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Brian Close

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   Brian Close
   England (Eng)
   Brian Close
   Batting style        Left-handed batsman (LHB)
   Bowling type         Right-arm off break/medium pace
                        Tests ODIs
   Matches              22    3
   Runs scored          887   49
   Batting average      25.34 16.33
   100s/50s             0/4   0/0
   Top score            70    43
   Overs bowled         202   3
   Wickets              18    0
   Bowling average      29.55 n/a
   5 wickets in innings 0     0
   10 wickets in match  0     N/A
   Best bowling         4/35  n/a
   Catches/ stumpings   24/0  1/0

   As of 13 July 1976
   Source: Cricinfo.com

   Dennis Brian Close (born 24 February 1931 in Rawdon, Yorkshire) is the
   youngest man ever to play Test cricket for England. He was admitted to
   the Test team to play against New Zealand at just 18 years and 149 days
   old. Close went on to play 22 Test matches for England, captaining them
   seven times, winning six times and drawing once. Close also captained
   Yorkshire to four county championship titles, the main honour English
   county cricket clubs play for. He later went on to captain Somerset,
   where he is widely credited with turning Somerset round to a
   hard-playing team that helped mould Viv Richards and Ian Botham into
   the cricketing greats they became.

   Throughout his cricket career, which lasted from 1948 to the 1977
   season, Close was one of the most charismatic and well-known
   cricketers. At just over six feet (1.8 m) tall he was a noticeable
   presence on the field, often fielding at short leg. Short leg is a
   position close to the batsman, and, as cricketers did not use head or
   body protection in Close's day, he would often get hurt when a batsman
   struck a ball that hit him. Close was also noted for standing up to
   intimidatory bowling when he was batting and letting the ball hit his
   unprotected torso. Indeed, Close was so well known for getting hit a
   lot that Eric Morecambe, Britain's leading comedian of the time, would
   joke that "you know the cricket season has arrived when you hear the
   sound of leather on Brian Close" (mimicking the usual phrase "leather
   on willow" - cricket balls being made of leather, and bats, of willow).

   Yet despite his successes, Close was dogged by controversy throughout
   his career. He was serving a sentence of being "confined to barracks"
   during his National Service when called up for his first international
   tour, sacked by England for timewasting, and sacked by Yorkshire for
   being against one-day cricket and not giving enough support to younger
   cricketers. He went on to tour apartheid South Africa and
   white-minority controlled Rhodesia, and as chairman of Yorkshire's
   cricket subcommittee, he had many run-ins with the then Yorkshire
   captain, Geoffrey Boycott. In short, Close was known as a cricketing
   gambler; he was prepared to take risks and to court controversy
   throughout his career. As his schoolfriend Bryan Stott said, "Brian was
   a very bright lad, but at school and later on he has done some of the
   most incredibly stupid things".

Childhood

   Close was born into a working-class family in Town Street, Rawdon,
   Yorkshire on 24 February 1931 to Harry, a weaver, and Esther (née
   Barratt), the second eldest of five boys and a girl. Close was brought
   up in a series of council houses in Rawdon, Guiseley and Yeadon.
   Although these houses were small, they did have a back yard, where
   young Brian could practise cricket with his father. Harry Close was
   himself a keen cricketer, who kept wicket and was a big hitter in the
   Bradford League, but he never quite made it to the Yorkshire county
   team.

   The hero and dominating figure of Close's home town of Rawdon was
   Hedley Verity, a great England and Yorkshire player in the period
   before the Second World War, who also came from Rawdon, and the Verity
   family continued to live there. Indeed, for a while Close lived in the
   same Canada Estate that Verity had lived in. At primary school, Close
   was taught by Grace Verity, Hedley's sister and was friends with two of
   Verity's children, Wilfred and Douglas. Later Close went to Aireborough
   Grammar School, where Verity was the best-known alumnus. Close's early
   years were surrounded by images of local cricketing greatness.

