in Dulwich, southeast London, England. The college was founded in 1619 by Edward Alleyn, a successful Elizabethan actor, with the original purpose of educating 12 poor scholars as the foundation of "God's Gift". It currently has about 1,600 boys,...

. In his first year, aged just 14, he was selected for Dulwich's First XI cricket team. He came top of the school's batting
Batting average
Batting average is a statistic in both cricket and baseball that measures the performance of cricket batsmen and baseball hitters. The two statistics are related in that baseball averages are directly descended from the concept of cricket averages.- Cricket :...

 and bowling average
Bowling average
Bowling average is a statistic measuring the performance of bowlers in the sport of cricket.A bowler's bowling average is defined as the total number of runs conceded by the bowlers divided by the number of wickets taken by the bowler, so the lower the average the better. It is similar to earned...

s in 1939 and 1940, became captain in 1941, and was top of the averages again in his last year at Dulwich, 1942.

He was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant
Second Lieutenant
Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces.- United Kingdom and Commonwealth :The rank second lieutenant was introduced throughout the British Army in 1871 to replace the rank of ensign , although it had long been used in the Royal Artillery, Royal...

 in the Royal Marines
Royal Marines
The Corps of Her Majesty's Royal Marines, commonly just referred to as the Royal Marines , are the marine corps and amphibious infantry of the United Kingdom and, along with the Royal Navy and Royal Fleet Auxiliary, form the Naval Service...

 after leaving school; he was "not enamoured of war, and won some reputation as defending counsel in court martials". Though World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 was still in progress, he received an early discharge in January 1945 to return to Alleyn Court Prep School as a schoolmaster. He subsequently attended St John's College, Cambridge
St John's College, Cambridge
St John's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college's alumni include nine Nobel Prize winners, six Prime Ministers, three archbishops, at least two princes, and three Saints....

 for two years, reading English and History and graduating in 1948. He won Blues for both cricket and football both years, 1947 and 1948. The Cambridge football team included Doug Insole
Doug Insole
Doug Insole CBE is a former English cricketer, who played for Cambridge University, Essex and in nine Test matches for England, five of them on the 1956-57 tour of South Africa, where he was vice-captain to Peter May...

, whom Bailey would later succeed as captain of Essex County Cricket Club.

Cricket

Bailey made his first-class
First-class cricket
First-class cricket is a class of cricket that consists of matches of three or more days' scheduled duration, that are between two sides of eleven players and are officially adjudged first-class by virtue of the standard of the competing teams...

 cricket debut in September 1945, aged 22, for the "Under 33s" scratch team
Scratch team
A scratch team is a team, usually in sport, brought together on a temporary basis, composed of players who normally play for different sides. A game played between two scratch teams may be called a scratch match....

, in a match at Lord's cricket ground
Lord's Cricket Ground
Lord's Cricket Ground is a cricket venue in St John's Wood, London. Named after its founder, Thomas Lord, it is owned by Marylebone Cricket Club and is the home of Middlesex County Cricket Club, the England and Wales Cricket Board , the European Cricket Council and, until August 2005, the...

, against an "Over 33s" team, and made his debut playing county cricket
County cricket
County cricket is the highest level of domestic cricket in England and Wales. For the 2010 season, see 2010 English cricket season.-First-class counties:...

 for Essex in May 1946. He quickly became a lynchpin of the Essex team, and made his Test debut for England against New Zealand
New Zealand cricket team
The New Zealand cricket team, nicknamed the Black Caps, are the national cricket team representing New Zealand. They played their first in 1930 against England in Christchurch, New Zealand, becoming the fifth country to play Test cricket. It took the team until 1955–56 to win a Test, against the...

 at Headingley
Headingley
Headingley is a suburb of Leeds in West Yorkshire, England. It is approximately two miles out of the city centre, to the north west along the A660 road...

 in June 1949
New Zealand cricket team in England in 1949
The New Zealand cricket team toured England in the 1949 season. The team was the fourth official touring side from New Zealand, following those in 1927, 1931 and 1937, and was by some distance the most successful to this date...

, taking 6 wickets for 118 runs in his first match.

