Michael Colin Cowdrey, Baron Cowdrey of Tonbridge, was an English cricketer who played for Kent County Cricket Club from 1950 to 1976, and in 114 Test matches for England from 1954 to 1975.
104 Facts About Colin Cowdrey
2.
Colin Cowdrey was born in Ootacamund, Madras Presidency, British India and died in Littlehampton, West Sussex.
3.
Colin Cowdrey scored 42,719 career runs at an average of 42.89 runs per completed innings with a highest score of 307 as one of 107 centuries.
4.
Colin Cowdrey was the first player to make 100 appearances in Test cricket and the first batsman to score a Test century, both home and away, against six other countries.
5.
Colin Cowdrey was born on his family's tea plantation at Ootacamund, Madras Presidency, although his birthplace has often been misrecorded as Bangalore, 100 miles to the north.
6.
Colin Cowdrey's father, Ernest Cowdrey, was a keen cricketer who had played in the Minor Counties Championship for Berkshire.
7.
Ernest made an application for Colin Cowdrey to join Marylebone Cricket Club while still an infant.
8.
Colin Cowdrey had no schooling in India, but his father and the servants taught him how to play cricket from a very early age.
9.
When Colin Cowdrey was five, he was taken to England where he attended the Homefield Preparatory School in Sutton from 1938 to 1945.
10.
On Gover's recommendation, Colin Cowdrey was selected for the school's first team.
11.
In July 1946, aged thirteen, Colin Cowdrey played at Lord's for Tonbridge School against Clifton College.
12.
Colin Cowdrey was asked to play for Kent Young Amateurs in 1948 and made 157 against Sussex Young Amateurs, 87 against Middlesex Young Amateurs and 79 against Surrey Young Amateurs.
13.
Colin Cowdrey was asked to join the Kent Second XI in 1949 and played three matches in August against Norfolk, Wiltshire and Devon in the Minor Counties Championship.
14.
Colin Cowdrey was fifth in the Kent batting order and scored 15 in his debut innings before he was caught by Derbyshire captain Pat Vaulkhard off a ball by Cliff Gladwin.
15.
Colin Cowdrey made Kent's top score of 26 in the second innings.
16.
Colin Cowdrey left Tonbridge School in the summer of 1951 and, having been offered an exhibition, became a student at the University of Oxford.
17.
Colin Cowdrey was there till the summer of 1954 and studied geography at Brasenose College.
18.
Colin Cowdrey joined the Oxford University Cricket Club and, in each season from 1952 to 1954, played for them in the early weeks and then for Kent till the end of the season.
19.
Colin Cowdrey made his debut in the Gentlemen v Players series soon afterwards, playing for the Gentlemen.
20.
Colin Cowdrey received the cap from team captain David Clark after an innings of 71 against the touring South Africans.
21.
Colin Cowdrey was called in to replace the injured Willie Watson.
22.
The party moved on to Sydney where Colin Cowdrey was selected to play against New South Wales.
23.
England's batting collapsed in the first innings, though Colin Cowdrey made 40, and they had to follow on.
24.
Colin Cowdrey scored 10 in the second innings and England, with totals of 190 and 257 were unable to avoid a heavy defeat by an innings and 154 runs.
25.
Colin Cowdrey scored 102 out of 191 after sharing partnerships of 74 with Trevor Bailey and 54 with Godfrey Evans.
26.
Colin Cowdrey was injured when the ball hit him in the face while he was fielding.
27.
Colin Cowdrey batted in the second innings and was out for 4 but the injury worsened and he was hospitalised for several days.
28.
On his return from Australia, Colin Cowdrey decided to drop out of Oxford and concentrate on his cricket career.
29.
Colin Cowdrey cemented his place in the England team and took part in each of the home series during this period.
30.
Playfair Cricket Annual commented that Colin Cowdrey had "infused the right spirit" into the team but pointed out that Kent cricket was still well short of resurgence.
31.
Colin Cowdrey only played in 18 matches because of international calls and, without him, the team's batting was weak.
32.
Colin Cowdrey had one notable innings when he scored 100* in the Third Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground and helped England to save that match as a draw.
33.
In 1959, Colin Cowdrey had a successful series against India and scored 160 in the third Test at Headingley.
34.
Colin Cowdrey opened the England second innings with Geoff Pullar and they shared a first wicket stand of 290 which saved the match.
35.
Colin Cowdrey was hurriedly brought to Lords and was told he would take over only a few days before the First Test.
36.
Colin Cowdrey missed the Fourth Test at Old Trafford with a fever, where Australia won a nail-biting match to retain the Ashes.
37.
The Ashes series had been a disappointment and Colin Cowdrey decided to miss the tough tour of India and Pakistan, which was led by Ted Dexter.
38.
Colin Cowdrey replaced him in the Third Test as the selectors considered their options for the forthcoming tour of Australia and he won by an innings and 117 runs.
39.
