Sir Alec Bedser was one of the greatest pacer cricketing world ever saw. The right-arm medium-fast bowler used to lead the English bowling attack in 1950s. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest English cricketer of 20th century.
Bedser carried the English bowling attack for many years. In his brilliant career of 51 matches, he snared 236 wickets with an average of 24.89. The English pacer claimed fifteen five-wicket hauls alongside five ten-wicket hauls. His career best was 14 scalps while conceding 99 runs.
The English bowler got his first national call up from England to play against India back in 1946. It was an instant success as he was selected after playing just eleven first class matches for his county team, Surrey.
The medium-pacer made his first International appearance in an inaugural Test against India at Lord’s and what an extraordinary debut it was!
He scalped seven wickets on Day 1 of the Test match including scalps of Indian captain Nawab of Pataudi, Vijay Hazare and Lala Amarnath. He ended his fiery spell with magnificent figures of 7/49.
Bedser’s hunger for wickets did not end here and he went on to dismiss four Indian batsmen in the second innings to add his tally of wickets in the match to 11. Picking up 10-fer on debut gave an indication of promising career ahead of him.
Alec picked 24 wickets in that three-match Test series against India, out of which 22 came in just two match, and made his presence feel in the International cricket circuit. His amazing season resulted in his nomination as a Wisden cricketer of the year for 1947.
In October 2004 Bedser was selected in 'England's Greatest Post-War XI' by The Wisden Cricketer, an authoritative monthly cricket magazine.
The English pacer played his last Test match against South Africa in Manchester. After retiring from International cricket, he served as a national team selector from 1962 to 1985. He was chairman of selectors from 1968 to 1981. England played 18 series while he was the chairman and won ten out of them.
Alec has an interesting and fascinating record of dismissing the great Sir Don Bradman six times in Test matches.
