Jack Russell (cricketer and artist)

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Robert Charles Russell

England
Personal information
Batting style Left-handed batsman (LHB)
Bowling style N/A
Career statistics
Tests ODIs
Matches 54 40
Runs scored 1897 423
Batting average 27.1 17.62
100s/50s 2/6 0/1
Top score 128* 50
Overs 0 0
Wickets 0 0
Bowling average N/A N/A
5 wickets in innings 0 0
10 wickets in match 0 n/a
Best bowling N/A N/A
Catches/stumpings 153/12 41/6

As of 5 August 2005
Source: [1]

Robert Charles "Jack" Russell (born 15 August 1963 in Stroud, Gloucestershire), is a retired English international Cricketer, now known for his abilities as an artist.[citation needed]

Contents

[edit] Biography

Russell gained the support he needed to become a first class cricketer from his father John at Stroud Cricket Club, and at Archway School.[1] Two days before his fourteenth birthday, he saw a catch on television: McCosker caught Knott bowled Greig, Headingley 1977. Russell himself has commented: "Low down, one handed, across first slip. Brilliant. I thought then that I would like to be able to do that. That's where it started, that was the inspiration [for becoming a wicket keeper]."

The other inspiration cited was the death of his brother David. Until that time, Jack was a borderline dipsomaniac. But the death of his brother, who died of a brain haemorrhage changed this and Russell quickly rededicated himself.[1] Archway School's sports master Ricky Rutter guided Russell towards Gloucestershire County Cricket Club, and as a result Russell stayed at Archway for one year of Sixth Form college, before heading to Bristol Technical College for one term and joining Gloucestershire full time in 1981.[1]

[edit] County and test career

Jack Russell was involved in a number controversial Test selections, frequently being passed over in favour of Alec Stewart on account of the latter's superior batting ability. Russell however was an adept wicket-keeper[citation needed] and could also be an unorthodox but resolute lower-order batsman. In 1990, he was Wisden's Cricketer of the Year, Wisden stating:

At the beginning of 1989, Jack Russell had played only one Test for England and was not considered a good enough batsman to merit a place in the one-day squad to face the Australians. By the end of the year he was the only Englishman who could justifiably expect a place in anyone's World XI.

[citation needed]

It was his batting that got the fans on their feet - not the high scores, but the determination to stay and grit it out against the Australians, who in the first Test of the 1989 Ashes had thought him weak.[citation needed] So, with mentor Alan Knott, Russell turned up early for the second Test at Lord's and for twenty minutes had the MCC ground staff boys throw plastic balls at him - without Russell batting a stroke, just ducking and diving to miss the short deliveries. That day, he also adopted some suitably pungent language in response to the Aussies' sledging, and after he had scored 64 not out, the Aussies never tried it on him again.[citation needed] In the third Test at Edgbaston, he scored 42, the second highest score of the first innings. But his greatest achievement was to come in the fourth Test at Old Trafford,[citation needed] where in the summer of the South African cricket rebels and near-certain defeat, for six hours he held up Aussie celebrations by scoring his maiden Test century and highest ever score in cricket, 128 not out, to almost save the Test for England. Russell had achieved something only one other Englishman had in the twentieth century, Billy Griffith against West Indies in 1947-48 - but it was largely forgotten in the furore of the South African debacle, and the loss of the series.[citation needed] Russell finished the Ashes series as England's third most successful batsman with 314 runs and an average of 39.25.

The summer of 1989 gave Russell a run in the England side, but his batting never reached such scoring heights again, and the game was moving forward in a new era: a six-hour stand for 29 was not what was required. For reasons of balance and depth of batting, and with his wicket-keeping becoming more reliable and latterly world-class, Alec Stewart often got the gloves ahead of Russell due to his superior batting. Russell was sometimes called up when England needed a good man behind the stumps, but slowly he faded away until 1998, when he curtailed his England career to prolong his county career due to his long-standing back injury.[citation needed]

Russell turned himself into part of the hub of Gloucestershire's one-day success,[citation needed] and together with captain Mark Alleyne won a couple of ODI caps. In 2002 he set a world record when conceding no byes in Northamptonshire's mammoth 746-9 declared.[2] After an inconsistent season due to persistent back problems, he retired from county cricket in 2004, just short of the age of 41.

