(Barbados Nation) National hero and cricketing legend Sir Garfield Sobers yesterday described the late English cricket all-rounder and journalist Trevor Bailey as a “wonderful person”.
Bailey, 87, died of apparent smoke inhalation after a fire at his Crowstone Road, Westcliff, Essex, home yesterday morning.
His body was found on the kitchen floor by firemen who managed to rescue his wife Greta from bed.
Sir Garry said Bailey was on his way out of cricket when he first met him and their relationship was mainly off the field.
He said Bailey had written a book on him and through that interaction he had first got to know him. They also interacted when Sir Garry toured England.
“He and I got on very well and I found him a very nice person to talk to,” said Sir Garry.
“I once spoke to him about how West Indian cricketers, especially in Barbados, developed with the use of tennis balls.
“This was something that cricketers in England never really did, and he started to develop tennis ball cricket in England.
“I believe it is now played in various places quite often in England,” Sir Garry said.
The cricket icon said Bailey was the driving force behind a popular BBC television production on him entitled This Is Your Life that was secretly compiled in collaboration with Sir Garry’s family.
Sir Garry recalled that as an Essex man, Bailey was instrumental in the development of the early career of the late Barbados and West Indies all-rounder Keith Boyce whom he took to that county.
He extended his condolences to the Bailey family.
Bailey, known as the “Barnacle” for his dour approach to batting and adhesive qualities at the wicket, played 61 Tests for England between 1949 and 1959.
He scored 2 290 runs at an average of 29.74 with one century (134) and ten fifties, and captured 132 wickets at an average of 29.21 with five five-wicket hauls and one ten-wicket haul.
Bailey’s best Test bowling figures came against the West Indies [seven for 34] at Sabina Park in the 1953-54 tour. During his career England were considered the best team in world cricket.
In a 21-year career for Essex, Bailey scored 1 000 runs and took 100 wickets in the same season on eight occasions.
He had the honour of starting his Test career with a six-wicket innings haul at Headingley against New Zealand and the dubious distinction of ending it with a “pair” against Australia at Melbourne.
Bailey, a Cambridge University graduate, started a career in journalism in the mid-1960s with the Financial Times and was their cricket and football correspondent for more than two decades.
He was also a popular commentator on BBC’s Test Match Special programme for many years.
