30 Facts About Trevor Bailey

1.

Trevor Edward Bailey was an England Test cricketer, cricket writer and broadcaster.

2.

An all-rounder, Bailey was known for his skilful but unspectacular batting.

3.

In later life, Trevor Bailey wrote a number of books and commentated on the game.

4.

Trevor Bailey's father was a civil servant in the Admiralty.

5.

Trevor Bailey won sporting scholarships to attend Alleyn Court Prep School, where he learned cricket from former Essex captain Denys Wilcox, and then Dulwich College.

6.

Trevor Bailey came top of the school's batting and bowling averages in 1939 and 1940, became captain in 1941, and was top of the averages again in his last year at Dulwich, 1942.

7.

Trevor Bailey had played as a junior for Westcliff-on-Sea Cricket Club and made his debut for their first team in 1939, aged 15, scoring 135 and taking one wicket against Old Felstedians.

8.

Trevor Bailey was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Royal Marines after leaving school; he was "not enamoured of war, and won some reputation as defending counsel in court martials".

9.

Trevor Bailey subsequently attended St John's College, Cambridge, for two years, reading English and History and graduating in 1948.

10.

Trevor Bailey won blues for both cricket and football both years, 1947 and 1948.

11.

Trevor Bailey made his first-class cricket debut in September 1945, aged 22, for the "Under 33s" scratch team, in a match at Lord's, against an "Over 33s" team, and made his debut playing county cricket for Essex in May 1946.

12.

Trevor Bailey quickly became a lynchpin of the Essex team, and made his Test debut for England against New Zealand at Headingley in June 1949, taking 6 wickets for 118 runs in his first match.

13.

Trevor Bailey's swing bowling provided an effective foil for the fast bowling of Alec Bedser, and later Fred Trueman, Brian Statham and Frank Tyson.

14.

Trevor Bailey is best remembered for his obdurate defensive batting, especially in matches against Australia.

15.

Trevor Bailey shared a defensive fifth wicket stand with Willie Watson, defying the bowlers for over four hours to earn a draw, taking 257 minutes to score 71 runs.

16.

Trevor Bailey scored 38 in 262 minutes, and Australia eventually had to score 177 in only 115 minutes.

17.

Trevor Bailey had a bad tour, during which he scored the slowest half-century in first-class cricket, reaching 50 just three minutes short of six hours at the crease, in England's second innings during the 1st Test at Brisbane.

18.

Trevor Bailey bagged a pair in his final test, the last of the tour at Melbourne, Trevor Bailey was never selected for England's Test side again, but continued to play first-class cricket for Essex for another eight years, and in the 1959 season became the only player since the Second World War to score more than 2,000 runs and take 100 wickets in a single domestic season.

19.

Trevor Bailey achieved the rare feat of taking all 10 wickets in an innings, for 90 runs, against Lancashire at Clacton in 1949.

20.

Trevor Bailey arranged for Warwickshire to make an interest-free loan to Essex in 1965 which allowed Essex to buy its Chelmsford ground.

21.

Trevor Bailey supplemented his income by undertaking advertising work while playing for Essex, modelling for Brylcreem, Shredded Wheat and Lucozade.

22.

Trevor Bailey played seven List A matches, all for Essex in the Gillette Cup competition between 1963 and 1967.

23.

Trevor Bailey played football for Cambridge University, Southend United reserves, Clapton, Leytonstone and Walthamstow Avenue.

24.

Trevor Bailey later became a director of Southend United FC.

25.

Trevor Bailey was the cricket and football correspondent of the Financial Times for 23 years.

26.

Trevor Bailey was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 1994 Birthday Honours for services to cricket.

27.

Trevor Bailey remains the only player since the Second World War to score more than 2,000 runs in a season and take 100 wickets, a feat he achieved in 1959, and he achieved the all-rounders' double of 1,000 runs and 100 wickets in a season eight times, a post-World War II record he shares with Fred Titmus.

28.

Trevor Bailey was selected as one of the five Wisden Cricketers of the Year in 1950.

29.

Trevor Bailey is one of three players to have scored 20,000 first-class runs and taken 2,000 wickets since the Second World War.

30.

Trevor Bailey died in a fire in his retirement flat in Westcliff-on-Sea on 10 February 2011.