brian close Profile - ICC Profile, Age, Career Info & Stats.
brian close is a cricketer(sportsman) from England. His ICC profile, age, career info & stats are given below.
Full Name
Dennis Brian Close
Born
February 24, 1931, Rawdon, Leeds, Yorkshire
Died
September 14, 2015, Baildon near Bradford, West Yorkshire, (aged 84 years old)
Batting Style
Left hand Bat
Bowling Style
Right arm Medium, Right arm Offbreak
Fielding Position
Forward Short Leg
Batting Stats
Test | ODI | T20I | IPL | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Mat | 22 | 3 | - | - |
Inn | 37 | 3 | - | - |
Runs | 887 | 49 | - | - |
Avg | 25.34 | 16.33 | - | - |
SR | 66.79 | 98.0 | - | - |
HS | 70 | 43 | - | - |
NO | 2 | 0 | - | - |
100s | 0 | 0 | - | - |
50s | 4 | 0 | - | - |
4s | 80 | 7 | - | - |
6s | 4 | 1 | - | - |
Bowling Stats
Test | ODI | T20I | IPL | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Mat | 22 | 3 | - | - |
Inn | 23 | 1 | - | - |
Balls | 1198 | 18 | - | - |
Runs | 532 | 21 | - | - |
Wkt | 18 | 0 | - | - |
BBI | 35 / 4 | 21 / 0 | - | - |
BBM | 53 / 5 | 21 / 0 | - | - |
Eco | 2.66 | 7.0 | - | - |
Avg | 29.56 | 0.0 | - | - |
5W | 0 | 0 | - | - |
10W | 0 | 0 | - | - |
Teams he has played for:
- England
- Somerset
- Yorkshire
Heres what CricBuzz says about him.
Close's courage, however, made for such a spectacle in the pre-helmet era that the current generation will fail to comprehend. His ability to endure body-blows, physical pain of unbearable magnitude, against the fastest bowling and sometimes while fielding at close-in positions, was borderline inhuman. batting against the fastest bowling or fielding at forward short leg, was legendary. \"How can the ball hurt you? It's only on you for a second,\" said Close to anyone who committed the blasphemy by rubbing a bruise.
Close was a fantastic batting talent - a strokemaker par excellence, a solid technician, and a team player ahead of his time. This selfless approach to the game, and his tactical nous earned him a brief stint as the English captain. His toughness, however, transformed into obstinacy at times which landed him in trouble as a captain as well as a player, which is why his numbers hardly justify the magnitude of his talent.
To this day, Brian Close holds the record for the youngest player to represent England. After a fruitful season with Yorkshire, Close was picked to play for England at the age of 18, representing his side against New Zealand. He continued to play until his was 45, in a career spanning 27 years, but never quite brought his A-game to the international level in terms of batting numbers. With a compact technique in attack and in defence, Close seemed to lack the nous to pace his innings in the context of the match, exhibiting Carl Hooper-esque flatter-to-deceive tendencies.
Close also bowled some gentle off-spin which was useful as a part-time option. In an infamous incident, the English selectors publicly ousted him for headlessly trying to scare Richie Benaud out of the bowling attack with a series of slogs in the Old Trafford Test of 1961. However, he did return to play against the West Indies in Lord's in the 1963 Test, where he showed a fraction of his potential, nearly taking England to victory, and writing another chapter in the Brian Close book of folklore - advancing down the wicket to the West Indian fast bowlers; unheard of, and perhaps even ridiculed at the time. He lost the reins of the England national team after using delaying tactics in a county game.
Despite unflattering numbers, it is perhaps fitting that it will always be the qualitative aspects of the game that Close will be remembered for - his fearless fielding at short leg, his unflinching, unrelenting solidity close to the pitch, and the fact that he was impervious to the force exerted by the cricket ball on flesh. Perhaps his last act on the cricket pitch, at the age of 45, was fitting, when he was recalled to face the West Indies bowling attack consisting of a young Michael Holding and Andy Roberts. Despite the short-ball barrage by the savage pacers, in poor light, and with waning reflexes, the tough Brian Close took blows on the body and did not flinch. He did not rub his bruises. He just stood there, like a pillar, while those beyond the rope feared for his life.
He was an England selector in the late 70's. He passed away due to a short illness, not related to cricket balls, in September 2015 at the age of 84, shortly after Yorkshire won their 32nd Championship title.
Written by Rishi Roy
Heres what ESPNcricinfo says about him.
More stories have been told about Brian Close, or to be precise his eccentricities, than probably any postwar cricketer except maybe his fellow-Yorkshireman Fred Trueman. Close's courage, batting against the fastest bowling or fielding at short leg, was legendary. Seemingly impervious to pain himself, he used to say to anyone who flinched, or rubbed a bruise: "How can the ball hurt you? It's only on you for a second." On the one known occasion when he was hit by such force that he was knocked off his feet - by a short-arm pull by Hampshire's Danny Livingstone at Portsmouth - Close, sprang up and dismissed the slips and wicketkeeper (who were running towards him in concern) with an angry wave. Because he always tried to play the type of innings he considered the position of the match required, Close's record did scant justice to his talent, which was huge. He was a notably unselfish cricketer, a factor in the respect he won as Yorkshire, Somerset, and briefly, England captain, and the success his teams enjoyed. He was as stubborn as he was unselfish, however, and invariably found a pretext for a dismissal through some outlandish stroke. One from which the Yorkshire dressing-room derived most pleasure came when he was caught off a snow-gathering top-edge as he tried to pull John Price, the Middlesex fast bowler, into the Warner Stand at Lord's: "I had it covered for everything but uneven bounce," was Close's indignant explanation.
John Thicknesse
Cricinfo profile
Of legendary toughness, Brian Close still holds the record for the youngest player to represent England, when, after a superb allround first season with Yorkshire, he was picked to play against New Zealand in 1949 at the age of 18. He never fully realised the promise of that first season, in and out of the England side over the next 27 years. Batting left, and bowling right-handed, he completed the double in 1949, the youngest player to do so. As a batsman he could defend with great obduracy, but could attack thrillingly, although not always wisely. He bowled medium-pace and offspin, with more consistency than his batting. He lost favour with the England selectors after trying to hit Benaud out of the attack in the 1961 Old Trafford Test, but returned to take England to the brink of victory in the 1963 Lord's Test against the West Indies. In this innings, his highest in Tests, he used unconventional tactics, coming up the wicket to the West Indies pace bowlers. He captained Yorkshire and England with success, but lost the England position after using delaying tactics in a county game. Later internal politics saw him move from Yorkshire to Somerset for the final years of his career. He was famous for his fearless fielding at short leg, where he would rarely duck or move to avoid a hard hit ball. He was also known for his courage against fast bowling, memorably so in 1976, when he was recalled at the age of 45 to face the fearsome West Indies pace trio of Holding, Roberts and Daniel. Subjected to a barrage of short-pitched bowling on the Saturday of the Old Trafford Test in less than favourable light, Close never flinched,
and, as always, refused to rub the bruises when hit. In later years he played in the Lancashire League then returned to Yorkshire, and much controversy as chair of the cricket committee. He was an England selector in the late 70's.
Dave Liverman