4/8/24, 12:22 PM Wisden - Wisden Obituaries - 2013

O'TOOLE, SEAMUS PETER, who died on December 14, aged 81, maintained a long and often eccentric
tradition of actors with a passion for cricket. It was a love affair that began during his northern childhood,
continued in games for Lazarusians CC (of which he was the founder), and carried on later in life when he
coached youngsters at Brondesbury and Cricklewood cricket clubs with unaffected enthusiasm. Thanks to his
friendship with MCC head coach Don Wilson, he was a regular visitor to the nets at Lord's, once gleefully
facing an over from Imran Khan at full tilt.

Peter O'Toole grew up in Leeds, and recalled sitting in packed pre-war cinemas cheering newsreel footage of
Len Hutton's 364 in 1938; Hutton became his first cricket idol. He would seize any opportunity to introduce
cricket to film sets, improvising games with Omar Sharif in the desert while filming Lawrence of Arabia, and
teaching the basics to Katharine Hepburn during the making of The Lion in Winter.

He was frank about his own limitations as a batsman and off-spinner: "I have a delivery which is really, really
special. It does absolutely nothing." But, when he had a son at the age of 50, he took coaching
qualifications. "The only thing I've ever been interested in teaching anyone in life is cricket," he said in his
final interview.

PALMER, ANNE, who died on July 9, 2006, aged 91, was a key figure in the inaugural women's Test series
in 1934-35, forming an effective spin duo with Peggy Antonio. They practised and played together in
Melbourne, and Antonio's leg-spin complemented Palmer's accurate off-breaks so well that they took 22 of
the 33 English wickets which fell to bowlers in the three Tests. Palmer showed all her skills in the opening
match at Brisbane's Exhibition Ground, with seven for 18 from 13.2 overs. In the Third (and final) Test, at
Melbourne, she made an important contribution as Australia forced a draw after two comprehensive defeats.
First she made a forthright 39 from No. 10 to limit Australia's deficit to 12, then took three quick wickets
which held up England's quest for swift runs.

Palmer was unable to raise the fare to make the 1937 tour of England, and played no more cricket. Instead,
her appointment as Victoria's first female police officer set her on a lifetime career, although many younger
women cricketers in Melbourne benefited from her gentle but perceptive advice. Palmer died in 2006 but, as
she had no close relatives, her passing was not immediately noticed by the cricket community.

PANDIT, MADHAVAN BALAN, died on June 5, aged 86. Balan Pandit had a long career in Indian domestic
cricket, mainly for Kerala, whom he captained; a stylish batsman, he played his last match in 1969-70, when
he was 43. He scored four centuries, all for Kerala and all against Andhra, the highest 262 not out at
Palakkad in 1959-60, when he and George Abraham shared a stand of 410. Pandit's early first-class matches
were for Kathiawar, and he was their wicketkeeper in the 1948-49 match in which Maharashtra's Bhausaheb
Nimbalkar was stranded on 443 not out - nine short of the first-class record at the time, held by Don
Bradman - when the Kathiawar team refused to continue.

PERKINS, GEORGE CYRIL, who died on November 21, aged 102, was at the time of his death the oldest
English first-class cricketer, and one of a diminishing number who played before the Second World War.
Perkins, always known as Cyril, was a left-arm spinner who made 56 appearances for Northamptonshire
between 1934 and 1937, and achieved the unwanted distinction of never playing on the winning side. It was
an English record which he bore with equanimity, and he went on to have a long career with Suffolk.

Perkins arrived at Wantage Road from Wollaston, brought along by coach Ben Bellamy, who also hailed from
the village. A right-handed batsman, he initially bowled left-arm seam, but soon switched to spin. He made
his debut in a nine-wicket defeat by Middlesex at Lord's, a result which set the tone for his career:
Northamptonshire would finish bottom of the Championship in each of his four summers. "We did get a bit
despondent at times," he told the Daily Telegraph on his 100th birthday. "We had a first-innings lead in quite
a few matches and didn't win any of them. But in the end you get so used to not winning you just accept it."

One of those squandered positions came at Northampton in July 1935, when Perkins took a career-best six
for 54 as Worcestershire were dismissed for 93. Northamptonshire had a first-innings lead of 78 - and lost by
30 runs. That was his best summer, with 63 wickets, but it was followed by two barren seasons. He was
released in 1937, and joined Suffolk two years later, taking ten wickets on debut, against Lincolnshire.

He served in the Royal Artillery during the war, then became cricket coach and groundsman at Ipswich
School, a position he held until 1977. Perkins resumed his career with Suffolk in 1946, and 46 wickets at
seven apiece - the product of accuracy rather than turn - to bowl them to their first Minor Counties
Championship. Against Hertfordshire at Felixstowe in 1960, he exploited a damp patch to claim ten for 23 in
the second innings.

Perkins retired aged 56 in 1967 after taking 779 wickets, a Suffolk record. He was selected in the Minor
Counties team of the century in 1999. When he celebrated his 100th birthday in 2011, there were many
tributes, but affectionate letters from former pupils pleased him most. Suffolk's chairman Norman Atkins
said: "If anybody wanted a definition of the spirit of cricket, it was Cyril Perkins."

PERTWEE, WILLIAM DESMOND ANTHONY, MBE, died on May 27, aged 86. The comic actor Bill Pertwee
did not achieve his schoolboy dream of becoming a professional cricketer, but he did once captain a team
that included Fred Trueman. In 1970, Trueman appeared in an episode of Dad's Army, the sitcom in which
Pertwee earned fame as Hodges, the belligerent air-raid warden. Hodges challenges Captain Mainwaring's
Home Guard, his despised rivals, to a cricket match, and covertly recruits "E. C. Egan", played by Trueman,
to the wardens' team. With Hodges keeping wicket - and ill-advisedly standing up - Egan marks out his full
run, bowls one ball which leaves Mainwaring grovelling on the floor, and puts his shoulder out in the process.
The Home Guard go on to win and, yet again, Hodges' attempt to get one over on Mainwaring fails. In his
autobiography, A Funny Way to Make a Living, he detailed his youthful obsession with the game, and his

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