A right-arm fast-medium bowler, dependable right-handed batsman and strong fielder
Fielding (cricket)
Fielding in the sport of cricket is the action of fielders in collecting the ball after it is struck by the batsman, in such a way as to either limit the number of runs that the batsman scores or get the batsman out by catching the ball in flight or running the batsman out.Cricket fielding position...

, often in the slips
Slip (cricket)
In the sport of cricket, a slip fielder is placed behind the batsman on the off side of the field. They are placed with the aim of catching an edged ball which is beyond the wicket-keeper's reach. Many teams employ two or three slips...

 or at leg gully, Bailey played 61 Tests for England between 1949 and 1959. His swing bowling
Swing bowling
Swing bowling is a technique used for bowling in the sport of cricket. Practitioners are known as swing bowlers. Swing bowling is generally classed as a subtype of fast bowling.-Physics of swing bowling:...

 provided an effective foil for the fast bowling of Alec Bedser
Alec Bedser
Sir Alec Victor Bedser, CBE was a professional English cricketer. He was the chairman of selectors for the English national cricket team, and the president of Surrey County Cricket Club...

, and later Fred Trueman
Fred Trueman
Frederick Sewards Trueman OBE was an English cricketer, generally acknowledged as one of the greatest fast bowlers in history. A bowler of genuinely fast pace who was widely known as Fiery Fred, Trueman played first-class cricket for Yorkshire County Cricket Club from 1949 until he retired in 1968...

, Brian Statham
Brian Statham
John Brian "George" Statham, CBE was one of the leading English fast bowlers in 20th-century English cricket. Initially a bowler of a brisk fast-medium pace, Statham was able to remodel his action to generate enough speed to become genuinely fast...

 and Frank Tyson
Frank Tyson
Frank Holmes Tyson is an England cricketer of the 1950s who became a journalist and cricket commentator after he emigrated to Australia in 1960. Nicknamed "Typhoon Tyson" by the press he was regarded by many commentators as one of the fastest bowlers ever seen in cricket and took 76 wickets in...

. He is described as having had "a model high, sideways-on action which encouraged outswing. At his best he could touch greatness..." He took 132 wickets at the bowling average
Bowling average
Bowling average is a statistic measuring the performance of bowlers in the sport of cricket.A bowler's bowling average is defined as the total number of runs conceded by the bowlers divided by the number of wickets taken by the bowler, so the lower the average the better. It is similar to earned...

 of 29, scored a century (134 not out) in attaining a useful batting average
Batting average
Batting average is a statistic in both cricket and baseball that measures the performance of cricket batsmen and baseball hitters. The two statistics are related in that baseball averages are directly descended from the concept of cricket averages.- Cricket :...

 of nearly 30, and took 32 catches.

He is best remembered for his obdurate defensive batting, especially in matches against Australia. England were facing defeat by the Australians at Lord's in the Second Test in 1953
Australian cricket team in England in 1953
The Australian cricket team toured England in the 1953 season to play a five-match Test series against England for The Ashes.England won the final Test to take the series 1-0 after the first four Tests were all drawn. England therefore recovered the Ashes for the first time since losing them in...

. Bailey shared a defensive fifth wicket stand with Willie Watson
Willie Watson (England cricketer)
William "Willie" Watson, was an English cricketer, who played for Yorkshire, Leicestershire and England. He was a double international, as Watson was also a footballer who played for England's national team.-Cricket career:...

, defying the bowlers for over four hours to earn a draw, taking 257 minutes to score 71 runs. In the fourth Test of that series, at Headingley
Headingley Stadium
Headingley Stadium is a sporting complex in the Leeds suburb of Headingley in West Yorkshire, England. It is the home of Yorkshire County Cricket Club, rugby league team Leeds Rhinos and rugby union team Leeds Carnegie ....

, Bailey again played an important part in ensuring that England avoided going 1-0 down, which would have ended their hopes of regaining the Ashes
The Ashes
The Ashes is a Test cricket series played between England and Australia. It is one of the most celebrated rivalries in international cricket and dates back to 1882. It is currently played biennially, alternately in the United Kingdom and Australia. Cricket being a summer sport, and the venues...

