In the ten years up to the Packer-split in 1977, Alan Knott played in 89 of England's 93 Tests - nearly 20 more than any other Englishman - and hardly missed a chance that anyone remembers. Yet to see his wicketkeeping at its most spectacular, you had to catch him standing up to Derek Underwood on a rain-affected pitch for Kent in county cricket. Underwood, left-hand, whose stock ball was about the pace of Shane Warne's flipper, habitually bowled even quicker when a crusting pitch not only added to his spin but could produce a variation of two feet or more in bounce. Most of the time, despite the obvious problems, Knott would take the ball so nimbly he might have been keeping wicket in the indoor nets. As a batsman he learned to put a high price on his wicket, and in only his fourth Test, at Georgetown in 1967-68, he made 73 not out in four hours and helped Colin Cowdrey save the series. He could attack or defend with equal skill as the position of the match demanded: with five Test hundreds to his name, he was a genuine all rounder. Never one to push himself, in or out of cricket company, he was always nevertheless among the best-liked players in the game.
John Thicknesse