   Close appeared set for equal greatness. At school he was a good
   all-round sportsman, and an excellent cricketer: Aireborough went
   unbeaten in the six cricketing summers while Close was there, with
   Close dominating junior level cricket in the area, both within and
   outside schools. He joined Rawdon Cricket Club in 1942 when he was
   eleven years of age and was almost immediately selected to play for the
   under 18 side and the second team. However, he also excelled as a
   student and seriously considered becoming a doctor and had an offer to
   go to university after his National Service at age 18, which, in the
   event, he turned down.

   As well as cricket, Close was also proficient at football to such an
   extent that he was taken on as an amateur by Leeds United. He even
   became the first Leeds player to play international football at youth
   level, when in October 1948 he played for England against Scotland at
   Pittodrie Park in Aberdeen. However, when he got injured playing
   football, thereby allowing him to play cricket for Yorkshire County
   Cricket Club in 1949, his sporting ambitions were focused on cricket.
   Close's excellence at cricket, together with Yorkshire's enthusiasm for
   it, even encouraged Bradford MP Maurice Webb to intervene to allow
   Close to complete the 1949 season for Yorkshire, when he would
   ordinarily have entered into National Service.

Close's 1st first-class season

   Close's first first-class games for Yorkshire in the 1949 season were
   against Cambridge and then Oxford University. Close acquitted himself
   well, although his 8 wickets against Oxford were not enough to prevent
   Oxford winning by 69 runs. After these games, he continued to impress,
   particularly as a bowler: in his fifth first-class game, against Essex,
   Close took 5 for 58 in Essex's first innings, and top-scored with an
   undefeated 88. His performances for Yorkshire earned him a place in the
   North v South Test trial. However, he underperformed in that game
   taking no wickets and scoring only 2 runs.

   Close continued to do well for Yorkshire and was selected for the
   Players against the Gentlemen. At that time class status was still
   important: professionals, known as Players, were expected to show
   deference to the amateurs, who were the Gentlemen. Gentlemen did not
   share changing rooms with Players, and cricket scorecards would
   differentiate between the two of them, with the names of Gentlemen
   being prefixed "Mr", the names of the professionals being styled by
   their surnames and then their initials. This was a time when it was
   considered necessary to announce on the tannoy errors such as "for F.J.
   Titmus read Titmus, F.J.".

   Close did well for the Players and top-scored with 65. When he reached
   his fifty, he was congratulated by the Gentlemen's wicket-keeper, Billy
   Griffith, and in a conversation that now seems innocuous, Grifftith
   congratulated Close by saying, "Well played, Brian", with Close
   replying, "Thank you, Billy". However, Close had not referred to
   Griffith as "Mister", and ten days later was called to see Brian
   Sellers, a former captain and member of the Yorkshire committee, who
   reprimanded Close for the effrontery.

   At the same time, Close had been selected for the third three-day Test
   match at Old Trafford against the touring New Zealand cricket team; in
   this game, Close became, and as of 2005 remains, England's
   youngest-ever Test player, being aged just 18 years and 149 days when
   he played against New Zealand. He came in when England needed quick
   runs, with the instruction from Freddie Brown, the captain, being to
   "have a look at a couple and then give it a go". Close played two balls
   back to the bowler, then hit out for the boundary, only to be caught
   just short, one-handed, for a duck.

   Overall, Close's first season must be seen as a resounding success. He
   played his first Test, and as of 2005 remains the youngest player to
   have achieved the double of 1,000 runs and 100 wickets in a first-class
   season, and the only player to have achieved this double in his first
   season as a first-class player. This first season set the flavour of
   the remainder of Close's career: times of notable success, tarnished by
   many run-ins with officialdom, and with Sellers in particular. Close
   himself felt that the Test call-up was an albatross round his neck. He
   was always referred to as England's youngest player, always with a
   suggestion of unfulfilled promise.