. When the last day began England were 177-5 in their second innings, only 78 runs ahead. Bailey scored 38 in 262 minutes, and Australia eventually had to score 177 in only 115 minutes. They reached a point where they needed only another 66 in 45 minutes with seven wickets left. But Bailey went back to his long run and slowed the over rate, as well as bowling negatively wide of the leg stump, and Australia fell 30 runs short and the game was drawn. England went on to win the fifth and final Test and so regained The Ashes
The Ashes
The Ashes is a Test cricket series played between England and Australia. It is one of the most celebrated rivalries in international cricket and dates back to 1882. It is currently played biennially, alternately in the United Kingdom and Australia. Cricket being a summer sport, and the venues...

.

His best Test bowling figures of 7/34, bowling outswing on a flat pitch, enabled England to bowl out the West Indies for 139 in the first innings of the fifth Test at Kingston, Jamaica
Kingston, Jamaica
Kingston is the capital and largest city of Jamaica, located on the southeastern coast of the island. It faces a natural harbour protected by the Palisadoes, a long sand spit which connects the town of Port Royal and the Norman Manley International Airport to the rest of the island...

, in 1953–54, on a pitch on which the groundsman expected the home side to score 700. This enabled England to win the match and to share the series 2-2. He was vice-captain on that tour, and may be considered unlucky never to have been appointed captain of England. According to Alan Gibson
Alan Gibson
Norman Alan Stanley Gibson was an English journalist, writer and radio broadcaster, best known for his work in connection with cricket, though he also sometimes covered football and rugby union...

: "It is astonishing that so good a cricketer, so thoughtful a judge, and so friendly a man, should have been passed over." However, he adds: "He is, or was in his earlier days, a man of contradictions, who sometimes enjoyed being irritating, to his captain, to his colleagues, to the public, but most of all to his opponents."

He played his final Tests in the Ashes
The Ashes
The Ashes is a Test cricket series played between England and Australia. It is one of the most celebrated rivalries in international cricket and dates back to 1882. It is currently played biennially, alternately in the United Kingdom and Australia. Cricket being a summer sport, and the venues...

 tour to Australia in 1958–59. He had a bad tour, during which he scored the slowest half-century in first-class cricket, reaching 50 just 3 minutes short of 6 hours at the crease, in England's second innings during the 1st Test at Brisbane. The slow innings was punctuated by a six hit off Ian Johnson
Ian Johnson (cricketer)
Ian William Geddes Johnson CBE was an Australian cricketer who played 45 Test matches as a slow off-break bowler between 1946 and 1956. Johnson captured 109 Test wickets at an average of 29.19 runs per wicket and as a lower order batsman made 1,000 runs at an average of...

 - only the second six that Bailey hit in his Test career - reputedly to win $
Australian dollar
The Australian dollar is the currency of the Commonwealth of Australia, including Christmas Island, Cocos Islands, and Norfolk Island, as well as the independent Pacific Island states of Kiribati, Nauru and Tuvalu...

100 put up by a local businessman. This was the first Test match to be broadcast on television in Australia. He bagged a pair in his final Test, the last of the tour at Melbourne, He was never selected for England's Test side again, but continued to play first-class cricket for Essex for another 8 years, and in the 1959 became the only player since the Second World War to score more than 2,000 runs and take 100 wickets in a single domestic season.

His first-class cricket
First-class cricket
First-class cricket is a class of cricket that consists of matches of three or more days' scheduled duration, that are between two sides of eleven players and are officially adjudged first-class by virtue of the standard of the competing teams...

 career began just after World War II in 1946 and lasted 21 years as he played 682 matches, taking 2,082 wickets at a bowling average of 23.13, which puts him 25th on the all-time list of wicket-takers. Bailey achieved the rare feat of taking all 10 wickets in an innings, for 90 runs, against Lancashire
Lancashire County Cricket Club
Lancashire County Cricket Club represents the historic county of Lancashire in cricket's County Championship. The club was founded in 1864 as a successor to Manchester Cricket Club and has played at Old Trafford since then...

 at Clacton in 1949. His 28,641 runs in first-class cricket
First-class cricket
First-class cricket is a class of cricket that consists of matches of three or more days' scheduled duration, that are between two sides of eleven players and are officially adjudged first-class by virtue of the standard of the competing teams...

