John Murray

John Murray was one of cricket's greatest stylists - a wicketkeeper whose gloves, palms uppermost before each ball, traced flowing semi-circles, one the mirror image of the other; and a batsman who it sometimes seemed would rather lose his wicket than make an ugly stroke. But appearances were deceptive. Murray, a talkative west Londoner, not only made spectacular catches standing back, but after Harold Stephenson of Somerset brought off more stumpings than any keeper since the war, including a high number of leg-side ones from Fred Titmus's offbreaks. His world record of 1527 wicketkeeping dismissals stood for a decade until Bob Taylor surpassed it. As a batsman "JT" specialised in elegant thirties. But against West Indies at The Oval in 1966, his 112 (from No. 8) enabled England, trailing 3-0 in the series, to save face with an innings win. John Thicknesse