[edit] Character

Russell was never seen as much of a team player,[citation needed] a perception reinforced by his being a loner off the field, his painting, and his protective attitude to his family life.[citation needed] None of his Gloucestershire team mates were ever invited to his home, and he claimed if they ever asked he would be more than willing if they agreed to be blindfolded.[citation needed]

His fitness regieme included running everyday, and while driving between games Russell would be clad in a sleeping bag with the bottom cut out, so as not to get a chill in his back and legs. He also had a block fitted beneath the accelerator, so as to avoid over-stretching the Achilles tendon.[citation needed]

Some of his more notable oddities included a diet to supplement his extreme fitness regime, which consisted largely of tea, biscuits and baked beans. Like his mentor Alan Knott, a mad tea drinker, Russell would get through 20 cups a day. He used to dip the tea bag in once, add plenty of milk, then hang it on a nail ready for subsequent use. In the final Test of the 1989 Ashes series (against Australia) at the Oval, Derek Randall counted that he used the same bag for all five days, which roughly equates to 100 cups.[3] For lunch, Russell would eat two Weetabix, soaked for exactly eight minutes in milk, and a mashed banana. For dinner, steak and chips or chicken without skin was a favourite meal - Russell once spent every night of a Test at a Chinese restaurant in Perth, ordering cashew chicken: without the cashews.[citation needed]

He also insisted on always wearing the same battered old 'flowerpot' sunhat during his time out in the field, a constant companion from his debut in 1981 to his last game in 2004. Only his wife Alison was allowed to repair it. It ended up rather worn out, but Russell lined up the ball with the specially cut back rim. It caused more than one argument with the authorities. Russell refused to wear the official coloured one day sun hat in South Africa and a compromise was only reached when Russell agreed to wear his old flowerpot hat inside the new sun hat.[4]

Russell's flowerpot was once dried out in an oven. Unfortunately the hat caught fire and was only rescued from total incinceration by a quick thinking Russell. The fire damage could still be seen on the hat years later.

Another eccentricity was his trademark black wicket keeping gloves. These were falling to pieces, but when he was advised to get new ones, he simply claimed that the old ones gave him a better feel for the ball.[citation needed] Allegedly the gloves were originally owned by Russell and then given away to a fan. When his previous gloves finally fell to bits. Russell managed to track down where the other gloves were. The fan had left them in a garage, and was only too please to donate them back to the eccentric wicket-keeper. Russell is undoubtedly a true cricketing legend.

[edit] Life after retirement from cricket, and painting

After his mentorship from Alan Knott throughout his own career, Russell later provided one-to-one coaching for wicketkeeper, Geraint Jones, as well as some county level coaching at Gloucestershire. However his second passion is painting, developed on the England tour of India in 1984-5,[citation needed] and supplemented by sketchbook, pencil and camera. He holds exhibitions in London and his own gallery in Chipping Sodbury, and he paints sights and scenes of his home area in Stroud. He states that his style shows influences of impressionism and pointillism.[5]

Russell is currently goal-keeping coach for football team Forest Green Rovers who play in the Blue Square Premier.

Russell was also recently re-employed by Gloucestershire CCC as a coach.

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ a b c Russell, Jack & Hayter, Peter - Jack Russell - Unleashed Pub. HarperCollinsWillow, 20 May 1997. ISBN 0-0021-8768-X
  2. ^ Cricket Archive
  3. ^ The Sun Online | The Best for News, Sport and Showbiz | The Sun
  4. ^ The Sun Online | The Best for News, Sport and Showbiz | The Sun
  5. ^ Jack Russell Website

[edit] References

  • Russell, Jack & Hayter, Peter - Jack Russell - Unleashed Pub. HarperCollinsWillow, 20 May 1997. ISBN 0-0021-8768-X
  • New Horizons - The Art of Jack Russell

[edit] External links

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England squad - 1996 Cricket World Cup
1 Atherton (c) • 2 Cork • 3 DeFreitas • 4 Fairbrother • 5 Gough • 6 Hick • 7 Martin • 8 Illingworth • 9 Russell (wk) • 10 NMK Smith • 11 RA Smith • 12 Stewart • 13 Thorpe • 14 White
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