When Colin Cowdrey was made captain in the final Gentleman v Players match at Lord's it looked like he would be chosen, but he was forced to withdraw because of kidney stones and Dexter was put in charge.
40.
Colin Cowdrey recovered to open the batting in the Fifth Test and make his highest Test score of 182, adding 238 with Dexter and ending the series with 409 runs.
41.
Colin Cowdrey had a poor start to the tour and made three successive ducks, which Jack Fingleton blamed on his fondness for golf.
42.
However, Colin Cowdrey made the highest score of his career against South Australia on Christmas Eve.
43.
Dexter was out for 93, but the stand had made 175 runs and Colin Cowdrey made 113, his third and highest century in Australia, but the celebrations were short lived as he hooked into the hands of Peter Burge off Garth McKenzie.
44.
Colin Cowdrey finished third in the averages with 397 runs.
45.
Colin Cowdrey made 86 in the First at Auckland, 128 not out in the Second at Wellington and 43 and 35 not out in the Third at Christchurch.
46.
Colin Cowdrey made an unbeaten stand of 163 with the wicket-keeper Alan Smith which was a Test record for the 9th wicket until beaten by Asif Iqbal and Intikhab Alam, who made 190 for the 9th wicket against England at the Oval in 1967.
47.
Colin Cowdrey returned to the crease with his arm in plaster and stood at the non-striker's end while Dave Allen blocked the last two balls for a draw.
48.
England was to tour India and Pakistan again and Colin Cowdrey was asked to captain the tour, but declined as his arm had not fully healed.
49.
Colin Cowdrey was contacted by Lord's to recommend a replacement batsman and as the batsmen he would have suggested were contracted to play in South Africa he volunteered to join the team himself.
50.
Colin Cowdrey returned for the Fifth Test to make 20 and 93 not out, finishing with 188 runs.
51.
Colin Cowdrey did not tour, though he did go to the West Indies with the International Cavaliers, and Mike Smith was made captain, though Dexter joined him as vice-captain after losing to Jim Callaghan.
52.
Colin Cowdrey took Kent up to 5th place in the County Championship, compared with 7th in the previous season.
53.
Colin Cowdrey himself made 267 runs, his best batting average in an Ashes series.
54.
Sobers won the toss at Old Trafford, batted first and caught England on a spinning wicket for an innings victory, Colin Cowdrey making 69 in the debacle.
55.
Colin Cowdrey was placed in charge, which he accepted reluctantly due to the shoddy treatment of his friend and predecessor.
56.
Colin Cowdrey was criticised for not surrounding Sobers with fielders at the beginning of his innings, but he maintained that by spreading the field he encouraged him to make the strokes which could have got him out, but there was little doubt that the plan failed.
57.
Colin Cowdrey was recalled for the Second Test against Pakistan, opening the innings, and made 14 and 2 not out in the 10 wicket victory.
58.
Colin Cowdrey was fired as soon as the Test was won and the selectors announced that Cowdrey was to lead the MCC tour of the West Indies, although he disliked the politics and press attention.
59.
Colin Cowdrey won the toss and batted first, Kent making 193 with man of the match Mike Denness scoring 50 and Brian Luckhurst 54.
60.
The tour got off to a bad start when they were outscored in the warm up match against the Barbados Colts, but Colin Cowdrey made 139 against the West Indies Board President's XI, adding 249 with Geoff Boycott.
61.
Colin Cowdrey won the toss and made 72 batting at number three, followed by Ken Barrington and vice-captain Tom Graveney to be all out for 568.
62.
Colin Cowdrey made 107 when the MCC beat Jamaica by 174 runs and they went into the Second Test at Kingston with more confidence.
63.
Colin Cowdrey tried to calm the crowd without success and play was abandoned as the police used tear gas to restore order.
64.
Colin Cowdrey took the next two matches off, but was with Fred Titmus when the off-spinner had four toes cut off by a boat propeller while swimming and drove him to the hospital for surgery, which enabled him to return to cricket after the tour.
65.
Sobers was lambasted throughout the West Indies for his declaration and Colin Cowdrey found him drinking alone in a bar that evening when he was usually surrounded by fans.
66.
Colin Cowdrey finished with 534 runs, his most prolific Test series and the only one in which he exceeded 500 runs.
67.
Colin Cowdrey celebrated by making 104, using Boycott as a runner after straining his leg.
68.
Colin Cowdrey became the second batsman after Wally Hammond to make 7,000 Test runs, but England took 172.5 overs to make 409 and though Australia only made 222 the match was drawn.
69.
D'Oliveira was an all-rounder who could swing the ball so Colin Cowdrey asked for him to cover both needs and he made a politically important 158 in England's 494.
70.
The players started packing their bags, but Colin Cowdrey called on the crowd to help the groundstaff dry the ground.
71.
Colin Cowdrey offered to fly to South Africa to mediate, but it would be 26 years before England next played South Africa.
72.
