Brian Statham - Into His Prime

Into His Prime

Selected to tour Australia in 1954/1955, Statham's superb bowling, generally into the wind, helped the fiery Frank "Typhoon" Tyson win England the Ashes series by three Tests to one. Whilst he never achieved anything sensational, his back up to Tyson made sure the pressure Tyson's pace put on the Australians was maintained at both ends. With Tyson unavailable due to a blistered heel, Statham paired up with Trueman to open the bowling against South Africa at Lord's in 1955. Statham produced best bowling figures in Test matches in South Africa's second innings in the match; his 7/39 as England won by 79 runs. He bowled unchanged for two hours on a good pitch in England's unexpected victory. Had injury not intervened and kept his appearances down to only half of Lancashire's County Championship matches, Statham would have had remarkable figures. The highest first-class score of his career came against Leicestershire in 1955; however, his innings was cut short on the orders of his captain, Cyril Washbrook, who asked that Statham get himself out so that he would be fresh to bowl. In 1956, with pitches consistently favouring spinners, Statham did so little that he failed to reach 100 wickets. Still, his 6 for 27 against the Australians was enough to show his greatness was not in doubt.

On some dubious pitches in South Africa that winter, and in the following two English summers, England's unparalleled spread of bowling talent again gave Statham little chance to show his ability, but in county cricket, even with no regular partner, Statham was still the most reliable bowler and almost never failed to produce some extraordinary analyses. In 1957 against Warwickshire at Edgbaston, he took 15 for 89; against Leicestershire at Old Trafford in 1958 13 for 64; and at Cardiff that year he and Tattersall bowled Glamorgan out for 26. His average of 12.29 that year was his best-ever but he was still only third in the first-class list due to large numbers of very helpful pitches.