Brian Statham - Sudden Emergence

Sudden Emergence

Prior to making his Lancashire debut on 17 June 1950, his 20th birthday, Statham had received no formal coaching. Early on in his career with the club, he became known as George because when he arrived it was the first time in years that there was no one player called George. In his first year, 1950, Statham had relatively little bowling to do because the under-prepared pitches at Old Trafford were so favourable to spinners Roy Tattersall and Malcolm Hilton. Nonetheless, two fine performances against Somerset and Yorkshire and several valuable early wickets in other innings gave him an excellent average even though he only took 36 wickets in the County Championship. This placed him top of the average amongst bowlers of pace, but at the time he was seen as only a promising newcomer who might strengthen a department in which England had been deplorably weak ever since the resumption of first-class cricket after the Second World War. However, when England were depleted by injuries in Australia, Statham and off-spinner Tattersall were surprisingly called into the team despite no previous representative experience. Though Statham did not achieve anything of note in his initial Test, by the time the 1951 season began he had made a meteoric rise.