Tour to Australia in 1950

   Professional footballer Close, as he described himself, finally did his
   National Service on 1950, becoming 22185787 Signalman Close at
   Catterick. This did not prevent him concentrating on sport, although it
   did mean his first-class cricket games in 1950 were restricted to
   turning out for the Combined Services side. His performances both
   first-class and non-first-class were exceptional enough to attract the
   attentions of England cricket captain, Freddie Brown. Before calling
   Close up to the Test side to tour Australia, Brown consulted Close's
   fellow Yorkshiremen, including Bill Bowes. Bowes pleaded with Brown not
   to select Close arguing that it was too early, and his early promotion
   could damage him as a player. Bowes later described Close as having a
   "tremendous ability spoilt by moments of extreme spontaneity, and of
   determination marred by rashness"; Brown had ignored Bowes and selected
   Close; Close was never to be a regular in the England Test squad.

   Close's call-up to the Aussie touring party attracted a lot of press
   interest, and a press conference was called at Catterick to give the
   press a chance to question Close. However, his moment of glory also
   gave rise to controversy when one pressman found out that Close was
   "confined to barracks" for discliplinary reasons at the time his
   call-up was announced as he had not turned up to play for the Combined
   Services in a cricket match. The pressman promised to stay silent, but
   the story circulated in Catterick, and a week later a clerk on the camp
   newspaper telephoned the Daily Express with the news. However, Close
   still toured, and his National Service was suspended so he could do so.

   Close was the youngest on the tour, and had little in common with the
   rest of the party; by the end he was not even on talking terms with
   most of them. After a reasonable start, Close faltered, and then became
   injured, with a badly pulled groin muscle. It was then that Close was
   selected to play in the second Test. England were beaten by 28 runs.
   Australia were dismissed for 194. England however, had collapsed to 54
   for 4 when Close came in with only eight deliveries to go before lunch
   on the second day. Misjudging the bounce on the Melbourne wicket, which
   was somewhat different to the bounce of English wickets, he swept a
   ball from Iverson only to get a top edge to Sam Loxton behind square.
   The dressing room was silent when he returned. England captain, Freddie
   Brown, when advised that Close was a bit down and needed consolation
   replied, "Let the blighter stew. He deserves it."

   Later, when travelling to Tasmania, he was ordered to play despite
   doctor's advice to rest, and as Close tried to nurse his injury, he
   merely got a reputation for malingering and insubordination. He was
   made to play six of the next seven games. When England won a Test match
   in Australia for the first time in 13 years in the final Test, Close
   was not even present, and was not even on speaking terms with the team.
   Close hated the tour, and even contemplated suicide during it.
   Nowadays, someone in Close's position would be carefully man-managed
   and well looked after by captain and team manager. But times were
   different then, and the Yorkshire stalwarts were proved right: he had
   been picked too early, and Close would never be a regular Test pick.

Out of the limelight 1951 to 1958

   The years between 1951 and 1958 were relatively unsuccessful for Close,
   even though he achieved 1,000 runs in a season 5 times. However,
   immediately after the tour to Australia, Close did have a good season
   with the Combined Services, including a century against the touring
   South Africans. At the end of his National Service in October 1951, he
   signed for Arsenal, and tried to combine this with his cricket for
   Yorkshire. But it proved impossible to combine the role of dual
   professional: Close received permission from Yorkshire captain Norman
   Yardley to leave the first match of the 1952 cricket season to play for
   Arsenal. This leave of absence was later rescinded by the match manager
   in Yardley's absence. Close arrived late at Arsenal and was sacked.

   Close enjoyed a good 1952 season at Yorkshire, achieving another
   double, but played no Test cricket. He played soccer for Bradford City
   this time, and it was whilst doing this that he picked up a serious
   knee injury that ended his professional footballing career, and nearly
   threatened his cricket career. Close played only two first-class
   matches in the 1953 cricket season.

