Full name Barry Anderson Richards
Born July 21, 1945, Morningside, Durban, Natal
Current age 75 years 189 days
Major teams South Africa, Gloucestershire, Hampshire, Natal, South Australia, Transvaal
Batting style Right-hand bat
Bowling style Right-arm offbreak
In a nutshell No other cricketer made such an impact, and gave rise to such speculation of what he might have been, in a career of four Tests. Nine hundreds before lunch and 1000 runs in a season 15 times in first-class cricket add to his legend. More
Mat | Inns | NO | Runs | HS | Ave | BF | SR | 100 | 50 | 4s | 6s | Ct | St | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Tests | 4 | 7 | 0 | 508 | 140 | 72.57 | 854 | 59.48 | 2 | 2 | 70 | 5 | 3 | 0 |
First-class | 339 | 576 | 58 | 28358 | 356 | 54.74 | 80 | 152 | 367 | 0 | ||||
List A | 233 | 229 | 17 | 8506 | 155* | 40.12 | 16 | 50 | 106 | 0 |
Mat | Inns | Balls | Runs | Wkts | BBI | BBM | Ave | Econ | SR | 4w | 5w | 10 | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Tests | 4 | 3 | 72 | 26 | 1 | 1/12 | 1/12 | 26.00 | 2.16 | 72.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
First-class | 339 | 6126 | 2886 | 77 | 7/63 | 37.48 | 2.82 | 79.5 | 1 | 0 | |||
List A | 233 | 270 | 185 | 7 | 2/8 | 2/8 | 26.42 | 4.11 | 38.5 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Test debut | South Africa v Australia at Cape Town, Jan 22-27, 1970 scorecard |
Last Test | South Africa v Australia at Port Elizabeth, Mar 5-10, 1970 scorecard |
Test statistics | |
First-class span | 1964/65 - 1982/83 |
List A span | 1968 - 1982/83 |
Barry Richards played just four Tests - and the cricket world is poorer for it. They were all in 1969-70 against Australia, and Richards made the most of his limited time in the limelight. A talent of such enormous stature that he once batted (and did well) using only the leading edge in a Durban club match, Richards was forced by South Africa's sporting isolation to play elsewhere, thrilling spectators with his nimble, aggressive strokeplay for Hampshire, Natal and South Australia, and in Kerry Packer's World Series Cricket. There were many feats of remarkable batsmanship from one of the finest talents of the 20th century, including nine hundreds before lunch and 1000 runs in a season 15 times. But South Africans will never forget the Durban Test of 1969-70, when Richards and Graeme Pollock flayed the Australian attack to all parts of the Kingsmead ground. Neil Manthorp
Telford Vice on Barry Richards
The bona fide great who never was
Apartheid prevented Barry Richards from becoming a batting superstar, the next Bradman, even
Stats analysis
Barry Richards hardly got any opportunities to show his talent on the international stage, but he still managed to prove how great a batsman he was
Wisden Cricketer of the Year 1969