Brian Close: five things about England's bravest cricketer

Brian Close, renowned as one of England's bravest-ever cricketers, has died at the age of 84. He passed away at his home near Bradford on Sunday.

The former Yorkshire captain played 22 Tests in a first-class career that lasted 28 years and led Yorkshire to four county championship titles, including a hat-trick of victories from 1966-68, before ending his career at Somerset.

He continued playing for another nine years after retiring from the county game, and did not hang up his bat until 1986, 37 years after his county debut.

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Here are five things you might not know about the gritty all-rounder, who scored almost 35,000 runs and took nearly 1,200 wickets during his career.

He was England's youngest Test cricketer

Close made his England debut against New Zealand in Manchester in 1949 aged 18 years and 149 days and he remains England's youngest-ever debutant. He made little impact in the match, batting at nine, making a duck and finishing the match with bowling figures of 1-85 in a drawn three-day Test. His Test career was a truncated affair and his 22 caps came over a 27-year period.

'It's only on you for a second'

Close was renowned for his bravery when batting and in the field. He enjoyed facing fast bowling and fielding in the close catching positions, particularly short leg - a spot most fielders dread. When asked how he coped with the pain of being hit he famously repled: "How can the ball hurt you? It's only on you for a second."

"He will go down as one of the bravest cricketers of all time," his friend, former umpire Dickie Bird, told the BBC.

"His relish for playing fast bowling - before the advent of helmets and much of the protection batsmen have come to rely on - was legendary," says Cricinfo.

Close was sacked by Yorkshire

He was Yorkshire's most successful post-War captain and led the county to four titles during the 1960s, including three consecutive championships from 1966 to 1968, but he was sacked by the club in 1969.

Many believe his downfall began when he offended the president of rival county Lancashire, Lionel Lister, by refusing to let him into the dressing room.

In a profile of Close, John Ward writes that when he was sacked by the county, "The excuses were... his dislike for one-day cricket, which was growing in importance, that he allegedly failed to bring on the younger players, and that he was becoming more injury-prone."

He played football for Leeds and Arsenal

Close was one of several cricketers in the post-War era who also played football, and he represented Bradford City, Leeds United and Arsenal as a youth.

His football career was eventually ended by a knee injury, although Scyld Berry of the Daily Telegraph suggests he was a player of limited abilities. He describes him as "a sturdy centre-forward who muscled his way above defenders before heading over the bar".

Cricket also got in the way of his footballing aspirations, and he was sacked by Arsenal in 1952 when he was not allowed to leave a Yorkshire match to play for the London club.

He stood up to the West Indies

His finest hour came in the summer of 1976 when, at the age of 45, he was recalled by England as a batsman to face the fearsome West Indies pace attack. He batted at four in the first two Tests of the summer but on a cracked pitch at Old Trafford was promoted to open the batting.

In a fabled session of Test cricket Close made one run in an hour's play and was struck a number of times by the West Indian fast bowlers, who were not restricted to two bouncers in an over. "He did not want to give into the survival instinct of fending away the bouncers with his bat and offer a catch. He let the fiery fast bowling hit him – no helmet, no chest protector, no forearm guard, just gloves and a bat," says Berry of the Telegraph.

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