   In 1954 Close scored his first first-class century for Yorkshire, an
   undefeated 123 for Yorkshire against the touring Pakistanis. In 1955 he
   scored his first county championship century. He also played one Test
   match against South Africa, and was 3 wickets short of another 1,000
   runs/100 wickets double. He was in the Test selectors' sights again,
   and was picked for the MCC tour to Pakistan in 1955/6. Close played two
   Tests against the West Indies in 1957, but did not perform well enough
   to secure a regular Test place.

   Meanwhile, in this period, Yorkshire had not win a single County
   Championship. At the end of 1958 there was a shake-up in the Yorkshire
   team. Yorkshire appointed a new captain, Ronnie Burnet, and Johnny
   Wardle, Yorkshire's top bowler and Close's preferred choice of captain,
   was dropped for disciplinary reasons. Burnet was 40 and seemed an
   unlikely man to take Yorkshire to the top of the championship. He had
   been preferred as it was felt by the Yorkshire committee that he would
   inject some necessary discipline into the Yorkshire team, and, with
   tactical support from his senior professional, Brian Close, he
   succeeded in doing just that.

Yorkshire as County Champions and more controversy

                                          Career record First-class List A
                                                Matches         786    164
                                            Runs scored       34994   3458
                                        Batting average       33.26  23.84
                                               100s/50s      52/171   2/11
                                              Top score         198    131
                                           Balls bowled       69972   2258
                                                Wickets        1171     65
                                        Bowling average       26.42  22.43
                                   5 wickets in innings          43      0
                                    10 wickets in match           3    N/A
                                           Best Bowling        8/41    4/9
                                     Catches/ Stumpings       813/1   53/0
                                                   As of 2 September 1986
                                                   Source:

   Burnet, aided by Close, was immediately successful, and in 1959,
   Yorkshire won the county championship. At the end of that season, as
   Close later heard, Burnet was told that, having just won the
   championship, he could have another season as captain, but, if he did,
   Close would then take over. If he resigned at the end of 1959, Vic
   Wilson could take over as captain in preference to Close. Burnet chose
   to step down straightaway. Once Wilson took over, with Close still as
   the senior professional, it seemed that Yorkshire did not know how to
   lose. Yorkshire won the county championship again in 1960, were second
   in 1961, and won again in 1962.

   Close was called up for his seventh Test in 1961, against Australia.
   Again, it turned to disaster with Close being blamed for England's
   defeat. Many considered this unfair, including the Australian captain,
   Richie Benaud, who said, "I thought the slating of Brian was one of the
   most unjust things I have ever experienced".

   England were chasing 256 to win in just under 4 hours, and got to 150
   for 1. Then Ted Dexter and Peter May got out in quick succession to
   Benaud, who was pitching his leg breaks in the rough outside the right
   handers' leg stump. This brought Close to the crease. It was the last
   day of the Test, and the captain, May, was still asking his players to
   go for the runs. Close took a calculated risk, and chose to sweep
   Benaud. He took one six off Benaud. Then on the tenth ball he faced, he
   played another unorthodox sweep which O'Neill took above his head with
   two hands. Commentators did not appreciate what Close's approach was:
   to hit Benaud out of the attack and make it easier for right-handed
   batsmen to score runs. Purists were outraged, and as England collapsed
   to 201 all out and a 54 run defeat, Close alone took the blame, with
   some commentators saying he should never play for England again.

Yorkshire captaincy

   At the end of 1962, Wilson retired, and the Yorkshire committee
   appointed Close captain. According to Bowes "almost overnight it seemed
   that Brian Close matured". He wrote, "Close's field placings were as
   intelligent and antagonistic as any seen in the county for 25 years".

   Close's attitude, in his own words was that "I've always believed that
   the team is more important than the individual", and that credo stood
   Yorkshire in good stead. Ray Illingworth noted that when he went to
   Leicestershire, the players there were surprised that, while Yorkshire
   were perennial Championship winners, the batting averages of the lead
   batsmen tended to languish in the 20s. The answer was that Close had
   honed them to play the innings required at the right time: when quick
   runs were required, players did not play for their averages, they
   played for quick runs.

