4/8/24, 12:22 PM Wisden - Wisden Obituaries - 2013

thwarted playing ambitions. But he did inveigle his way into the 1946 Indian touring party as a baggage-
handler.

POCOCK, ANTHONY JOHN, died on February 27, aged 65. Tony Pocock was the head groundsman at
Fenner's for 17 years from 1980. He enjoyed his time at Cambridge - "He really loved his job, and worked at
it noon and night," said his twin brother Michael - but eventually took early retirement, after a bout of
depression caused by criticism of the pitches (which Pocock maintained were difficult to roll). His
predecessor, Cyril Coote, did the job for 44 years, and the man before him, Walter Watts, for 48.

PONNADURAI, SELLIAH, who died on August 15, aged 78, was an umpire from Jaffna who stood in three
Tests. The first, against India at Colombo's P. Saravanamuttu Stadium in September 1985, resulted in Sri
Lanka's first victory, at their 14th attempt. Piyadasa Vidanagamage, the other umpire in that game, died a
few days later. Ponnadurai, who also officiated in eight one-day internationals, had a 20-year career as a
first-class umpire.

RANDALL, DARRYN, died after being struck while batting during a league game at Alice in South Africa's
Eastern Cape on October 27. He was 32. Randall, who was wearing a helmet, was hit on the side of the head
after missing a pull. He collapsed, and could not be revived. Late in 2009 he had kept wicket in four first-
class matches for Border, scoring 46 against Western Province.

REGE, MADHUSUDAN RAMACHANDRA, who died on December 16, aged 89, was a batsman who won
one Test cap for India, against West Indies at Madras in 1948-49. Opening with Mushtaq Ali, Rege made 15
and nought as India lost by an innings, and was never selected again. His first innings lasted 90 minutes,
and was ended by fast bowler Prior Jones. Jeff Stollmeyer, West Indies' vice-captain, observed: "Rege,
seeking refuge outside the off stump, had his leg peg knocked out of the ground." But Rege remained a
heavy scorer in domestic cricket, mainly for Maharashtra: four of his six centuries came for them. That
included a valiant performance in the 1948-49 Ranji Trophy semi-final against Bombay at Poona. He scored
133 in Maharashtra's first innings but, already 244 ahead, Bombay batted on and on in a timeless match,
eventually declaring at 714 for eight: Rege made a round 100 in the second innings as his side reached 604 -
and lost by 354 runs. He was also a useful off-spinner, who once took five for 23 against Baroda.

RICHARDS, GEOFFREY ALAN, died on December 27, aged 91. Alan Richards was a long-serving
commentator on many sports, particularly cricket: he covered New Zealand's four Test tours of England
between 1973 and 1986, when he worked on Test Match Special. He was also on the air for Trevor Chappell's
underarm delivery at the end of a one-day international between Australia and New Zealand at Melbourne in
February 1981. Richards played five first-class matches in 1955-56, captaining Auckland in all of them, and
scored 53 not out against the touring West Indians, for whom Sonny Ramadhin and Alf Valentine shared
seven wickets. Later that summer he was behind the microphone when New Zealand won their first Test
match, also at Eden Park.

ROBERTS, Sir DENYS TUDOR EMIL, who died on May 19, aged 90, was a left-field choice as president of
MCC in 1989-90, since he had not previously served on their committee. But he proved a capable and good-
natured figurehead, still fondly remembered at Lord's. He had been a handy schoolboy cricketer - Wisden
1940 reported that, in a year when Aldenham's batting "was not sound", only Roberts was "anything like
reliable" - but missed out on a Blue at Oxford. After university he wrote several novels, and began a legal
career from which he retired as the last non-Chinese Chief Justice of Hong Kong.

ROBINS, DONNELL, died on December 8, aged 79. Donn Robins was finally given a chance at first-class
level in 1964-65 aged 30, after 13 years of grade cricket in Adelaide. Accurate and able to move the ball in
the air and off the pitch at a decent pace, he took five for 60 on debut against Western Australia at Adelaide.
Next season he excelled against New South Wales, with six-wicket hauls at Adelaide and Sydney. He took
four in four balls in the first of those matches, although the feat went unrecorded for many years: Robins
finished NSW's first innings with a hat-trick, then dismissed Bob Simpson with the first ball of the follow-on.
The only other instance of this in Australia was by NSW's Hal Hooker in 1928-29. However, one of the scorers
had fallen ill shortly before the end of NSW's first innings, and the other, Tom Harry, was left to maintain
both scorebooks.

In the rush, Simpson's wicket was erroneously entered as falling to the fifth ball of the second innings, not
its first. In 1999 Robins raised the issue with the Adelaide cricket historian Bernard Whimpress - through
Harry, who admitted the possibility of a mistake. The evidence Whimpress collected - the vivid memories of
the bowler, wicketkeeper Barry Jarman (who took the catch) and first slip Ian Chappell, plus a local-paper
article mentioning the feat - confirmed the achievement.

ROBINSON, PAUL ANDREW, who died on August 6, aged 57, was a tall fast bowler, nicknamed "Long
John", who played 33 first-class matches in his native South Africa - and one for Lancashire, in 1979, when
he opened the bowling against Kent at Maidstone, dismissing Paul Downton and Graham Dilley. He also took
three wickets in the accompanying Sunday League game. At home, his best figures were six for 46 for
Northern Transvaal against Natal at Durban in 1983-84, when his victims included another England Test
player, Geoff Miller. Robinson also played for Cheshire, and Cleckheaton in the Bradford League.

RUTHERFORD, JOHN ROBERT FULTON, who died on December 25, aged 78, played 11 matches for
Cambridge University in 1957 and 1958 without winning a Blue, at a time when the Varsity sides were
strong. A medium-pacer from Kent, he took only ten first class wickets, five of them in the game against
Worcestershire in May 1957; in the next match, against the West Indian tourists, he dismissed Clyde Walcott
for 86.

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