Jack Richards was a neat and efficient wicketkeeper, taller than most at 5' 11", whose excellent footwork and agility' allied to his effective middle-order batting, made him a genuine England contender. His first tour for England was to India and Sri Lanka as Bob Taylor's understudy in 1981-82, and in 1986, when topping 1000 runs in the summer, he played two ODIs against New Zealand. That winter he was picked to tour Australia as Bruce French's deputy, but pressed into action at Brisbane in an England side bereft of runs, he did enough to secure his place (despite a duck in his only innings). The tour was a success, with England winning the Ashes under Mike Gatting, and Richards to the fore. In his second Test, at Perth, he hammered 133 in exactly four hours, and ended the series with 264 runs at 37.71. But his form tailed off at the end of that tour, and although he played in the ODIs against Pakistan at the start of 1987, he lost his Test place to French, keeping at Leeds, where he made 6 and 2, when French was struck down with chicken pox. He toured New Zealand that winter, again as French's No. 2, and made two more appearances the following summer against West Indies but mustering only 13 runs in four innings. But despite a record-breaking benefit at Surrey, there were rumblings of unrest and he was released at the end of the 1988 season. Unable to find another county, he retired even though he was just 30 at the time. Richards was born in Cornwall, learning his cricket at Penzance. He now lives in Belgium with his Dutch wife, running a successful business in neighbouring Holland.
Martin Williamson