Post by hhsussex on May 20, 2014 11:06:23 GMT
"Yorkshire have announced the death of Philip Sharpe, aged 77, after a short illness in hospital. Sharpe's Yorkshire career spanned 20 years during which time the county won seven Championship titles. He played 12 Tests for England between1963 to 1969 averaging over 46 with the bat and in 1963 he was one of Wisden's Cricketers of the Year. Sharpe, widely regarded as one of the finest slip fielders in the game, also played for Derbyshire and in Minor Counties cricket for Norfolk.
He was renowned for his excellent slip fielding, which yielded him over 600 catches. In his First Class career he played 493 matches accumulating 22,530 runs at an average of 30.73"
The slip fielding was magnificent, and kept him in the minds of the selectors even in those years in which his batting average hovered around 30, low even for a period of grassy wickets and nagging fast-medium seamers. His most famous non-match was the Headingley Test of 1968 against Australia, when Keith Fletcher was selected for his debut, dropped a couple of sitters , scored 0 of 7 balls in the first innings and poked around unconvincingly for 23 in the second. Yorkshireman were vocal in their unhappiness.
He had a very good record against the West Indies in two series: the great 1963 team of Worrell, where he led several fighting rearguard actions, and on return in 1969, when he hit a very fast 86 in the second innings at Lords which gave England an unlikely hope of a win in a match where they had been 61-5 in the first innings - before two other Yorkshireman, Hampshire and Illingworth came together to score centuries.
He was renowned for his excellent slip fielding, which yielded him over 600 catches. In his First Class career he played 493 matches accumulating 22,530 runs at an average of 30.73"
The slip fielding was magnificent, and kept him in the minds of the selectors even in those years in which his batting average hovered around 30, low even for a period of grassy wickets and nagging fast-medium seamers. His most famous non-match was the Headingley Test of 1968 against Australia, when Keith Fletcher was selected for his debut, dropped a couple of sitters , scored 0 of 7 balls in the first innings and poked around unconvincingly for 23 in the second. Yorkshireman were vocal in their unhappiness.
He had a very good record against the West Indies in two series: the great 1963 team of Worrell, where he led several fighting rearguard actions, and on return in 1969, when he hit a very fast 86 in the second innings at Lords which gave England an unlikely hope of a win in a match where they had been 61-5 in the first innings - before two other Yorkshireman, Hampshire and Illingworth came together to score centuries.
