Tom Graveney's Worcestershire

Tom Graveney played the cover-drive with the easeful resolve of a man leaning across the breakfast table to pick up his morning paper. There was a high backlift, measured footwork and the smoothest of downswings before the ball brushed the turf on its way to the off-side boundary. Fielders trotted after it, often more in obeisance than pursuit. Folk who watched Graveney play that stroke at Worcester were lost to cricket for the rest of their lives.

If you conducted a poll asking spectators to select the post-war English batsman whose style was easiest on the eye, there is a fair chance that the names of Graveney and David Gower would appear at the top of it. Yet there was great substance behind the elegance of both men.

Graveney represented Gloucestershire from 1948 until 1960 and Worcestershire from 1961 until his retirement in 1970. He played 79 Test matches, and his 47793 runs in all first-class cricket included 122 centuries. His natural ball- striking ability – many reckon he could have been a professional golfer – was preserved and enhanced by assiduous preparation. Every morning, Graveney would practise his batting and each net session took the shape of an innings in which attacking shots were only attempted when the bowling and the pitch had been assessed. For all that he played the strokes which snobs thought the preserve of amateurs, he was a professional to his fingertips.