Colin Cowdrey
Michael Colin Cowdrey, Baron Cowdrey of Tonbridge, (24 December 19324 December 2000) was an English first-class cricketer who played for Oxford University (1952–1954), Kent County Cricket Club (1950–1976) and England (1954–1975). Universally known as Colin Cowdrey, he "delighted crowds throughout the world with his style and elegance", and was the first cricketer to play 100 Test matches, celebrating the occasion with 104 against Australia in 1968. In all he played 114 Tests, making 7,624 runs at an average of 44.06, overtaking Wally Hammond as the most prolific Test batsman, and taking 120 catches as a fielder, breaking another Hammond record. Cowdrey made 22 Test centuries (an England record until 2013) and was the first batsman to make centuries against the six other Test playing countries of his era; Australia, South Africa, the West Indies, New Zealand, India and Pakistan, making hundreds against them all both home and away. He toured Australia six times in 1954–55, 1958–59, 1962–63, 1965–66, 1970–71 and 1974–75, equalling Colin Blythe's record, and in his last Test fans hung out a banner 'M.C.G. FANS THANK COLIN – 6 TOURS'.
Colin Cowdrey
At the start of his career the England batting was fragile and Cowdrey never forgot that his wicket was too important to throw away, sometimes treating bowlers too cautiously for a man of his great talents, John Arlott commenting "Cowdrey could sink into pits of uncertainty when the fire ceased to burn, allowing himself to be dominated by bowlers inferior to him in skill". Cowdrey himself thought that "the proudest thing in my career was that I kept surviving", playing Lindwall and Miller at 21 and Lillee and Thomson at 41, still able to move immaculately into line even though he hadn't played for months. His quick reflexes also made him an outstanding slip, whose 120 catches was a Test record for a fielder. In his youth, Cowdrey was a useful leg-spinner at club level, but only took 63 first-class wickets at a cost of 51.21 apiece. He claimed if Alan Knott hadn't misread a googly he would have picked up a Test wicket, though his son Chris wrote "I can't see Knotty losing sleep over that one". In Cowdrey's last Test at Melbourne the fans famously hung out a banner 'M.C.G. FANS THANK COLIN – 6 TOURS', with Cowdrey "wearing a large straw sun-hat ... signing endless autographs, posing for photographs and exchanging friendly talk with young and old in the way that has made him as popular a cricketer as has ever visited Australia".