 put him 67th on the all-time list of run-getters. He captained the county from 1961 to 1966. He was also the county's secretary (i.e. the chief administrative officer) from 1964 to 1969, having previously had a spell as assistant secretary. He arranged for Warwickshire
Warwickshire County Cricket Club
Warwickshire County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Warwickshire. Its limited overs team is called the Warwickshire Bears. Their kit colours are black and gold and the shirt sponsor...

 to make an interest-free loan to Essex in 1965 which allowed Essex to buy its Chelmsford ground
County Cricket Ground, Chelmsford
The County Cricket Ground, is a cricket venue in Chelmsford, Essex, England. It is home to Essex County Cricket Club.Chelmsford is a small ground, and therefore suits big-hitting batsmen. Essex stalwart Graham Gooch scored many of his runs here and Graham Napier scored 152 of 58 balls in a...

. This enabled him to receive a salary whilst at the same time technically remaining an amateur
History of English amateur cricket
The history of English amateur cricket describes the concept and importance of amateur players in English cricket.-Co-development of amateur and professional cricket to 1800:...

 cricketer, although he was better paid than the club's professionals. However, Keith Fletcher
Keith Fletcher
Keith Fletcher is a former English cricketer, who played for Essex and England. He later became England's team manager. His nickname was "The Gnome of Essex", so christened by his Essex team-mate, Ray East, because Fletcher's winklepickers had begun to curl up at the toes due to wear...

, a playing colleague at Essex, did not begrudge him his salary, saying: "...he was a better cricketer than the pros and someone instrumental in taking Essex County Cricket Club into the modern era. He was cricket and Essex, through and through.". He supplemented his income by undertaking advertising work while playing for Essex, modelling for Brylcreem
Brylcreem
Brylcreem is a brand of hair styling products for men. The first Brylcreem product was a pomade created in 1928 by County Chemicals at the Chemico Works in Bradford Street, Birmingham, England. The pomade is an emulsion of water and mineral oil stabilised with beeswax.Beecham was the longtime...

, Shredded Wheat
Shredded Wheat
Shredded wheat is a breakfast cereal made from whole wheat. As of January 2010, it was available in three sizes: bite sized , miniature , and full size, which may be broken into small pieces before milk is added .Both sizes are available in a...

 and Lucozade
Lucozade
Lucozade is an umbrella name for a 6 series of energy and sports drinks, produced by GlaxoSmithKline in Gloucestershire. The former company became part of Beecham and, after the mergers of SmithKline and Beecham in 2000, GlaxoSmithKline....

.

Football

He played football for Cambridge University (appearing in the University Match against Oxford), Southend United
Southend United F.C.
Southend United Football Club is an English football club based at Roots Hall Stadium, Prittlewell, Southend-on-Sea, Essex, who play in Football League Two. Their home ground is Roots Hall, and the club plan to move into a new 22,000-seater stadium located at Fossetts Farm.-Stadium:The club has had...

 reserves, Leytonstone
Leytonstone F.C.
Leytonstone F.C. was an English football club based in Leytonstone, Greater London. Founded in 1886, the club ceased to exist in 1979 when it merged with Ilford to form Leytonstone-Ilford, which later became Redbridge Forest after also absorbing Walthamstow Avenue...

 and Walthamstow Avenue
Walthamstow Avenue F.C.
Walthamstow Avenue Football Club was an English football club based in Walthamstow in London. They played in dark and light blue hooped shirts, and light blue shorts.-History:...

. At various times he played at centre-half, inside-right and on the wing. He was a member of the Walthamstow Avenue side which won the FA Amateur Cup
FA Amateur Cup
The FA Amateur Cup was an English football competition for amateur clubs. It commenced in 1893 and ended in 1974 when The Football Association abolished official amateur status.-History:...

 in 1951-2, winning the final before a Wembley crowd of 100,000. The following season, he played in the side which reached the fourth round of the FA Cup
FA Cup
The Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the FA Cup, is a knockout cup competition in English football and is the oldest association football competition in the world. The "FA Cup" is run by and named after The Football Association and usually refers to the English men's...

