Jack Flavell

Worcestershire and England cricketer

ohn Alfred Flavell, cricketer: born Wall Heath, Staffordshire 15 May 1929; married (one daughter deceased); died Barmouth, Gwynedd 25 February 2004.

In September 1964 Jack Flavell's prowess with the new ball was such that E.W. Swanton was prompted to write: "Among first-class cricketers as many hold the view that Flavell is the best opening bowler in the country as do the same for Statham".

Flavell was a very strong, right-arm fast-medium bowler, genuinely quick on occasions, red-haired and fiery who, with his Devonian partner Len Coldwell, made most batsmen dread batting at Worcester 40 years ago. Given a green top and perhaps crosswind from off the Severn the pair could be all but unplayable and many a famous name of the time trailed despondently back to the pavilion. In the words of his county captain Tom Graveney, "Jack took no prisoners".

Not that Flavell was just a home bowler; his best performance was 9-30 against Kent at Dover in 1955 and he went into the records as one of the very few bowlers to achieve a hat trick of lbw decisions, against Lancashire, at Old Trafford in 1963. He also recorded hat tricks against Kent at Kidderminster and against Cambridge University at Fenner's, an indication of his consistent accuracy.

Staffordshire-born, he made his Worcestershire début aged 20 as a willing but somewhat tearaway bowler who took six years to win his county cap and who did not reach his peak until he was past 30.

Once in his stride Flavell became a formidable and feared opponent. He took 100 wickets in a season eight times, his best year being 1961 when, in the course of reaching 171 wickets at an average of 17.79 he made his début against Australia. He was called up to Old Trafford for the fourth Test, the series standing at 1-1, and bowled first change to Fred Trueman and Brian Statham, his match figures reading 3-126 on a pitch that turned to spin, Richie Benaud proving the matchwinner with a second innings analysis of 6-70. Flavell also played in the Oval Test (2-105) where again conditions mostly favoured the spinners.

Flavell was not selected again until 1964 when, with Coldwell, he spearheaded the county team that first won a Championship for Worcestershire. Both he and his partner were chosen against Australia for the first Test at Trent Bridge, and Flavell opened the bowling with Trueman in the third Test at Leeds where an injury, a recurring Achilles tendon strain, ended his international career and cut short his domestic season. He nevertheless took 108 wickets in the 18 matches he played.

Worcestershire were all too pleased to have him back in the ranks in 1965 when, at 35, he took another 142 wickets and bowled almost 1,000 overs helping Worcestershire to a second successive Championship - heady days, for the county had won the Gillette Cup, the only one-day tournament, in 1963. Flavell was named one of Wisden's "Five Cricketers of the Year" in 1964, along with Geoffrey Boycott and Bobby Simpson, and his efforts for the county were rewarded in 1963 with what was then a handsome benefit sum of £6,480.

Before becoming a county cricketer, Flavell was a good enough footballer to sign professional forms for West Bromwich at 17 and to play for Walsall in the League. He was also a fierce whist player, and a gardener keen enough to win prizes. He worked for a building firm in Wall Heath and, after retiring, owned a bed and breakfast in Barmouth in north Wales.

His great days at New Road, with Coldwell coming in from the other end, were described by John Arlott, in 1968:

For a decade he [Coldwell] and Flavell have been as consistently hostile an opening pair as any in the country, not merely for the penetrative quality of their best bowling but because of their combination of persistent acuracy,stamina and edge, giving the batsmen nothing and harrying them, over after over, for long spells.

Jim Parks of Sussex recalled, in Stephen Chalke's Runs in the Memory (1997), that when the 18-year-old Nawab of Pataudi made his county début, still in effect a Winchester schoolboy,

he was bounced out by Flav in the first innings. He knew what to expect in the second, got on the back foot, ducked, but left his bat in the air. The ball flew off the edge for four - his first runs in first class cricket.

In a career of 18 years Jack Flavell took 1,529 wickets at an average of 21.48

Derek Hodgson

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