 Bedser (left) with his twin brother Alec in 1946 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Born | (1918-07-04)4 July 1918 Reading, Berkshire, England | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Died | 24 May 2006(2006-05-24) (aged 87) Woking, England | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Batting | Right-handed | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bowling | Right-armoff spin | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Career statistics | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Source:CricInfo,26 May 2019 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Eric Arthur Bedser (4 July 1918 – 24 May 2006) was acricketer who played forSurrey County Cricket Club. He was the elderidentical twin brother ofAlec Bedser (1918–2010), widely regarded as one of England's topbowlers of the 20th century. Eric was anall-rounder, a useful right-handedbatsman and right-armoff-spinbowler.
Eric Bedser was born inReading,Berkshire 10 minutes before his twin brother Alec. The twins were regarded as 'inseparable' throughout their lives, and they often dressed identically. Their father served in theRoyal Flying Corps in theFirst World War, later becoming abricklayer. He also played cricket and football.
The Bedser brothers began playing cricket together at age seven for local school sides and Woking Cricket Club. Both twins also played football for Surrey Boys, and considered a professional career in that sport. They were educated at Maybury Junior School and Monument Hill Central School. From the age of 14, the twins worked as clerks at a solicitor's office inLincoln's Inn Fields. They were spotted by Surrey coachAlan Peach in 1938 and joined the Surrey county squad staff atthe Oval, making theirfirst-class debuts in the same match in June 1939. There is a famous story that when Eric and Alec were first selected for Surrey, they agreed they couldn't both befast bowlers, as at that time they were. A flip of the coin saw Alec win the toss, and Eric consequently took up off-spin bowling, at which he became very adept in a Surrey county team that was dominated by famous spinners such asJim Laker andTony Lock, and concentrated on his batting.
The pair were called up for duty with theRAF Police in 1939, serving in France and beingevacuated from Dunkirk. They later served variously together throughout the war, in North Africa and Italy. Eric was promoted toWarrant Officer (and Alec refused a similar promotion, staying aflight sergeant so they could stay together), and both being demobilised in 1946, and returned to cricket at Surrey.
Bedser enjoyed a successful first-class career, a member of the Surrey team that won seven successiveCounty Championships from 1952 to 1958, despite many of the side's best players being away playing forEngland. Despite being called to a Test Trial in 1950, in which Laker took 8 wickets for 2 runs, one of which was scored by Eric, he was never called to play in a Test himself: he played for England only once, in a first-class tour match inTasmania. As a result, Eric's record will always be lacking when compared with Alec's, who played in 51Test matches, although Eric often accompanied Alec on overseas tours.
In a first-class career that lasted twenty-three years, Bedser played in 457 matches for Surrey, scoring 14,716 runs at the usefulbatting average of 24.00, and taking 833wickets at the goodbowling average of 24.95. He passed 1,000 runs in six seasons.
After retiring from playing cricket he went into business with his brother. Among other business interests, they co-operated with Ronald Straker in a successfulstationery firm, Straker-Bedser, which was later taken over byRyman in 1977. While Alec became a selector for England, Eric served on various committees at Surrey. He was president of Surrey County Cricket Club in 1990.
Neither twin married, living together in a house that they built with their father in 1953 in Woking, until Eric died aged 87 inWoking.
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