Wisden overview
Phil Edmonds made a breathtaking entry into Test cricket in 1975 when he raced through Australia at Headingley, taking 5 for 28 in 20 overs. He was tall and blond and went to Cambridge, and anything seemed possible, the England captaincy most of all. But Edmonds was a left-arm spinner, a trade of eccentrics, and he was perhaps the most eccentric of all. Engaging but wilfully disputatious, he became known in the Middlesex dressing-room as "Maggie", since Margaret Thatcher was then leader of the opposition. He was kept out of the England side first by Derek Underwood and then by the selectors, wary of his intractable personality. Edmonds played just five Tests in five years until David Gower insisted on taking him to India in 1984-85 on the unfamiliar grounds that he was the best available bowler. His bowling was accurate, guileful and only occasionally over-experimental. When John Emburey came back from his ban from touring South Africa, the two began to bowl in tandem for England as they did for Middlesex. Unfortunately, they faced mighty men with heavy bats on unfavourable pitches, and struggled more often than not. Phil even found himself outshone by his wife, Frances, whose genially insulting books on touring with England offended his team-mates but turned into huge best-sellers. He later grew rich in business, rather portly and became, improbably, Middlesex's chairman of cricket. Matthew Engel

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