   Close was recalled to the Test squad in 1963, and played his first full
   series, against the West Indies. His innings in the second Test at
   Lord's remains his best known. Against Wes Hall and Charlie Griffith,
   two of the West Indies' quickest bowlers. In need of quick runs, Close
   took the battle to the West Indian fast bowlers, daring to advance down
   the wicket to them. This was an age before body protection and helmets,
   and time and again the ball struck Close firmly on his body. But he
   persevered. His 70 very nearly won the game for England, and with no
   other English player other than Ken Barrington scoring above 20, he
   saved the game. Set 234 to win, England ended on 228 for 9, with Colin
   Cowdrey famously coming in to bat (for two balls at the non-striker's
   end) with his broken arm in plaster.

   Although he was dismissed going for runs to win the game at the end,
   his courage earned him many plaudits, and his shirtless torso, black
   and blue with where he had been hit, made the front pages of the
   newspapers the next day. Len Hutton wrote him a congratulatory letter
   on his innings, and he returned to county cricket the hero. Overall in
   the series he made 300 runs, but Close did not get selected for the
   next series.

   Close also had immediate success as Yorkshire captain, winning the
   County Championship in 1963. His success in 1963 saw him named as a
   Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1964, as one of the five players to
   make the biggest impact in the English 1963 season. Close went on to
   captain Yorkshire to the county championship in 1966, 1967 and 1968.

   Brian first met his wife Vivienne, an air stewardess with BOAC in
   Bermuda whilst touring with Yorkshire in 1964, when she was engaged to
   someone else. He pursued her relentlessly, even though initially she
   considered him not to be her type. Brian gambled with his love life
   too: on New Year's Day 1965 he told her that if she didn't agree to
   marry him, he would never see her again. They married the following
   March. They went on to have one daughter, Lynn, and a son, Lance.

England captaincy

   After the fourth Test of their five-Test series against the West Indies
   in 1966, England were 3-0 down and had lost the series. Needing someone
   to come in to revitalise the squad, the England selectors turned to the
   successful Yorkshire captain, Brian Close. Close knew why he had been
   selected, and also why many of his men had been. At the pre-match
   dinner he said, "I shouldn't be here if we hadn't made such a mess of
   the series. What's more, neither would a few of you. You are here
   because you are all fighters, and we are going to keep the pressure on
   and keep it on for five days." What Close did was to engender a
   battling spirit for the final Test Match. So, when England were 166 for
   7 in reply to the West Indies' 268 all out, they did not give up.
   Instead, a century from Tom Graveney and John Murray, and
   half-centuries from Ken Higgs and John Snow, saw England to 527. The
   highlight of the match was when West Indian captain Gary Sobers, who
   had a batting average in the series of well over 100, came in to bat at
   137/5 with his side still 128 runs from making England bat again. Close
   knew that Sobers was a fine hooker, and he knew how he wanted to
   approach him, so he asked John Snow to bowl a bouncer first up.
   Everything went to plan: Sobers hooked, edged the ball to his body, and
   it rebounded to Close at his customary short leg position, close to the
   batsman, ready to take the catch or a full blow to the body had Sobers
   middled it. Sobers c. Close, b. Snow 0 off one ball. England went on to
   win the game by an innings and 34 runs.

   There was no overseas tour in 1966/7, so the next game Close captained
   was the first Test at Headingley against India in 1967. Of the 16 Tests
   India had previously played in England, England had won 12 and drawn 4,
   and there were no expectations that there would be anything other than
   an England victory in the 3-match series. But they still needed to be
   beaten, and England, under Close, won each game convincingly.

   Pakistan toured England in the second half of the summer of 1967. The
   first match of that three-Test series was a rain-affected draw. The
   second Test was won comfortably by England by 10 wickets. It seemed
   certain that Close would be selected to captain England in their 1967/8
   tour to the West Indies.

