Trevor Bailey RIP

[Ground Hopper]

This was published by the Ryman League today - http://rymanleague.goalrun.com/leagues?league_news_item&lid=256&id=2755389

 

Very sad news. Used to listen to him on Test Match Special (or TMS).

 

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IT WAS with great sadness that the league heard the news that former England cricketer Trevor Bailey had died at a fire in his home at Westcliff this morning. He was 87. His wife was rescued.

 

Although he was best known for his achievements on the cricket field, Bailey was also a talented footballer. He won Blues for both sports at Cambridge University and went on to play amateur football , most notably for Walthamstow Avenue although he also represented Leytonstone and Pegasus. Avenue were then one of the top Isthmian League clubs; in the ten seasons after the war they never finished outside the top four and won the championship three times.

 

Bailey was a valuable member of the side when his cricket commitments allowed and played at inside-right for the team that beat local rivals Leyton 2-1 in the 1952 FA Amateur Cup final, watched by a six-figure crowd at Wembley. His shot was turned on to a post by the Leyton goalkeeper for Jim Lewis to follow up and score the opening goal.

 

The following season Bailey was in the Avenue side who achieved a stunning 1-1 FA Cup draw at Manchester United. The replay was staged at Highbury and well over 50,000 fans saw the battling amateurs beaten 5-2.

 

As a cricketer famous for his forward defensive stroke, which earned him his Barnacle nickname, Bailey played his most famous innings at Lordâ??s in 1953 when he batted almost all day with Willie Watson to save the Second Test against Australia and pave the way for an eventual Ashes triumph.

 

The following winter saw him touring the West Indies with England but Avenue had not forgotten him. After drawing 1-1 with Crook Town in an Amateur Cup semi-final they flew Bailey back to England (it required three different flights) for the replay at Sunderland. Cruelly, Bailey arrived just too late to take the field and had to watch from the stands as Crook won 3-2.

 

The experience did him no harm; back in the Caribbean, Bailey took seven for 34 in the first innings of the final Test, in which he opened the bowling and the batting, to set up a nine-wicket victory which drew the series after England had been well beaten in the first two matches.

 

In all Bailey played 61 times for England, scoring more than 2,000 runs and taking 132 wickets. Meanwhile he was a loyal servant of his beloved home county, Essex, becoming captain and club secretary. In both roles he laid the initial foundations for the countyâ??s great future success, although it was more than a decade after his retirement in 1967 when they finally landed their first-ever trophy.

 

He scored 28,641 first-class runs, took 2,082 wickets and performed the Double (1,000 runs and 100 wickets in a season) eight times.

 

This writer was lucky enough to see him in action frequently in the latter stages of his career, invariably clad in a red and yellow MCC touring sweater rather than an Essex one. His smooth run-up and action made the most impression on me, along with the fact that when strolling round the ground with one teammate or another, as he frequently did when not in the middle, he was invariably puffing on a cigarette. It was nearly 50 years ago, but even then it came as a shock to the schoolboy eye.

 

After retiring from the game Bailey was a popular and long-serving member of the Test Match Special team. He covered cricket and football for the Financial Times for 25 years; they also sent him to the 1972 Olympics in Munich and he had to cover the tragic events which unfolded there. Among many other books, he wrote the definitive biography of Sir Garry Sobers.

 

Everyone connected with the league extend their sympathy to Trevor's family.

[Ian_W]

Thanks.

 

Very sad - My late father used to play cricket with him.

 

Will be sorely missed.

[alex41]

I got very upset to hear the news. Very undeserving way to die.

May he rest in peace.

[CyberBully]

A one minute silence will be observed today at 10.54 a.m, in memory of Fred Titmus and Trevor Bailey. Both the Middlesex and Essex teams will line up facing each other in front of the Players' Gate. The silence will be broken by the ring of the five minute bell at 10.55 a.m.