John Langridge

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John George Langridge, born February 10, 1910 and died June 27, 1999, was a cricketer who played for Sussex and perhaps the finest batsman never to play Test cricket.

Born into a cricketing family at Newick, north of Lewes, John Langridge followed his elder brother James into the Sussex side in 1928 and stayed there until he retired in 1955. In between, he scored more than 34,000 runs as an opening batsman and made 76 centuries. Only Alan Jones of Glamorgan of non-Test players has scored more runs, and no one who scored this many centuries failed to win international recognition. In addition, Langridge took 784 catches, mostly at slip, including 69 in his last season at the age of 45; only five players have taken more catches in a career or in a season^[1].

Langridge became a first-class umpire on retirement and stood in many Test matches. He was awarded the MBE for services to cricket^[2].

He was a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1950^[3].