Bill Edrich
off-break Right-arm fast-medium | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Role | Batsman | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Relations | Brian Edrich (brother) Eric Edrich (brother) Geoff Edrich (brother) John Edrich (cousin) Justin Edrich (son) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
International information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
National side | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Test debut (cap 300) | 10 June 1938 v Australia | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Last Test | 28 January 1955 v Australia | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Domestic team information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Years | Team | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
1932–1936 | Minor Counties | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
1934–1958 | MCC | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
1937–1958 | Middlesex | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
1959–1971 | Norfolk | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Career statistics | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Source: CricketArchive, 17 September 2009 |
William John Edrich DFC (26 March 1916 – 24 April 1986) was a first-class cricketer who played for Middlesex, Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), Norfolk and England.[2]
Edrich's three brothers, Brian, Eric and Geoff, and also his cousin, John, all played first-class cricket. Locally in Norfolk the Edriches were able to raise a full team of eleven. In 1938 a team composed entirely of Edriches beat Norfolk in a one-day match.[3]
Life and career
Born in
Having finally achieved Test match success, Edrich was promptly dropped for the 1939 series against the
At the outbreak of
When cricket resumed after the
The postwar years were Edrich's heyday and in 1947 he broke Tom Hayward's record, scoring 3,539 runs in the season and not being much overshadowed by Denis Compton, who scored 3,816. Compton's and Edrich's aggregates remain the highest ever in an English cricket season, and with the reduction in the number of first-class matches seem likely never to be overtaken. In addition to his runs, Edrich also took 67 wickets in the same season.
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/79/Bill_Edrich_graph.png/350px-Bill_Edrich_graph.png)
Edrich's Test career continued until The Ashes tour of 1954–55, but he played less regularly after 1950, when he appeared to have little answer to the West Indian spinners Sonny Ramadhin and Alf Valentine. When England retained the Ashes at Adelaide in 1954–55 the team consumed over 56 bottles of champagne and Edrich – the life and soul of any party – climbed the marble pillar in the lounge of Glenelg's Pier Hotel and sang "Ginger".[7]
All told, Edrich played in 571 first-class matches between 1934 and 1958, scoring 36,985 runs, with a highest score of 267 not out. His run total puts him 29th on the all-time lists. He scored 2,440 runs for England in his 39 Test matches, with the 219 not out at
A famously convivial man, Edrich was married five times and had two sons, Jasper and
Bibliography
Books by Bill Edrich
- Cricket Heritage, Stanley Paul, 1948
- Cricketing Days, Stanley Paul, 1950
- Round the Wicket, Muller, 1959
- Cricket and All That, Pelham, 1978 (with Denis Compton)
Books about Bill Edrich
- Ralph Barker, The Cricketing Family Edrich, Pelham, 1976
- Alan Hill, Bill Edrich: A Biography, Andre Deutsch, 1994
- Jerry Lodge, Bill Edrich, Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians, 2003
References
- ^ "'Spurs. The Hall-mark of soccer". Sunday Dispatch Football Guide. London. 23 August 1936. p. vi. Archived from the original on 2 November 2023. Retrieved 3 November 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ ISBN 1-869833-21-X.
- ^ Bill Edrich, Cricket Heritage, Stanley Paul, London, 1948, pp. 76-77.
- ^ "Fields of glory." Archived 16 April 2012 at the Wayback Machine The Observer, 6 November 2005.
- ^ "Obituary of Wing Commander Tom Baker." Archived 11 May 2018 at the Wayback Machine The Daily Telegraph, 10 April 2006.
- ISBN 0333451775.
- ^ ISBN 1903158575.
- ISBN 0671089609.
External links
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fa/Wikiquote-logo.svg/34px-Wikiquote-logo.svg.png)
Media related to Bill Edrich at Wikimedia Commons