In 1978 the cricketer Brian Close produced an autobiography entitled I Don’t Bruise Easily. The claim was difficult to reconcile with photographs that showed the upper half of his body battered black and blue. He bruised very easily indeed, it seemed, as at the hands of the West Indian fast bowlers Wes Hall and Charlie Griffith in 1963. But that was because his immense physical bravery and his refusal to shirk the challenge of the fastest bowlers constantly placed him in the line of fire – and there was a lot of fire about in the course of Close’s protracted career.
Close, who has died aged 84, did not achieve the greatness that his precocious talents promised. His record in first-class cricket, almost 35,000 runs (at an average of 33.26), almost 1,200 wickets (26.42), is that of a considerable all-rounder, but not of the world-beater his performances in 1949 suggested he would become; at just 18, and in his first season in county cricket, he was the youngest player to perform the all-rounder’s double of 1,000 runs and 100 wickets.
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