“He was simply a God to me as a kid, when I followed him all round the Bradford League playing for Pudsey St Lawrence. Those who played with and against him knew he was the best player and a class above everyone else.”
Ray Illingworth on Len Hutton
“Cricket was my reason for living.”
Harold Larwood
“I was given a talent to play cricket. I don’t know why I was given it, but I was. I owe it to all those who wish it had been them to give my best…”
Rahul Dravid
“I tend to think that cricket is the greatest thing that God ever created on earth – certainly greater than sex; although sex isn’t too bad either.”
Harold Pinter
“I always dreamt of holding the bat and winning games for India…”
Virat Kohli
“Down the mine, I dreamed of cricket. I bowled imaginary balls in the dark. I sent the stumps spinning and heard them rattling in the tunnels.”
Harold Larwood
“Don Bradman will bat no more against England, and two contrary feelings dispute within us: relief, that our bowlers will no longer be oppressed by this phenomenon; regret, that a miracle has been removed from among us. So must ancient Italy have felt when she heard of the death of Hannibal.”
R.C. Robertson-Glasgow
“My idea of paradise is Lord’s in the sunshine, with Ray Lindwall bowling from one end and Bishan Bedi from the other”
Jim Laker