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The demise of the great Baron Colin Cowdrey at 67

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December 6, 2000 

LONDON-- (UNB/AP) - Colin Cowdrey, one of England's greatest ever cricket batsmen and a true gentleman of the sport, died early Tuesday at the age of 67.

Cowdrey - who became a life peer with the title of Baron Cowdrey of Tonbridge in 1997 - had suffered a stroke in July.

Michael Colin Cowdrey emerged as a star athlete as a schoolboy, becoming the youngest cricketer ever to play at Lord's, at age 13, for his school at Tunbridge. He captained the cricket team at Oxford University.

In 1951 Cowdrey joined the Kent county team, serving as its captain from 1957 to 1971.

He made his first appearance for England in 1954, and between then and 1975 established himself as a prolific and stylish batsman. He played in 114 Test matches, captained England 23 times and made 107 centuries in first-class cricket, including 22 Test centuries.

Cowdrey held the Test record for the highest fourth-wicket partnership, with Peter May of 411, set against Australia in Sydney in 1946-7.

He was the fourth highest scoring England player in Test history with 7,264 runs, averaging 44.06. He scored 42,719 first-class runs at an average of 44.82.

Cowdrey still holds the Test record for the highest fourth wicket partnership with Peter May of 411 set against the West Indies at Edgbaston in 1957. He played at the age of 42 against the pace of Dennis Lillee and Jeff Thomson at Perth in 1974.

He also had brilliant catching ability, claiming 120 catches - mostly at slip - during his Test career.

After his retirement as a player, he was elected as chairman of the International Cricket Council. He also played a major part in the reintroduction of South Africa back into world cricket.

"He was a beautiful player," former teammate Tom Graveney said. "Nobody struck the ball through the covers as apparently gently as Colin. He was a gentle player and a wonderful man."

A player of grit as well as style, he went to bat against the West Indies in 1963 with his broken wrist in a cast. He made his last Test appearance in 1974, at the age of 41.

When he retired in 1975, he held the records for the most runs and the most catches in Test matches.

"As well as being one of the most gifted batsmen of his generation, he was also one of the nicest people you could meet in the game, and a good friend to the England team - he will be much missed," said Nasser Hussain, captain of the England cricket team.

"He had a good dry sense of humor and was an extremely nice chap, one of whom it could be said that he had a genuine and abiding love of the game of cricket," former Australian Test captain Richie Benaud told the British Broadcasting Corp.

England and Wales Cricket board chief executive Tim Lamb described Cowdrey as "the most eminent person in contemporary English cricket."

"Not only did he excel at the highest level as a player, but he held the most important administrative office in the game as chairman of the ICC," Lamb said.

"Above all, he was a great lover of cricket and would take equal pleasure from seeing a youngster score his first century, as he would watching an England Test match victory. To cap it all, he was a real gentleman with a wonderful human touch. Cricket is much the poorer for his loss."

Cowdrey was knighted in 1992 and named a lord five years later.

He is survived by his wife Anne and three sons and one daughter by his first marriage. Funeral arrangements were not immediately announced.

The England team will wear black armbands for the final Test against Pakistan on Thursday as a mark of respect to Cowdrey.