Eric Arthur Bedser (4 July 1918 – 24 May 2006) was a

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by st ...

er who played for

Surrey County Cricket Club Surrey County Cricket Club (Surrey CCC) is a first-class club in county cricket, one of eighteen in the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Surrey, including areas that now form South London. ...

. He was the elder

identical twin Twins are two offspring produced by the same pregnancy.MedicineNet > Definition of TwinLast Editorial Review: 19 June 2000 Twins can be either ''monozygotic'' ('identical'), meaning that they develop from one zygote, which splits and forms two ...

brother of Alec Bedser (1918–2010), widely regarded as one of England's top bowlers of the 20th century. Eric was an

all-rounder An all-rounder is a cricketer who regularly performs well at both batting and bowling. Although all bowlers must bat and quite a handful of batsmen do bowl occasionally, most players are skilled in only one of the two disciplines and are consi ...

, a useful right-handed

batsman In cricket, batting is the act or skill of hitting the cricket ball, ball with a cricket bat, bat to score runs (cricket), runs and prevent the dismissal (cricket), loss of one's wicket. Any player who is currently batting is, since Septembe ...

and right-arm off-spin bowler. Eric Bedser was born in

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of letters, symbols, etc., especially by sight or touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process involving such areas as word recognition, orthography (spell ...

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; in the 17th century sometimes spelt phonetically as Barkeshire; abbreviated Berks.) is a historic county in South East England. One of the home counties, Berkshire was recognised by Queen Elizabeth II as the Royal County of Ber ...

10 minutes before his twin brother Alec. The twins were regarded as 'inseparable' throughout their lives, and they often dressed identically. Their father served in the

Royal Flying Corps "Through Adversity to the Stars" , colors = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = , decorations ...

in the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

, later becoming a

bricklayer A bricklayer, which is related to but different from a mason, is a craftsman and tradesman who lays bricks to construct brickwork. The terms also refer to personnel who use blocks to construct blockwork walls and other forms of masonry ...

. He also played cricket and football. The Bedser brothers began playing cricket together at age seven for local school sides and Woking Cricket Club. Both twins also played football for Surrey Boys, and considered a professional career in that sport. They were educated at Maybury Junior School and Monument Hill Central School. From the age of 14, the twins worked as clerks at a solicitor's office in

Lincoln's Inn Fields Lincoln's Inn Fields is the largest public square in London. It was laid out in the 1630s under the initiative of the speculative builder and contractor William Newton, "the first in a long series of entrepreneurs who took a hand in develo ...

. They were spotted by Surrey coach Alan Peach in 1938 and joined the Surrey county squad staff at

the Oval The Oval, currently known for sponsorship reasons as the Kia Oval, is an international cricket ground in Kennington, located in the borough of Lambeth, in south London. The Oval has been the home ground of Surrey County Cricket Club since ...

, making their first-class debuts in the same match in June 1939. There is a famous story that when Eric and Alec were first selected for Surrey, they agreed they couldn't both be

fast bowler Fast bowling (also referred to as pace bowling) is one of two main approaches to bowling in the sport of cricket, the other being spin bowling. Practitioners of pace bowling are usually known as ''fast'' bowlers, ''quicks'', or ''pacemen''. ...

s, as at that time they were. A flip of the coin saw Alec win the toss, and Eric consequently took up off-spin bowling, at which he became very adept in a Surrey county team that was dominated by famous spinners such as

Jim Laker James Charles Laker (9 February 1922 – 23 April 1986) was an English professional cricketer who played for Surrey County Cricket Club from 1946 to 1959 and represented England in 46 Test matches. He was born in Shipley, West Riding of Yo ...

and Tony Lock, and concentrated on his batting. The pair were called up for duty with the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) an ...

in 1939, serving in France and being evacuated from Dunkirk. They later served variously together throughout the war, in North Africa and Italy. Eric was promoted to

Warrant Officer Warrant officer (WO) is a rank or category of ranks in the armed forces of many countries. Depending on the country, service, or historical context, warrant officers are sometimes classified as the most junior of the commissioned ranks, the mo ...

(and Alec refused a similar promotion, staying a flight sergeant so they could stay together), and both being demobilised in 1946, and returned to cricket at Surrey. Eric Bedser statue

Bedser enjoyed a successful first-class career, a member of the Surrey team that won seven successive

County Championship The County Championship (referred to as the LV= Insurance County Championship for sponsorship reasons) is the domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales and is organised by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). It b ...

s from 1952 to 1958, despite many of the side's best players being away playing for

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

. Despite being called to a Test Trial in 1950, in which Laker took 8 wickets for 2 runs, one of which was scored by Eric, he was never called to play in a Test himself: he played for England only once, in a first-class tour match in

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

. As a result, Eric's record will always be lacking when compared with Alec's, who played in 51 Test matches, although Eric often accompanied Alec on overseas tours. In a first-class career that lasted twenty-three years, Bedser played in 457 matches for Surrey, scoring 14,716 runs at the useful batting average of 24.00, and taking 833

wicket In cricket, the term wicket has several meanings: * It is one of the two sets of three stumps and two bails at either end of the pitch. The fielding team's players can hit the wicket with the ball in a number of ways to get a batsman out. ...

s at the good

bowling average In cricket, a player's bowling average is the number of runs they have conceded per wicket taken. The lower the bowling average is, the better the bowler is performing. It is one of a number of statistics used to compare bowlers, commonly used ...

of 24.95. He passed 1,000 runs in six seasons. After retiring from playing cricket he went into business with his brother. Among other business interests, they co-operated with Ronald Straker in a successful

stationery Stationery refers to commercially manufactured writing materials, including cut paper, envelopes, writing implements, continuous form paper, and other office supplies. Stationery includes materials to be written on by hand (e.g., letter pape ...

firm, Straker-Bedser, which was later taken over by

Ryman Ryman is a stationery retail company with 205 outlets nationwide in the United Kingdom. The website and stores provide a wide range of stationery and office supplies for homes and businesses, with its headquarters in Crewe, Cheshire. Hist ...

in 1977. While Alec became a selector for England, Eric served on various committees at Surrey. He was president of Surrey County Cricket Club in 1990. Neither twin married, living together in a house that they built with their father in 1953 in Woking, until Eric died aged 87 in

Woking Woking ( ) is a town and borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in northwest Surrey, England, around from central London. It appears in Domesday Book as ''Wochinges'' and its name probably derives from that of a Anglo-Saxon settlement o ...

References

*
Obituary

Cricinfo ESPN cricinfo (formerly known as Cricinfo or CricInfo) is a sports news website exclusively for the game of cricket. The site features news, articles, live coverage of cricket matches (including liveblogs and scorecards), and ''StatsGuru'', a ...

, 24 May 2006
Obituary
''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was f ...

'', 25 May 2006
Obituary
''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' ( ...

'', 25 May 2006
Obituary
''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publish ...

'', 26 May 2006
Obituary
''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers '' The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the ...

'', 26 May 2006 {{DEFAULTSORT:Bedser, Eric 1918 births 2006 deaths British identical twins English cricketers Sportspeople from Woking Presidents of Surrey County Cricket Club Surrey cricketers Twin sportspeople English twins Players cricketers Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers North v South cricketers Royal Air Force airmen Royal Air Force personnel of World War II