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| Born | (1953-11-22)22 November 1953 Roxton,Bedfordshire, England | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Died | 28 June 2025(2025-06-28) (aged 71) Coventry,West Midlands, England | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nickname | Ned | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Batting | Right-handed | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bowling | Right-arm medium | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Role | Batsman | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| National side | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Test debut (cap 484) | 1 February 1980 v Australia | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Last Test | 4 January 1991 v Australia | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ODI debut (cap 50) | 20 June 1979 v New Zealand | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Last ODI | 10 January 1991 v Australia | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Domestic team information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1972–1991 | Northamptonshire | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1982/83–1983/84 | Eastern Province | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1992–1995 | Durham | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1996–2000 | Bedfordshire | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2001 | Huntingdonshire | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Career statistics | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Medal record
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Source:Cricinfo,11 July 2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Wayne Larkins (22 November 1953 – 28 June 2025) was an Englishcricketer who representedNorthamptonshire,Durham andBedfordshire as an openingbatsman throughout his career. He was selected to play forEngland asGraham Gooch's opening partner on tours ofAustralia and theWest Indies. He was also a semi-professionalfootballer. He was a part of the English squad which finished asrunners-up at the1979 Cricket World Cup.
Born inRoxton,Bedfordshire on 22 November 1953,[1] Larkins played cricket forNorthamptonshire from 1972 until 1991. He moved tofirst-class newcomers Durham in 1992, retiring from the first-class game in 1995. He scored 27,142 first-class runs in 482 matches, with 59 centuries and a highest score of 252. He also snared 42 wickets with his medium pace. He was a strong force in domestic one-day cricket, playing 485 matches and scoring 13,594 runs with 26 hundreds.[2]
He was part of the unluckyNorthamptonshire side narrowly defeated in the final of both major domestic knock-out tournaments in 1987, theBenson & Hedges Cup and theNatWest Trophy. In the latter, Larkins top-scored but still finished on the losing side asRichard Hadlee engineered an unlikely successful run chase forNottinghamshire.[3] He did however finish on the winning side in theBenson & Hedges Cup final of 1980.
Larkins first achieved England recognition during the1979 Cricket World Cup. As England progressed through the tournament they decided to gamble on lengthening their batting line up by bringing in Larkins instead of a specialistbowler orallrounder such asGeoff Miller orPhil Edmonds, meaning that according to competition rules, Larkins,Graham Gooch andGeoff Boycott, all part-time bowlers, would probably have to bowl 12 overs between them a match. This gamble paid off in the semi-final where England beatNew Zealand narrowly,[4] but failed in the final, where England lost tothe West Indies and Larkins had a miserable match.[5]
He made hisTest debut in Australia the following winter. By the end of 1981, he had played six Tests but not been given an extended run in the side and had had limited success. He decided the following winter to join the firstrebel tour of South Africa alongside Gooch and Boycott. This meant that he was banned from international cricket for three years. The ban having been served, he was recalled into the England squad for the third Test againstIndia in 1986, but had to pull out through injury, and was replaced byMark Benson.[6]
In fact, he did not get another chance until 1989–90, ten years after his international debut. Ironically this opportunity was created by rival batsmen being suspended due to a furtherrebel tour. Initially, he was recalled for theNehru Cup of 1989–90. In his second game back, he played his best international innings and only international century, in aone day international victory overAllan Border's Australia, in the process winning theman of the match award.Wisden observed that Larkins' "Strokeplay" on this occasion was "both powerful and subtle. His previous highest in a one-day international was 34 in 1979–80: now he dominated an opening stand of 185 with Gooch, hit two sixes and nineteen fours in his 124, and justified his recall to the England team after an absence of eight years".[7] In his first Test match back, eight and a half years since his last Test, against theWest Indies he opened alongside Gooch and to Larkins fell the honour of scoring the winning run as England beat the West Indies in a Test match for the first time in sixteen years.[8]
Larkins also toured Australia and New Zealand the following winter again under Gooch's captaincy but enjoyed limited success and never again finished on the winning side in a Test match. In all Larkins appeared in thirteenTest matches for England, scoring three fifties, and in twenty-fiveODIs, where he made one century.[2]
Although a talented player, Larkins was considered as something of an underachiever at the top level.[1] County bowlers such asJonathan Agnew spoke onTMS toPhil Tufnell during the second Ashes test June 2023 of being "Nedded" when he performed well against them. The cricket correspondent, Colin Bateman, opined, "Larkins was usually ignored when he should have been selected and selected when he should have been ignored in a career of unfulfilled potential. A destructive opening bat who could demolish any attack if he got going, 'Ned' tired of waiting for England and joined the 1982rebel tour to South Africa".[1]
Outside cricket, he was a keenfootballer. In his youth, he had been on the books ofNotts County. He also playednon-league football forWolverton Town,Wellingborough Town[9] andBuckingham Town. He missed the start of the 1986 cricket season as a result of an ankle injury caused by a collision with a goalkeeper whilst playing for Buckingham.[10][11]
In October 2006, Larkins pleaded guilty to attempting to illegally obtain a mortgage secured against the house of his girlfriend's sick father. With his girlfriend Deborah Lines, he bought a home in France.[12] On 20 April 2007, he was given a 12-month suspended sentence, and was ordered to repay money from the sale of the property.[13]
Larkins died from heart failure inCoventry, on 28 June 2025, at the age of 71.[14][15]
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