Almanac Cricket: Ross Edwards – A Profile

 

Ross Edwards signing autographs in England in 1972 (at Arundel Castle)

 

Ross Edwards

 

Once described as ‘the little fatso who made good’, Ross Edwards compensated for any lack of natural batting ability by becoming the best fieldsman of his generation. An only child, he was largely self-taught. He developed an independence that helped him understand his skills and play within his limitations—his four centuries during the 1971/72 domestic season earned his first Australian tour at 29.  On the verge of being dropped from the WA team two years earlier, Edwards’ six centuries in ten first-class games (including from the previous summer) now demanded inclusion.

 

During his landmark summer, despite his heavy scoring, Edwards secretly hoped he wouldn’t be picked to play against the Rest of the World, explaining, ‘I didn’t want to spoil my chances of getting a tour of England.’  An accountant by training, he worked hard for everything he achieved. Using nudges and glances, he’d occasionally produce a more forceful stroke. Edwards wasn’t a natural player but described himself as ‘an honest tradesman … slow and steady no frills’.  Edwards was also one of the first of his era to realise how much his value was enhanced by being the best fielder he could be.  Preventing runs in the field was the equivalent of scoring them with the bat.

 

His father had kept for Western Australia in 1948, and Ross picked up his dad’s affinity with the gloves. By age 14, Ross had represented his state under-16 side in the 1957 national championship on Sydney’s malthoid pitches, taking time to adjust from the slower turf pitches at home. Edwards recalled, ‘Most of the carnival was washed out, and I spent my time eating chocolates.’ When he returned, he’d put on so much weight that his parents had trouble recognising him when they picked him up at the train station. A year later, Edwards gave sport away for 12 months because of bone spurs that had developed on his heels; he later took up hockey. When Edwards just failed to matriculate, his parents decided to move to New Zealand, where he resumed playing cricket, studied to become an accountant and put a priority on fitness. Edwards also met his wife-to-be, Lyndall, in Auckland.  A move back to Perth saw Edwards join the Claremont–Cottesloe district club as a wicketkeeper, where he earned selection in the state squad as a second keeper behind Gordon Becker after impressing the selectors with his keeping to Graham McKenzie, Lawrie Mayne and Ian Brayshaw. Edwards aimed to represent Western Australia at two sports (cricket and hockey) before he was 21 as well as completing a marathon at the Olympic Games. He missed the mark with two but was part of the WA hockey team that defeated Olympic champions Pakistan; his first Shield game for the state came in December 1964 in Brisbane, where he replaced Becker, who had withdrawn with chicken pox. Stifling heat dominated Edwards’ first experience of state cricket ‘drinking several bottles of soft drink during the lunch break on his first day keeping’. He missed Queensland number three Bill Buckle more than once on his way to 207 before scoring a duck himself batting at number ten. Edwards, who pouched four catches in Queensland’s only innings, had become part of history; the match was the maiden first-class game in Australia to be played on a Sunday. In 1966/67, with Becker in South Africa with the Australian side, Edwards got another chance. Batting usefully, Edwards made four half-centuries with 26 victims behind the stumps. His career as a stumper ended after he dropped a twin ton-scoring Ken Cunningham before the twitchy left-hander had scored in both innings at Adelaide Oval.

 

‘Our captain Tony Lock made it clear that my time with the gloves was up,’ Edwards recalled. He knew he struggled to keep to the spinners and wasn’t nimble enough on his feet or agile with the gloves. He vowed to become a specialist batsman and cover fieldsman.  In 1968/69, Rod Marsh became the third possible keeper in the Western Australian side, although Becker remained behind the stumps. Edwards notched a maiden first-class ton, an undefeated 117 against New South Wales, finishing the summer with 488 runs at 56.

 

Edwards’ turning point came when he finally qualified as an accountant in 1971. A clearer-headed Edwards notched a batch of tons for Western Australia, scoring 733 runs at 64, enough to secure a place in Ian Chappell’s 1972 Australian touring party. The only sting in the tail was Edwards feeling compelled to resign from his new job.  When he signed on just months before, he told the accountancy firm that ‘cricket wouldn’t interfere with his work’. Although Edwards thought of himself as ‘little more than an extra in the touring party’, it was an opportunity he didn’t want to miss.

 

You can read more from Barry Nicholls Here

 

 

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