   Then on 16, 17 and 18 August, Yorkshire, captained by Close, played
   Warwickshire at Birmingham. Warwickshire had been set 142 to win in 100
   minutes. When the match ended, Warwickshire were 133/5 and the match
   was drawn, 9 runs short of the victory target. However Yorkshire
   managed to bowl only 24 overs, with only 2 being bowled in the last 15
   minutes. Whilst it was wet, and Yorkshire had to dry the ball often,
   this was seen as unacceptable time-wasting and gamesmanship. Close did
   not help himself as he personally berated a Warwickshire spectator who
   he thought had called out something inopportune, though in the event,
   he picked on the wrong man. After the game, Close said to the
   Warwickshire captain, M. J. K. Smith, "Bad luck, Mike, you played
   better than we did. But I couldn't give you the game." Smith appeared
   to accept this when he replied, "I quite understand."

   Brian Sellers, chairman of Yorkshire and the one who berated Close in
   1949 for saying "Thank you, Billy", then made matters worse for Close
   by sending an apology to the MCC. In 1967 England touring sides were
   still MCC sides rather than "England" sides, and the MCC took the
   opportunity to overrule the selectors who picked Close as captain.
   Close, whose temperament had been shown lacking, would not go to the
   West Indies; Cowdrey would captain the MCC England squad instead. And
   so it was that the Wednesday before the third and final Test against
   Pakistan, Close was told he had been stripped of the captaincy for the
   upcoming tour.

   The third Test against Pakistan was Close's final Test as Captain. He
   went on to lead England to a comprehensive 8 wicket victory and win the
   series 2-0. His record as captain was played 7, won 6, drawn 1, the
   best record of any England captain who has captained in more than 2
   Tests.

The last years at Yorkshire

   In 1969 Close played only 18 County Championship games as he was
   plagued by a calf injury, although he did lead Yorkshire to victory in
   the one-day Gillette Cup for a second time, the first time being in
   1965. A shoulder injury saw Close miss much of the 1970 season, and
   Yorkshire fell down the County Championship table, but once Close was
   fit again, they had an extraordinary run and finished a creditable
   fourth.

   Close, however, has always opposed one-day cricket, believing that it
   lessens players' abilities. Mike Procter notes that when
   Gloucestershire played Yorkshire in the John Player 40-over League in
   1970, with Yorkshire 3 wickets down needing 6 an over, word came from
   Close in the dressing room: "No chance of winning this one, lads — just
   get some batting practice."

   Yorkshire had a policy of not offering contracts to its players, but in
   return they would tell cricketers by the end of July if they did not
   require their services the next summer. When July 1970 came and went,
   Close must have thought he was safe. However, Close offended the
   Lancashire president, the Honourable Lionel Lister when Lister entered
   the away captain's changing room to speak to Close after Lancashire,
   Yorkshire's arch rivals, had beaten them at Old Trafford to retain the
   one-day John Player League trophy. Close, who may not have known who
   Lister was, offered Lister some choice words. Then Lister immediately
   told Brian Sellers, his Yorkshire counterpart, of the insult.

   Close wrote a letter to Lister apologising, and gave a copy to a
   Yorkshire committeeman. But the letter was never presented to the
   committee as a whole, which voted to sack him as the first agenda item
   on their next meeting. And so it was that in November 1970, Close was
   summoned to see Sellers, when he was given the choice of either
   resigning or being sacked. To begin with, he chose to resign. But later
   that day, and after speaking to his legal adviser, he retracted this,
   leaving Yorkshire to sack him. The reason, according to Yorkshire, was
   Close's dislike for the new 40-over one-day cricket league, that was
   first played in 1969 (Close thought it led to bad habits and negative
   play) and because Close had supposedly not brought on the younger
   players.

Somerset

   After being sacked by Yorkshire, the 40 year old Close received offers
   from many other counties, including Lancashire, Glamorgan, Middlesex
   and Leicestershire. But he turned all these down, preferring to accept
   a non-captain's role at Somerset.