. Drawn against Manchester United
Manchester United F.C.
Manchester United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, that plays in the Premier League. Founded as Newton Heath LYR Football Club in 1878, the club changed its name to Manchester United in 1902 and moved to Old Trafford in 1910.The 1958...

 at Old Trafford, they drew 1-1, a fine achievement for an amateur side. The replay took place at Highbury, and Manchester United won 5-2. He later became a director of Southend United F.C.
Southend United F.C.
Southend United Football Club is an English football club based at Roots Hall Stadium, Prittlewell, Southend-on-Sea, Essex, who play in Football League Two. Their home ground is Roots Hall, and the club plan to move into a new 22,000-seater stadium located at Fossetts Farm.-Stadium:The club has had...

.

Writer and broadcaster

After retiring from cricket in 1967, Bailey continued to play for Westcliff-on-Sea Cricket Club for many years and also became a cricket journalist and broadcaster. He was the cricket and football correspondent of the Financial Times
Financial Times
The Financial Times is an international business newspaper. It is a morning daily newspaper published in London and printed in 24 cities around the world. Its primary rival is the Wall Street Journal, published in New York City....

for 23 years. He was a regular on the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

's Test Match Special
Test Match Special
Test Match Special is a British radio programme covering professional cricket, broadcast on BBC Radio 4 , Five Live Sports Extra and the internet to the United Kingdom and the rest of the world...

 from 1974 to 1999, where fellow commentator Brian Johnston
Brian Johnston
Brian Alexander Johnston CBE, MC was a cricket commentator and presenter for the BBC from 1946 until his death.-Early life and education:...

 nicknamed him The Boil, based on the supposed Australian barrackers' pronunciation of his name as "Boiley". (The Daily Telegraph gives an alternative source for this nickname from the pronunciation of his surname by the East End supporters of the Walthamstow Avenue football team.) During his retirement he would watch Westcliff-on-Sea Cricket club play at their Chalkwell Park
Chalkwell Park
Chalkwell Park is a cricket ground in Westcliff, England. The ground was first used by the Essex 1st XI in 1934 for County Championship matches and in 1970 for List A matches...

 Ground where he had played many times for school, club, and county.

He was appointed CBE
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...

 in 1994, for services to cricket.

Legacy

He remains the only player since the Second World War to score more than 2,000 runs in a season and take 100 wickets, a feat he achieved in 1959, and he achieved the all-rounders' double of 1000 runs
Run (cricket)
In the sport of cricket, a run is the basic unit of scoring. Runs are scored by a batsman, and the aggregate of the scores of a team's batsmen constitutes the team's score. A batsman scoring 50 or 100 runs , or any higher multiple of 50 runs, is considered a particular achievement...

 and 100 wickets in a season eight times, a post-World War II record he shares with Fred Titmus
Fred Titmus
Frederick John Titmus MBE was an English cricketer, whose first-class career spanned five decades. Although he was best known for his off spin , he was an accomplished lower-order batsman who deserved to be called an all-rounder, even opening the batting for England on six occasions...

. He was selected as one of the five Wisden Cricketers of the Year
Wisden Cricketers of the Year
The Wisden Cricketers of the Year are cricketers selected for the honour by the annual publication Wisden Cricketers' Almanack, based primarily on their "influence on the previous English season"...

 in 1950. He is also one of three players (the others are Fred Titmus
Fred Titmus
Frederick John Titmus MBE was an English cricketer, whose first-class career spanned five decades. Although he was best known for his off spin , he was an accomplished lower-order batsman who deserved to be called an all-rounder, even opening the batting for England on six occasions...

 and Ray Illingworth
Ray Illingworth
Raymond Illingworth, CBE is a former English cricketer, cricket commentator and cricket administrator. He was one of only nine players to have taken 2,000 wickets and made 20,000 runs in First class cricket, and the last one to do so...

) to have scored 20,000 first-class runs and taken 2,000 wickets since the Second World War. According to the retrospectively-calculated ICC cricket ratings, for most of his career, Bailey was the best all-rounder in the world. In the individual disciplines, his bowling saw him achieve the higher ranking, as high as eighth in the summer of 1957.

Doug Insole
Doug Insole
Doug Insole CBE is a former English cricketer, who played for Cambridge University, Essex and in nine Test matches for England, five of them on the 1956-57 tour of South Africa, where he was vice-captain to Peter May...

