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Sad news today of the passing of Phil Sharpe, Yorkshire and England. He played 12 tests for England averaging 46, and should have played more. He played half his matches against the West Indies, including the time when Hall and Griffiths were terrorising batsmen. He was also the best slip fielder I have ever seen.

D/L wrote:Sad news today of the passing of Phil Sharpe, Yorkshire and England. He played 12 tests for England averaging 46, and should have played more. He played half his matches against the West Indies, including the time when Hall and Griffiths were terrorising batsmen. He was also the best slip fielder I have ever seen.

Agree with all of that. First on my team sheet in an England fielding side.
Condolences to his family and a sad day for Yorkshire and English cricket.

Such a shame that the passing of a Yorkshire stalwart, former England selector and probably the greatest slip catcher this country has ever had, should get just two replies (both from me) - amidst a plethora of negativity and hand-wringing around English cricket.

I think that's more to do with most posters on here being too young to remember him.

I just about remember the fag end of his career. His test career ended when I was about 4 looking at his stats.

Agreed Aidan. I remember seeing him on JPL games in the seventies but knew little about him in his prime, other than his reputation as a slip fielder.

It is sad when the players you most admire pass on. He was a fine batsman but as a slip fielder he was supreme. There have been many fine slip fielders from Hammond to the present but the only one I saw that has come near to Sharp was Bobby Simpson of Australia. I never saw Sharp dive but he caught everything that came near him and always appeared to be waiting for it. . I once went to a county match because Yorkshire were fielding. Nothing came his way until about 6. 20 PM when a drive was played which took the outside edge. The WK dived across him because it was a low catch but missed the ball. We all looked for the ball towards the boundary but it was nowhere to be seen until Sharp produced it from his pocket. The umpires checked to see if it was the match ball; the batsman asked if he had caught it and when he said YES walked smartly off to the pavilion. He had taken a very good catch but more importantly had been concentrating for nearly six hours.
The very best slip first slip of them all.
T

Nice story, Albondiga. Thanks for that.

As a kid, I saw Phil Sharpe play many times and some of his slip catches had to be seen to be believed. He never gave the appearance of being particularly athletic but his reactions must have been like lightning.

I came across the glowing obituary of Phil Sharpe in the Daily Telegraph as I was sorting the old newspapers out. Part of it stated that he and Boycott did not get on due their different approaches to life and cricket and that Boycott becoming captain caused Phil to leave Yorkshire. Any truth or just journalistic gossip?

That's rubbish, I reckon, DD. How could anyone fall out with Boycott?