THOMAS William Graveney, OBE, known to the cricketing world as Tom Graveney, was a prolific batsman, who represented England in Test cricket from July 1951 with a Test match against South Africa, to June 1969, when he played his last Test against the West Indies. Graveney died on Nov 3, 2015, at the age of 88. He played both the Test cricket on behalf of England and first class cricket for the Gloucestershire and Worcestershire counties and finally for Queensland.

Tom Graveney was an elegant batsman and was considered among the leading players of his generation. He scored a total of 4,882 runs at a batting average of 44.38 in 79 Test matches during his career. He scored 11 Test hundreds and 20 half centuries with the highest score of 258 against West Indies in 1957. He was also a right-arm leg break bowler but could only manage one Test wicket. Graveney remained president of the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), for 2004-05.

Graveney was a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1953, and captained England on one occasion, standing in for Colin Cowdry in the drawn fourth Test match against the Australians at Headingley in 1968. In addition, he toured Pakistan in 1968-69, as vice-captain of the English team, when I met him in Lahore and took his autograph. On July 9, 2009, Graveney was inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame.

Parvez Rahim

Karachi

Published in Dawn, November 7th, 2015

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