They say it’s not how you start, it’s how you finish. But cricket-lovers always relish a remarkable debut.
Frank Tyson – Lancashire-born – joined Northamptonshire in 1952 thanks to the nous of the County’s Australian batsman Jock Livingston, dubbed ‘Lord Kitchener’ for his recruiting abilities. He batted against the 21-year-old in a Sunday afternoon match in Staffordshire and liked what he saw.
Tyson had raw pace, and Northamptonshire skipper Freddie Brown – recently captain of England too – was excited at the prospect of finally having something to throw back at the Australians. Ray Lindwall and Keith Miller had battered the Englishmen into submission in post-war Ashes Tests with no fear of retribution.
Tyson was picked for Northamptonshire against the Indian tourists in July 1952. In his first over the County’s slip fielders were obliged to retreat five yards – and with his sixth ball he had Pankaj Roy caught behind by Brian Reynolds, keeping wicket on this occasion.
Judging by the number of people who’ve claimed ever since that ‘they were there’ that day – the attendance at Northampton must have been numbered in the hundreds-of-thousands….
Tyson wouldn’t be eligible for the County Championship until 1954 under the qualification rules of the time – but Lindsay Hassett’s 1953 Australians also came up against Tyson on their visit to Wantage Road. Latecomers to the ground saw the scoreboard reading 10-3 and presumably thought Northamptonshire must be batting.
Not so. With his second ball Tyson trapped Aussie opener Colin McDonald lbw – and the batsman had to limp back to the pavilion, such was the force of the blow to his knee. Then Graeme Hole lost his middle stump with his bat still in the air.
‘Typhoon’ Tyson went to Australia with Len Hutton’s team in the 1954-55 English winter – and his 25 wickets in three Tests saw the Ashes retained. The men from Down Under couldn’t claim they hadn’t been warned…
His fearsome fast bowling brought Tyson international fame – and even a guest appearance in ‘Hancock’s Half Hour’ with Tony Hancock on BBC radio.
Just as Tyson was finishing his career with Northamptonshire, a big lad from the north-east arrived at Wantage Road – signed by canny secretary Ken Turner, who offered him ten bob a week more than Warwickshire had.
His name was Colin Milburn, and he remains the favourite cricketer of many County supporters who watched the team in the 1960s.
‘Ollie’ (after the rotund half of Laurel and Hardy) hit the ball very hard indeed, and after impressing for Northamptonshire he was picked to play for England in 1966 against the might of the West Indies – captained by Gary Sobers with the likes of Wes Hall, Charlie Griffith, Rohan Kanhai, Basil Butcher and Lance Gibbs also in the team.
On his Test debut, at Old Trafford, he was run out for a duck. Some reckoned he was the wrong shape for an international athlete.
But he proved them wrong in the second innings, whacking the Windies’ attack around Manchester to score 94 off 136 balls with two sixes and 12 fours. England lost, but they had found a new batting star.
And in the next Test, at Lord’s, ‘Ollie’ saved the match with an unbeaten 126. When he reached his century, four men ran out from the famous Tavern and tried to lift him shoulder-high – but Milburn’s bulk proved too much for them.
He continued to delight the cricket world until the tragic loss of an eye in a car accident in 1969. He made a brief comeback for Northamptonshire in the 1970s, supplementing his batting with some gentle medium-pace bowling, but sadly the magic had gone.
David Steele – bespectacled and prematurely grey – was one of Milburn’s biggest fans. The pair shared a dressing room for several seasons after ‘Stainless’ joined Northamptonshire from Staffordshire in 1963.
Years later, he said he wished he had been able to act as a kind of ‘petrol pump’ and top up Ollie’s energy levels when the big Geordie occasionally wilted towards the end of a long, hot day.
David’s own international chance came relatively late in his career. Regarded for years as a county yeoman, he started to score Championship runs prolifically in the early-1970s after captain Jim Watts promoted him to number three in the order.
With England having lumps knocked out of them by Dennis Lillee and Jeff Thomson, the selectors – including new captain Tony Greig – sent for Steele, ahead of the Lord’s Test in 1975.
The world knows what happened next – on the field, anyway.
Chuffed to bits and proud fit to burst at being chosen to represent his country, Steele made 50 and 45 on debut and ended the summer with 365 runs in three matches – earning himself a freezer-full of meat from an enterprising local butcher who sponsored him at the rate of one lamb chop per run (it was his benefit year, after all), and eventually the famous TV camera trophy as ‘BBC Sports Personality of the Year.’
But those present at the ground or watching on television on the morning of his debut may have wondered why it took him a while to reach the middle, after the fall of Barry Wood’s wicket.
A deliberate delay for dramatic effect? Well, no.
David had played at Lord’s before with Northamptonshire – and, of course, used the visitors’ changing room. Now he was representing England, the home side.
When he had gone out to bat at ‘Headquarters’ for the County, it took two flights of stairs to reach the Long Room and the door that led out to the hallowed turf. So, through force of habit, he walked down two flights this time…and ended up in the gents’ toilet.
Any MCC member busy ‘spending a penny’ or washing his hands would have been moderately surprised to see England’s new number three standing next to him – looking slightly confused – rather than doing battle with Lillee and Thomson.
But once he sorted out the directions, Steele proved to be in his element – the latest Northamptonshire cricketer to make the sporting journey from Wantage Road to national hero, following in the footsteps of Tyson and Milburn.
Memory added on August 26, 2014
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