, his one-time captain at Essex, described him thus: "Trevor was quite a stroppy lad in his early cricketing years, and a bit of a rebel. He was a very intense character – we used to tease him about that in the dressing room, and he did mellow over the years."

Simon Briggs wrote: "There was little comfy or cosy about his cricket career. Rather, he fitted into a long tradition of hard-nosed English pragmatists - a lineage that runs from WG Grace, through Jardine
Douglas Jardine
Douglas Robert Jardine was an English cricketer and captain of the England cricket team from 1931 to 1933–34.When describing cricket seasons, the convention used is that a single year represents an English cricket season, while two years represent a southern hemisphere cricket season because it...

 and up to Nasser Hussain
Nasser Hussain
Nasser Hussain OBE is a former Essex and England cricketer.Beginning his career in a strong Essex side in the late 1980s, he was an outstanding fielder and a stylish but inconsistent batsman. In first-class cricket from 1987 to 2004 Hussain scored 20,698 runs in 334 matches at an average of 42.06,...

... To Bailey and company, the best way to honour the gods of cricket was to commit your heart and soul to the fight. For them, a Test match was a contest between two groups of warriors. Its entertainment value was almost irrelevant."

He was renowned for his slow scoring in Tests against Australia, Neville Cardus
Neville Cardus
Sir John Frederick Neville Cardus CBE was an English writer and critic, best known for his writing on music and cricket. For many years, he wrote for The Manchester Guardian. He was untrained in music, and his style of criticism was subjective, romantic and personal, in contrast with his critical...

 writing of one innings in his book Cricket of Vintage: "Before he gathered together 20 runs, a newly-married couple could have left Heathrow and arrived in Lisbon
Lisbon
Lisbon is the capital city and largest city of Portugal with a population of 545,245 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Lisbon extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of 3 million on an area of , making it the 9th most populous urban...

, there to enjoy a honeymoon. By the time Bailey had congealed 50, this happily wedded pair could easily have settled down in a semi-detached house in Surbiton
Surbiton
Surbiton, a suburban area of London in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, is situated next to the River Thames, with a mixture of Art-Deco courts, more recent residential blocks and grand, spacious 19th century townhouses blending into a sea of semi-detached 20th century housing estates...

; and by the time his innings had gone to its close they conceivably might have been divorced." He was nicknamed "Barnacle" for his implacable defensive batting.

In Cardus's piece on him in Close of Play, first published in 1956, he was more complimentary: "Some cricketers are born to greatness. Bailey achieved it... He conquers by tremendous effort... Yet Bailey... loves to attack any bowler... He has made catches bordering on the marvellous... It is no small thing to be a Trevor Bailey in a world of anonymous mediocrity."

Bailey died in a fire in his retirement flat in Westcliff-on-Sea
Westcliff-on-Sea
Westcliff-on-Sea is a suburb of Southend-on-Sea, a seaside resort in the East of England and unitary authority in Essex. It is situated on the northern bank of the Thames Estuary and about 34 miles east of London.-Geography:...

 on 10 February 2011. His wife, Greta, survived. They had two sons and one daughter.

The chairman of the England and Wales Cricket Board
England and Wales Cricket Board
The England and Wales Cricket Board is the governing body of cricket in England and Wales. It was created on 1 January 1997 combining the roles of the Test and County Cricket Board, the National Cricket Association and the Cricket Council...

, Giles Clarke
Giles Clarke
Charles Giles Clarke , is an English businessman and cricket administrator, chairman of the England and Wales Cricket Board.-Biography:Born in Bristol, Clarke was educated at Rugby School...

, described him as "one of the finest all-rounders this country has ever produced", while Jonathan Agnew
Jonathan Agnew
Jonathan Philip Agnew is an English cricket broadcaster and former professional cricketer. He was born in Macclesfield, Cheshire and educated at Uppingham School. He is nicknamed "Aggers", and, less commonly, "Spiro"....

, who worked with Bailey on Test Match Special, wrote of him: "dogged batsman, aggressive bowler. Intelligent cricketer. Wonderfully concise pundit. Great sense of humour."

External links

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