Wisden overview
A teenage prodigy who scored 78 for Northamptonshire as a 16-year-old (against Cambridge), he matured into a unique character. Convinced his career would end any minute because his knees were so fragile, he lasted 25 years in county cricket by adapting. He began as a powerful, orthodox strokemaker (with a cover drive he could have learned from Wally Hammond) then adopted a stance so hideously square-on it would have been textbook against bowling from mid-wicket. And he switched his bowling from brisk medium-pace to flattish off-spin. Somehow, it all worked: in one-day cricket he was a master; and in Tests, he was called on regularly when the going was toughest because he seemed not to have a fear-gene in his body. Fifteen of his 26 Tests were against West Indies. Other players were scared of him, though: he always knew his own mind and when he spoke – out of the side of his mouth in plain Geordie – the words counted. It meant he had instant authority when he switched to umpiring, and instant success too: he was promoted to the international panel in three years. One hardly dare ask about the knees. Matthew Engel

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