Ken Barrington

At 50 years old, Ken Barrington has this physical status:

On his discharge in August 1950 Barrington returned to Surrey and professional coaching. In May 1951 he made his first century batting against Kenley at number seven and was promoted to the top order. In July he added 64 and 194 not out against the Surrey Colts and Barrington started to play for the Surrey Second XI – a minor county team. In 1952 he became a star batsman, making 1,097 runs at 57.73 including 157 not out and 151 in successive games against Devon County Cricket Club and was mentioned in Wisden.

Stuart Surridge became captain of Surrey in 1952 and led them to their first of a record seven successive County Championships. (They had shared the trophy with Middlesex in 1950). In 1953 Barrington joined this formidable Surrey team including Alec and Eric Bedser, Peter May, Jim Laker, Tony Lock, Peter Loader and Arthur McIntyre. Their bowling line up was of Test class and it was for his growing batting skills that the young Barrington was called up. He made his first-class cricket debut against the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) in their traditional match against the champions at Lord's at the start of the cricket season. Barrington batted at number six and was stumped by Godfrey Evans off Alan Oakman for 7 in the first innings and caught off Oakman for 17 in the second as Surrey lost a low scoring match by 107 runs. His second match began the next day against the 1953 Australians and he was dismissed by Ken Archer (11/61) for 10 and 4 in another defeat, this time by an innings and 76 runs. Richie Benaud recalled that he was a very correct batsman, but Barrington was returned to the Second XI.

He played only a few games in the County Championship and top-scored with 81 against Worcestershire. Surrey won without his help in 1953, but in July 1954 they were in severe trouble, in eighth place and 46 points behind the leaders Yorkshire. After a few fifties Barrington made his maiden first-class century against Gloucestershire at the Oval. Surrey were 149/7 when he was joined by Jim Laker in a partnership of 198, Barrington 108 not out and Laker 113. In the second innings he came in at 39/4 made 68 and Surrey won by 145 runs. Surrey won 10 of their next 12 games and the Championship. Barrington made 89 against Essex in a game where nobody else passed 50 and 102 against the Pakistanis. The arrival of Barrington and Mickey Stewart was seen as the turning point in Surrey's fortunes and E.M. Wellings wrote that he was the best young batting prospect since Denis Compton, adding "He is a brilliant strokemaker and now has such a sound defence that he is as convincing on the wet wickets as on the dry.

Ken Barrington met his future wife Ann Cozens at a dance in Reading in 1952. She was a secretary for the local Education Department, taught at Sunday School and played netball. He proposed to her on a train to Reading and her father agreed to the marriage if they saved £500. As a result, they married on 6 March 1954 and honeymooned in Devon until Ken was called up for the Territorial Army at Salisbury. They remained happily married for 27 years until his death. As first-class cricketers rarely had employment in the winter Barrington worked for British Rail (painting Oxford station), a firm of solicitors and at a job selling perfumes and carpets. They first lived with Ann's parents, but in 1956 bought their own house in Mitcham in Surrey near the Oval, where he found work nearby with a firm of accountants and Ann at a travel agents.

In 1955 Surrey won their first 9 matches and Surridge's vice-captain Peter May succeeded Len Hutton as captain of England. Barrington made 135 not out against Lancashire and 126 against Nottinghamshire, which won him his county cap. Now established in the Surrey team he was called up for the First Test against South Africa at Trent Bridge, hearing the news when a crowd cheered him while batting in a charity match. He batted at number 4, replacing Colin Cowdrey who was unable to play. Barrington made a duck and though England won by an innings he felt isolated from the England regulars who he barely knew. He was kept in the side for the Second Test at Lord's, coming in at 30/3 in the first innings and making 34, top-scoring in England's 133, but looked uncomfortable on a green pitch against the fast bowling of Peter Heine. In the second innings Barrington and Denis Compton added 40 runs, but he was out for 18. Even though England won, Cowdrey was now available and so Barrington was dropped. Returning to Surrey he made 73 out of 171 against Middlesex after coming in at 6/4 and helped the County to their fourth successive Championship. He was voted "Young Cricketer of the Year" by the Cricket Writers Club and was chosen for the 1955–56 Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) tour of Pakistan.

The Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) tour of Pakistan had the dual purpose of spreading cricketing goodwill and providing employment and experience for young players with Test potential. There were no Test matches, but they did play Pakistan as the MCC. The team was managed by the genial Geoffrey Howard, the Secretary of Lancashire and captained by Donald Carr, the captain of Derbyshire and included Fred Titmus, Brian Close, Tony Lock, Jim Parks and Peter Richardson. Barrington made 70 not out in the first match against Karachi and 66 in the second against Sind. The first match between Pakistan and the MCC at Lahore was a dull draw, followed by two wins for Pakistan and a close victory for the MCC by two wickets in the fourth and final game. Barrington made 10 and 52, 43 and 11, 32 and 0 and 76 and 10 in these matches, the 43 taking 4 hours against the bowling of Fazal Mahmood.

With five other members of the team he 'kidnapped' Idris Begh the Karachi umpire whose decisions they thought were heavily biased. They poured a bucket of water over him in their apartments and he was laughed at by them and two members of the Pakistani team who happened to witness the event. Begh complained to the Pakistani captain Abdul Kardar and the matter became public, with the crowd chanting "Go home MCC" on the last day of the game. The President of the MCC Lord Alexander offered to recall the tour and the press called for the culprits to be barred from international cricket, but Howard managed to smooth things down and the tour was completed. In a public relations exercise the MCC played football with the Pakistan Air Force with Barrington in goal. Even though Barrington came second in the first-class averages with 586 runs (39.0) – Richardson came first with 650 runs (43.44) – Carr did not return a favourable report and it would be four years before Barrington would tour again.

The Australians were touring again in 1956 and when Len Maddocks saw Barrington he told Keith Miller "This fellow looks the part; he might give us some trouble before long". England had a strong team and under Peter May's leadership they beat Australia 2–1, the West Indies 3–0 in 1957 and New Zealand 4–0 in 1958. Barrington lost his form in these seasons and could not fight his way back into the England team. Stuart Surridge retired after winning five championships in his five years as captain and in 1956 May took over, winning Surrey's sixth consecutive championship in 1957 with a massive 94-point lead. In one area Barrington showed improvement as with Surridge gone Surrey needed another close fielder and he was made first slip. He took 64 catches in his first season in this position and as Mickey Stewart held 77 catches and Tony Lock 63 Surrey more than held onto their chances.

In June 1957 Barrington's batting picked up with 12 fours and 4 sixes in his 124 not out against Gloucestershire and 103 not out against the West Indies including their famous spinners Sonny Ramadhin and Alf Valentine. Towards the end of the season Barrington could afford to relax and he hit three more hundreds. With no tour in sight Alf Gover offered Ken and Ann the chance to teach cricket in South Africa over the winter. They rented out their house in London, moved to Cape Town and he coached the First and Second XIs at the Roman Catholic St Joseph's College, set up an under-11 side in his free time and met a talented Cape Coloured cricketer called Basil d'Oliveira.

Back at the Oval Barrington had another poor season making only one century and was even dropped from the Surrey team and given the task of transporting the team kit from venue to venue. As a result, he re-worked his batting technique to get behind the ball to improve his defence against in-swing and off-spin. This was coupled with a change of attitude encouraged by Alec Bedser and Jim Laker; he forsook the big hitting of his youth and became a stonewaller, making runs with the minimum of risk. This required endless net-practice and training at Gover's cricket school, but by 1958 Barrington emerged as one of the best batsmen in England.

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