Cricketer, commentator and administrator

Born: 16 June, 1927;

Died: 03 November, 2015

TOM Graveney, who has died aged 88, after a battle against Parkinson's Disease, was one of the most elegant batsmen in the history of cricket. He had a lengthy, if two-stage England career, and in his long life he set several firsts.

He was, for instance, the first cricketer whose career was played entirely after the Second World War to score 100 centuries. He was also the first former professional to be elected president of the MCC, a post he held in 2004-05. No other cricketer has matched his record of scoring over 10,000 runs for two separate counties.

Born in the village of Riding Mill, near Hexham, Northumberland, he was raised in the West Country, where he began to impress whilst a pupil at Bristol Grammar School. He left school to become an accountant, but joined the Army, the Gloucestershire Regiment. He rose to the rank of captain, but, while home on leave from service in Suez, his brother Ken, who like Tom would play for and captain Gloucestershire, persuaded him to throw in his lot with their adopted county and he made his Gloucestershire debut in 1948.

He made the first of his 79 England appearances against the touring South Africans in 1951 and during the 1950s, he was an England regular, appearing in every home series between then and 1958. He toured Australia three times. He also toured the West Indies twice, and India and Pakistan once each.

However, while nobody doubted the range and elegance of his strokes, some in the England hierarchy doubted his temperament for Test-match cricket, and he was in and out of the team. He scored 11 test hundreds, his first, 175 in Bombay. His highest individual score, 258, also came in a Test match, against the West Indies, at Trent Bridge, in 1957. In all, his 79 Tests yielded 4,882 runs at an average of 44.38, but, his comparative failures in Australia, where he scored a single century, 111 in the "dead rubber" final Test in 1955 gave rise to the doubts about his temperament.

In 1959 he was appointed Gloucester captain, but, after just two seasons he was replaced by Tom Pugh, an old-Etonian amateur who was nowhere near as good a batsman as Graveney, who quit Gloucestershire and sat out a year's cricket while he qualified to play for Worcestershire.

His Test career seemed to be over when he was dropped during another poor tour of Australia in the winter of 1962-63. Being forced to concentrate on Worcestershire did him little harm, he led them to two County Championships and in the mid-sixties, he was widely held to be the premier batsman in England.

In 1966, aged 39, he was recalled for the home series with the West Indies, marking his return with a match-saving 166, largely in partnership with John Murray in a crucial 217-run seventh wicket stand.

In 1969, however, his Test career ended in controversial fashion. He had asked not to be selected for one of the Tests against the West Indies, as it clashed with one of his benefit matches. The England selectors, however, ignored the request, so, on the Sunday rest day, he duly played for a Tom Graveney XI against a side led by Australian captain Bobby Simpson. In retaliation, England suspended and dropped him, his Test career was over.

He had led his country once, standing-in for Colin Cowdrey in the drawn Headingley test during the 1968 Test series against Australia. He was made OBE that same year, a rare distinction for an active cricketer. Another stand-in occasion for England proved costly. He deputised for Godfrey Evans in a match against South Africa in 1955, badly injuring his left pinkie in taking a Frank Tyson special.

Graveney retired in 1970, having scored 47,79 first-class runs, including 122 centuries – he had passed the 100-hundreds mark in 1965, the 15th player to reach this milestone – and 223 50s.

His final active role in the game was a brief spell as a player-coach in Queensland, before returning to England in 1972.

In retirement, he was for many years a pub landlord in Prestbury, Gloucestershire. He also became a popular television commentator.

But, for all his runs and honours, he is best remembered for the elegance of his stroke-play. His cover drive, played with the straightest of bats and minimal back lift was a thing of beauty. The simple efficiency of his stroke play also helped in his second sport of golf.

In 1952 he had married Jackie Brookman, who pre-deceased him in 2013, after a lengthy battle against Alzheimer's, which forced Graveney to move into a care home to be alongside and care for her.

He is survived by his son Tim and daughter Rebecca. His death comes less than two weeks after that of elder brother Ken, whose son is former England chairman of selectors David Graveney.