Colin Cowdrey won the toss again in the Third Test at Karachi, but there were riots on the first two days by fans who wanted Hanif Mohammad as captain instead of Saeed.
73.
Colin Cowdrey was not there to see it as he left on the second day after his father-in-law died, leaving Graveney in charge.
74.
Colin Cowdrey broke the Achilles tendon in his left heel three weeks into the 1969 season and he could not play until the last match in September.
75.
Colin Cowdrey was chosen over his rivals Brian Close and Tom Graveney as he was not seen as a threat to Cowdrey's long-term captaincy due to his age and inability to establish a regular spot in the Test team.
76.
Kent suffered from his absence and fell to 10th in the County Championship, but Colin Cowdrey was able to get some match practice in by touring the West Indies with the International Cavaliers and the Duke of Norfolk's XI.
77.
Colin Cowdrey was still easing himself back into cricket when the First 'Test' was played and he was not selected, but played in the other four and made 1 and 64 in the Second, 0 and 71 in the Third, 1 and 0 in the Fourth and 73 and 31 in the Fifth, a total of 241 runs.
78.
Colin Cowdrey was willing to accompany him as a player, but had to think about being vice-captain again as he thought a younger man should be chosen.
79.
Colin Cowdrey had other considerations in the summer of 1970, which was Kent County Cricket Club's Centenary.
80.
The change came when Sussex defeated them in the Gillette Cup, giving them two rest days which Colin Cowdrey used to hammer out their difficulties in a team meeting.
81.
Colin Cowdrey was made vice-captain for an Australian tour for the fourth time and Illingworth's tough no-nonsense approach to the game clashed with the MCC tour manager David Clark, who had been captain of Kent in Colin Cowdrey's youth and had given him his county cap.
82.
The players tended to avoid the press and public, even to the point of having their meals in their hotel rooms, and only Colin Cowdrey made an effort to meet and greet the cricket fans.
83.
Colin Cowdrey made only 1 run in the inaugural One Day International at Melbourne and was dropped for the Fourth Test, had his cap stolen while fielding in the Fifth Test and was dropped again for the Sixth and Seventh Tests.
84.
Colin Cowdrey played what he thought was would be his last Test against Pakistan at Edgbaston, making 14 and 34.
85.
Colin Cowdrey was now 38 and a serious bout of pneumonia meant he could not play for half the season, though his 15th year as Kent captain equalled he Lord Harris's record and made him the longest serving post-war captain in county cricket.
86.
Colin Cowdrey continued to play for Kent under Mike Denness and the county continued its success.
87.
Colin Cowdrey was highly regarded by the MCC team and in particular by Mike Denness, who had succeeded him as captain of Kent.
88.
Colin Cowdrey arrived in Perth with the wives of the MCC team after a 19-hour delay in Bombay, too late to play a practice match, and was called up for the Second Test two days after he arrived and with three hours in the nets.
89.
Colin Cowdrey showed he had lost none of his timing and that his bat was as straight as ever until he was bowled behind his legs by Thomson for 22.
90.
Colin Cowdrey was dropped by Ian Redpath off Lillee, hit on the arm, survived a confident appeal by Rod Marsh before he was finally caught lbw by Thomson for 41, his highest score of the series.
91.
Colin Cowdrey played his 114th and last Test at Melbourne, and opened the innings again as Lloyd was injured, but only made 7.
92.
Colin Cowdrey was so confident of a win that he ordered a coach for 4 pm to take the team to Southampton for dinner before their next match against Hampshire, but Cowdrey struck 151 not out, Kent won by 4 wickets and the Australians didn't reach Southampton until midnight.
93.
Colin Cowdrey was asked to captain the MCC against the Australians, but was dismissed for a pair by Lillee, though this did not stop speculation that he would replace Mike Denness as England captain.
94.
Colin Cowdrey made 22 Test centuries to equal Wally Hammond's England record, which has subsequently been exceeded.
95.
However, Colin Cowdrey always feared that his wicket was too important to be thrown away and he was sometimes too cautious when facing certain bowlers.
96.
John Arlott noticed this and commented: "Colin 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".
97.
Colin Cowdrey himself said: "The proudest thing in my career was that I kept surviving".
98.
Colin Cowdrey adopted a mostly cautious approach to captaincy but always listened to his players.
99.
Tom Graveney said Colin Cowdrey was the best captain he played under.
100.
Colin Cowdrey was Chairman of the International Cricket Council from 1989 to 1993, when referees and neutral umpires were introduced to international cricket.
101.
Colin Cowdrey was named President of Kent County Cricket Club in 2000, the year he died.
102.
Colin Cowdrey died of a heart attack on 4 December 2000, aged 67.
103.
Colin Cowdrey is the fourth sportsman to be honoured with a memorial service in Westminster Abbey, following Sir Frank Worrell, Lord Constantine and Bobby Moore.
104.
The Marylebone Cricket Club Spirit of Cricket Colin Cowdrey Lecture was inaugurated in his memory.