LONDON Former England captain Colin Cowdrey, who devoted his life to the game he loved and played with distinction, died on Tuesday at the age of 67.
Cowdrey played 114 tests between 1954 and 1975, scoring 7,264 runs at an average of 44.06. He compiled 22 centuries, including one against Australia in 1968 to mark his achievement as the first person to play 100 tests.
After retiring from the first-class game in 1976 Cowdrey became a conscientious administrator, serving as head of the International Cricket Council.
His achievements were recognized when he was ennobled with title of Lord Cowdrey of Tonbridge, home of the school where he learned his cricket.
Cowdrey was always destined to become a great cricketer.
Born in India he was christened Michael Colin Cowdrey, the initials deliberately chosen by his father in acknowledgment of the Marylebone Cricket Club, the private club which ran the game until 1969.
Cowdrey was a schoolboy prodigy who went on to score prolifically at Oxford University.
Heavily built but gifted with a wonderful eye and sharp reflexes, Cowdrey's cover-driving evoked memories of Walter Hammond and he was chosen in a strong side for the 1954-5 England Tour of Australia.
He fully justified his selection, scoring 102 out of 191 in the Melbourne test, an innings of grace and maturity beyond his years.
In a golden era for English cricket, Cowdrey combined with his Cambridge University contemporary Peter may to score the bulk of his country's runs in a decade dominated by bowlers.
(Reuter)