Brian Close dies

Sod the "celebrity" death list, this is a cricket forum.


RIP to an England cricketing legend. He will be much missed. Tough as nails, and a lovely guy from all reports.

I know his RIP has been announced on the communal grave thread, but Close was something special in cricket.

So here are two obituaries, and a period piece from a close admirer, better known as a chatshow host from the same place that gave us Boycott, Dicky & Dazzler (though in the Broad Acres, they do it by village, not town).


By the Yorkshire CCC historian, relatively matter-of-fact

http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/story/920507.html

By cricket author and sports correspondent for the Telegraph (here for The Cricketer), a bit more obviously fulsome:

http://www.thecricketer.com/default.aspx?pageid=1223&catid=71&topicid=42276

And by Parky, back in 2001, forthright in opinion:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/cricket/counties/2999579/Close-still-battling-on-at-70.html


The obvious footage (sound starts only at 20 secs)



The results:




Early days:

Didn't necessarily get on with everyone.

Trev's words remind me of Bonzo Dog's tribute to King Kong


"By all accounts he was a great bloke".


He certainly didn't suffer fools gladly!

Tough bloke, unflappable by many accounts. Great servant of English cricket. Seemed the sort of bloke who'd live a long life. RIP

A typically dour Yorkshireman who played the game hard.
Not everyone's cup of tea, but a man you'd always want on your side.
I'll never forget the battering he took at age 45 from the West Indies quicks in '76.
Brave man, great cricketer.

RIP

Sad news.

Can't believe he was 84.  I have memories of him playing. 

One of the few players to play in 4 different decades.  His career basically bridged Bradman to Border.

Well, he did play (charity matches) into his 70s. (See Parky tribute.)

He played before my time - but the clips I've seen of him at the age of 45 facing up to the 1976 WI pace quartet is simply some of the most frightening yet compelling viewing. Love watching that - no helmet, no chest pads or any of that. Just a bloke in a white shirt, swaying, snapping his head back to avoid another incoming salvo and wearing it on the body when he just couldn't evade it. All the while just staring it down - calm and under control. Talk about hard - I can't think of any other modern day cricketer that gets near to him in the bravery stakes.

For once, Illingwort bowled a bit of a short ball outside the off stump, which Martin Young pulled and he got Close above his right eye. The ball ballooned up over Jimmy Binks, the wicket-keeper, and into the hands of Phil Sharpe at first slip – caught! Blood was pouring down Close’s face. It didn’t worry him, he just wiped it away, and fielded for about another ten minutes. Then the lunch interval came and he walked back – blood still pouring down – and as he went in, one of the members said, ‘Mr Close, you mustn’t stand as near as that. It’s very dangerous. What would have happened if it had hit you slap between the eyes?’ He said, ‘He’d have been caught at cover!’

RIP

RIP to a Yorkie and England Legend

As tough as old boots, drank whiskey and smoked, they don't make them like him any more.

PeterCS wrote:Well, he did play (charity matches) into his 70s. (See Parky tribute.)

Yep, he guested for an over 60's side in Worcester for a number of years.

Before my time, but no less of a legend for it.

Show no pain.

RIP

RIP. It's fantastic that he played for so long after he retired from international cricket. It just shows how deeply he loved the game.

There's many of us who passionately follow the game, a few who've played it seriously, fewer still who've played it at the international level. But I've always thought that there's an even more select group, membership of which doesn't need experience or ability levels- those who don't give up playing even as they grow old. He was one of those rare ones and he did not need to be a legendary hard man or an international cricketer to win, for what it was worth, my admiration.

One more article to add, the most genial of the four (by a close witness):

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2015/sep/14/brian-close-dies-somerset-yorkshire-botham-richards-vic-marks

PeterCS wrote:Trev's words remind me of Bonzo Dog's tribute to King Kong


"By all accounts he was a great bloke".


He certainly didn't suffer fools gladly!

so he met Taips?

RIP for a hard man of cricket...poms answer to Chappelli

Lindsay no.2 wrote:He played before my time - but the clips I've seen of him at the age of 45 facing up to the 1976 WI pace quartet is simply some of the most frightening yet compelling viewing. Love watching that - no helmet, no chest pads or any of that. Just a bloke in a white shirt, swaying, snapping his head back to avoid another incoming salvo and wearing it on the body when he just couldn't evade it. All the while just staring it down - calm and under control. Talk about hard - I can't think of any other modern day cricketer that gets near to him in the bravery stakes.

Aye, my fave photo of Brian Close is one where he is one of a number of fielders in close to a spinner as the batsman sweeps hard. All the other fielders are ducking and weaving, but not Close - he is standing tall, no arms up protecting his face, valiantly looking for the ball. Tough as teak.

horace wrote:

RIP for a hard man of cricket...poms answer to Chappelli

I can only assume you made that rash statement with tongue firmly in cheek, H !
For starters, Close would have faced up to Botham in a scrap .... not run away from him!

Merlin wrote:

horace wrote:

RIP for a hard man of cricket...poms answer to Chappelli

I can only assume you made that rash statement with tongue firmly in cheek, H !
For starters, Close would have faced up to Botham in a scrap .... not run away from him!

I thought it would be impossible to cheap this thread, but I underestimated horrie's banality.

Merlin, When he played - which I remember very well - Chappell was hard, tough, gave no quarter and expected none in return. I am not a fan of his post retirement. I was referring to their common tough as old boots approach to playing the game.

PeterCS wrote:One more article to add, the most genial of the four (by a close witness):

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2015/sep/14/brian-close-dies-somerset-yorkshire-botham-richards-vic-marks

Cheers for that link - really lovely piece by Vic Marks.

I was reading through the comments under the article and this one tickled me:

According to Eric Morecombe one of the things that signalled the arrival of summer
was the sound of leather on Brian Close.

Pleasure. As I've noted before (most recently on his piece re: Ballance, I think), Marks writes with knowledge, style, wit and compassion.