Former England opener John Edrich passes away, aged 83

John Edrich, one of the greatest and bravest English openers of all-time, has passed away at the age of 83 due to natural causes. Edrich, who had a Test triple century to his name, played 77 Tests for England between 1963 and 1976, scoring 5138 runs at 43.54. After kick-starting his Test career against the […]
 
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Former England opener John Edrich passes away, aged 83

John Edrich, one of the greatest and bravest English openers of all-time, has passed away at the age of 83 due to natural causes. Edrich, who had a Test triple century to his name, played 77 Tests for England between 1963 and 1976, scoring 5138 runs at 43.54.

After kick-starting his Test career against the likes of Wes Hall and Charlie Griffiths, Edrich enjoyed a career of great substance before retiring 13 years later against the same opposition with Michael Holding and Wayne Daniel sending in some bullets. In the meantime, he played some of the fine innings for an Englishman in international cricket and for Surrey on the county circuit.

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“With John’s passing, we’ve lost a prolific and fearless batsman – one of the select few who has scored more than 5,000 runs for England,” ECB CEO Tom Harrison said in a statement.

“His duels with some of the world’s best fast bowlers were legendary, and it’s a testament to his ability that his 310 not out against New Zealand in 1965 remains the fifth-highest Test score by an English batsman. He will be sadly missed, and our thoughts are with his family and friends.”

Former England opener John Edrich passes away, aged 83

Edrich – the first MoM in ODI format

Edrich is also remembered as the first player to hit a boundary in the ODI format, in the first-ever one-day international at Melbourne in 1970-71. He scored the format’s first-ever half-century as well, thus claiming the first Player-of-the-Match award for his innings of 82 from 119 balls.

For Surrey, he remained a legend, scoring 39790 runs that included a wholesome 103 centuries and as many as 188 half-centuries in 564 games. Later in years, he became Surrey’s president and contributed to the growth of many cricketers in the mid-2000s.