RIP Brian Close

[Danny-Boy]

No. Steele won SPOTY the previous year, for grinding out a few 50s against an Aussie attack of Lillee and Thommo. Steele actually scored a ton against the WI team.

Close was something else: the toughest cricketer I've ever seen. He used to field so close, he could have picked the batsman's pocket. A great player and an inspiring one. RIP Closey

Amen. To field up close like that without a helmet, what guts that took.

A true hunk of Yorkshire steel and grit.

 

[Danny-Boy]

Botham (Scunthorpe) and pretty sure Mike Gatting was on Arsenal's books, though didn't play in the league or for the first team.

As they said at the time take out Ian and it would be "Shorpe". Put a few hundreds on the gate but he wasn't a true footballer. Sorry Both.

 

[Seagull over Canaryland]

My first test match was England v West Indies at the Oval in '76. Michael 'Whispering Death' Holding in his pomp. Elegant and scary at the same time.

I recall thinking how brave Brain Close had been to take those deliveries on his body earlier in the series. No respite from the other bowlers either. Deeply impressive.

It seems remarkable for Close to be recalled to the England side at the aged of 45 - and then be asked to open the batting against the WIndies. Yet he hadn't opened the batting for several years. Close supposedly asked why he hadn't been made Captain too. I think he was quite serious.

I imagine it was interesting to be around the Yorkshire dressing room back in the '60s, with characters like Close, Boycott, Illingworth and Trueman. No room for shrinking wall flowers!!

I wonder what Close would have made of players like KP...... a different sort of man management might have been 'applied'.

 

[The Birdman]

Stood his ground against the West Indies without padding brave cricketer RIP

 

[Leekbrookgull]

Sad news , a truly great man . He didn't bruise easily

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This type of bowling has little place in cricket and i can remember how well the West Indian attack used it. There is a shortage of skill from the bowler in that kind of delivery and IMHO none of that attack were anyway near world class it was just short pitched. Where is Line and Length,where is genuine movement off the seam ?

 

[highway61]

Best quote today from Michael Vaughan saying that he asked Close for advice on an LBW problem. His reply, Go into the nets without pads lad, you will soon sort it out!

 

[Gwylan]

IMHO none of that attack were anyway near world class it was just short pitched.

Get out of here. Holding, Roberts, Garner, Croft, Marshall not world class? They all had averages of 25 (or less) and all, but Croft (whose career was cut short by the rebel tour of SA) took at least 200 wickets. Holding's bowling on a flat Oval pitch in 1976 was model fast bowling and Marshall could virtually make the ball sing - anyone who faced him would laugh at the suggestion that he couldn't move the ball

 

[Eeyore]

Best mates with Geoffrey Boycott....... Well, maybe not.

 

[Eeyore]

This type of bowling has little place in cricket and i can remember how well the West Indian attack used it. There is a shortage of skill from the bowler in that kind of delivery and IMHO none of that attack were anyway near world class it was just short pitched. Where is Line and Length,where is genuine movement off the seam ?

Michael Holding, Andy Roberts and Wayne Daniel ? The only reason England got the barrage in that series was because of Tony Grieg's insane goading. Those chaps didn't need to resort to short stuff, because they were world class.

Holding was a line and length bowler, and fecking fast too. His performance at The Oval in '76, on a slow flat top, is in Cricket folklore.

 

[OzMike]

RIP Brian, a character and a joy to see in action.

 

[Mo Gosfield]

Brian Close had what a lot of top sportsmen/women have....courage.
Talent helps but without courage you will be nothing. The courage to be bold and back yourself. The courage to push your body beyond the normal extremes of physical endurance. The courage to bounce back from adversity, when everything seems against you. The courage to face up to violent and aggressive opposers and to stand firm. The courage to battle your own mental demons and come out the other side. The courage to re-invent yourself to try and make yourself even more successful.
I remember the brave and courageous more than I do the talented and wasteful.

 

[dazzer6666]

My first test match was England v West Indies at the Oval in '76. Michael 'Whispering Death' Holding in his pomp. Elegant and scary at the same time.

I recall thinking how brave Brain Close had been to take those deliveries on his body earlier in the series. No respite from the other bowlers either. Deeply impressive.

It seems remarkable for Close to be recalled to the England side at the aged of 45 - and then be asked to open the batting against the WIndies. Yet he hadn't opened the batting for several years. Close supposedly asked why he hadn't been made Captain too. I think he was quite serious.

I imagine it was interesting to be around the Yorkshire dressing room back in the '60s, with characters like Close, Boycott, Illingworth and Trueman. No room for shrinking wall flowers!!

I wonder what Close would have made of players like KP...... a different sort of man management might have been 'applied'.

Think the conversation would have been very brief, and most probably 'outside'. Actually a shame there isn't someone in the current setup that could have done it.