   The rest from the captaincy did Close good, he went through the 1971
   season without injury and scored 1,389 runs, including a century in his
   first game for Somerset, and a century in the game against Yorkshire.
   In 1972 he was awarded the CBE by the Queen for his services to
   cricket. Close was also promoted to Somerset captain. He soon gained
   the same respect and commitment from his players he had at Yorkshire.
   He was also called up to the England one-day squad to captain them in a
   three-match one-day international series against Australia, which
   England won 2-1, when the regular England captain and his former
   Yorkshire team-mate, Ray Illingworth, injured his ankle in the last
   Test.

   In 1972/3 Close led a two-match tour of the "International Wanderers"
   to Rhodesia. The next two winters he captained the Derrick Robins' XI
   tours to apartheid South Africa. Robins' tours were the closest thing
   South Africa had to Test match cricket at that time, and for his
   efforts in the first of the tours to South Africa, Close was named as
   one of the four South African Cricket Annual Cricketers of the Year in
   1974.

   During his time at Somerset, Viv Richards and Ian Botham joined the
   county squad, and Close's leadership and discipline helped them become
   the great cricketers they are. Botham said of Close, "There was a
   genuine enthusiasm for cricket which rubbed off on all those playing
   alongside him. You couldn’t help but get excited by the game."

The final Test innings

   In 1976, the 45-year old Brian Close was called up for the first three
   Tests in England's five-Test series against the West Indies, who were
   no less ferocious than when Close was battered by them in 1963. In the
   second innings of the third Test at Old Trafford, Close's final Test
   innings, Close opened with the 39-year old John Edrich. Michael
   Holding, Andy Roberts and Wayne Daniel, a trio of fast bowlers pounded
   them for two and a half hours. It was one of the most brutal displays
   of fast bowling ever seen. Wisden said, "Close and Edrich defended
   their wickets and themselves against fast bowling, which was frequently
   too wild and hostile to be acceptable". Close himself said, "It must
   have been the worst wicket I experienced in Test cricket. The faster
   the West Indians bowled the worse it got because the balls broke
   through the surface of the wicket. They exploded and flew at you." And
   it was with this innings of 20 runs off 108 balls in 162 minutes that
   Close completed his Test career, under a vicious barrage, standing tall
   and taking the damage as he had against the West Indies at Lord's 13
   years ago in 1963. After that, both Close and Edrich were dropped for
   the fourth Test. The interval between Close's first and last Test
   matches was 27 years, the second longest after Wilfred Rhodes. Only one
   man, Zimbabwean John Traicos, has played a Test match at a greater age
   since.

Retirement

   By the time he retired from county cricket at the end of the 1977
   season, Close had achieved folk hero status for Somerset. He went on to
   play for Todmorden in the Lancashire League. Close also had a stint as
   an England selector between 1979 and 1981 and in 1984 he was elected to
   the Yorkshire committee. He became chairman of the cricket
   sub-committee, which led him into more controversy and conflict with
   the captain, Geoffrey Boycott.

   After his retirement from Somerset, Close continued to play at the
   Scarborough Festival against the touring international teams, first for
   TN Pearce’s XI in 1978 and then for his own XI from 1982 to 1986. In
   1986, aged 55, and playing his last-ever first-class innings, Close
   needed 10 runs to achieve a career-total 35,000 runs. When he scored 4
   he glanced a ball down leg-side to the wicket-keeper and walked.
   Afterwards, the New Zealanders said that if they'd known how near he
   was to the landmark, they would have let him stay, but Close would have
   none of it – he was out, and that was that. Close's 786 first-class
   matches leave him 10th on the all-time list. Only four other
   outfielders have taken more catches.

   Close continued to turn out to help train Yorkshire youngsters;
   sometimes captaining games with them and taking the short leg position
   without a cap, a position he had taken so many times in the past.
   Retrieved from " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Close"
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