Apart from Alec's extra fame as a Test cricketer, they are virtually the same person. Alec, or is it Eric, can begin a brief sentence on the merits of bowling a full length right at the stumps which Eric, or is it Alec, completes, insisting that there must be a mid-off and a mid-on straight.
When they were born Eric, first by 10 minutes, weighed seven pounds and Alec six and three-quarter. Thereafter their weight has always been exactly the same, their feet are the same size and the teeth are identical. Don Bradman, who knows them well, still cannot tell certainly who is who. Only their mother was always right though even she made an early error: on one occasion she fed Eric twice.
As adults, it has needed only one of them to measure for a suit: they just order two. There was an occasion when Alec, who went to visit Eric in hospital, met the ward sister in a corridor who gave him a rollicking and told him to get back into bed.
It is not surprising, therefore, to learn that they enjoyed a common inspiration to become cricketers: the sight of Jack Hobbs in Surrey's chocolate brown and Walter Hammond in an MCC touring blazer at Chobham set the young men dreaming. They both became professionals at the Oval in 1938.
Eric had turned to off-spin to be sure of a place on the staff as an all-rounder, because he was an excellent batsman. Alec was the solid seamer. Their story then moves along the unlucky road to wartime service. Inseparable in the Royal Air Force, they served in France, the Middle East and Italy.
They were back at the Oval in 1946 and Alec was in the England side against India. At Lord's on debut he took 11 for 145 and followed up in the second Test at Old Trafford with 11 for 93. In spite of the Air Force years, Alec ended his career with 1,924 wickets, including 236 in Tests, and scored 5,735 runs. Eric scored 14,716 runs and took 833 wickets. Alec left the Surrey staff in 1960, Eric in 1961.
I was fortunate enough to play against them in three first-class matches in 1960, so I can confirm that Alec's action was smooth and muscular and when the ball fizzed by, it either whacked into the stumps or disappeared into the uncanny gloves of Arthur McIntyre, who stood up. The marvel, however, was not only the command of line and length but the in-swing and leg-cutter. Remember, he was 42.
His opponents clearly recall a ball of full length just outside off stump moving in so late and so sharply through the air, they thought it had moved off the seam. Often they waited for the in-swing but were introduced to the famous leg-cutter: the one that came out of an in-swing arm action but because the ball was held across the seam in massive fingers it was likely to drift in towards leg stump and hit off stump.
This was the ball which had bowled Bradman for a duck in Adelaide in 1946-47. ``A turning point in my career,'' says Alec. ``Don generously described it as the finest ball ever bowled to him.''
I also played in Alec's last match at the end of August 1960. Wisden records that ``a slight drizzle freshened the pitch on Monday soon after Glamorgan had begun their first innings.'' Certainly did. After what seemed like an age of edging and missing I was relieved of the embarrassment when I saw the ball land safely in gully's hands - A R Lewis c Edrich b A Bedser 5. A Bedser 20.3-3-25-5. How many bowlers leave the game with figures like that?
Alec was something special and, after his playing days, served 23 consecutive years as a Test selector, including 13 as chairman. Eric was always at his side. In many ways Alec's knighthood was Eric's too because they have both been model professional cricketers, devoted to the game, to Surrey and England: always approachable but absolutely uncompromising.
There is no short cut. ``We need a more demanding apprenticeship. What we lack in these highly unsuccessful days is hard work on technique. Years of listening, years of practice.'' The most perfect 80th birthday present for Alec and Eric would be the chance to do it all again, though I guess they would not be interested in a virtual cricket career, soon available on the Internet. It just would not hurt enough.