The Bedsers by Alan Hill

Author:Alan Hill [Alan Hill]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Mainstream Publishing
Published: 2011-11-22T16:00:00+00:00

Trevor Bailey has paid high tribute to the partnership of Alec Bedser and Arthur McIntyre. It is a pairing which Bailey believes would have revelled in one-day cricket today: ‘It would have been very difficult for batsmen trying to slog against them. They would have paid the price.’ He also maintains that Alec’s accuracy as a bowler was in large part due to Mclntyre (and Godfrey Evans at Test level) standing up to him. ‘That was his bonus. Mac and Godfrey both took him superbly. He owed an enormous debt to them.’

McIntyre recalls the challenge presented by Alec’s insistence that he stood up as a wicket-keeper: ‘There was always a chance of a stumping and we worked out that the percentage of missed chances was low enough to justify the arrangement.’

Alec himself says: ‘I preferred Mac to stand up because I pitched the ball up better. If he stood back, you felt subsconciously that it was necessary to bowl shorter to reach him.’ Reinforcing the winning concept in Surrey’s championship years was one of McIntyre’s principles of wicket-keeping: ‘It is so important to attack the batter and stop him from wandering round the crease, as quite a lot do.’

The assessment of Alec is that Mac superbly passed the crucial test of any wicket-keeper in his ability to stand up to fast-medium bowling. He recalls his association with McIntyre, ‘a magnificent keeper, who did everything so easily and never made a fuss. Mac had the most difficult job in English county cricket, standing up to four bowlers. He often wore a chest pad, but he was rarely hit because his hands were so good and sure.’

Variety was the spice of McIntyre’s alert vigil behind the stumps. Encircled by Surrey’s brilliant close fielding cordon, he rejoiced in the excitement. ‘I was fortunate in that I kept to a world-class attack. There was always something happening to maintain your interest and keep you on your toes.’ He cites the seemingly contradictory assets of relaxation and concentration as paramount for a wicket-keeper: ‘There is nothing worse than keeping wicket all tensed up. If you are relaxed it means you are on top of your job.’

Roy Tattersall, the Lancashire and England off-spinner of those years, contends that McIntyre was as good as, if not better than, the more spectacular Godfrey Evans. ‘I was always very happy with Arthur Mac keeping to me,’ observes Tattersall.

Further evidence in support of the match-winning combination of Bedser and McIntyre is provided by Arthur Milton, the former Gloucestershire and England batsman. In one of his early games against Surrey at The Oval, Milton was taken unawares by Bedser’s deceptive pace off the wicket. ‘It was just short of a length and I was good on the back foot,’ he recalls. ‘The ball had gone by the time I’d played my shot and rocketed into Mac’s gloves.

‘In some shock, I looked aghast as the ball was nonchalantly tossed back to the bowler. I turned to McIntyre and said, weakly, “Christ, that nipped off a bit, Mac.

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