Barrington, The Modern Bradman

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30079, 13 March 1963, Page 13

Barrington, The Modern Bradman

Whan ha was 18, K. T. Barrington was a mechanic. Then his cricketing ability was brought to the notice of the Surrey County Cricket Club and he changed hia vocation to that of a professional cricketer. Bowlers who have sweated and toiled against Barrington in the last two years could be excused for thinking that he has never forgotten his early training, for his batting in hia last three test series has been the nearest approach to mechanical efficiency since D. G. Bradman in the 1930 s almost begged the invention of computing machines. Barrington first emerged as a run-making machine when he toured India and Pakistan in 1961-82. . In tests against these two countries he averaged mor than 100; at one stage he had scored four successive J test cen- | turies. His tour of Aus- ( trails with E. R. Dexter's team only slightly diminished his average. In five tests against < Australia he •

averaged 72.5. Now New Zealand has seen the “machine" in action, with his third successive test century—l26—at Auckland, and 76 at Wellington. To bowl to Barrington must be heartbreaking. His ugly two-eyed stance may give some initial encouragement to the bowler that he could have a weakness outside the off stump. But it is a myth. He moves quickly behind the ball and his cutting and cover driving, if not as elegant as the purist would wish, is nonetheless most effective tn terms of runs. On the leg-side he is superb. He can glide and drive, but it is the pull and sweep shots which W make him so difficult an opponent. For every ball bowled on the leg-side, Barrington has an answer. It may be passive defence, or a scoring stroke, but the bat is always there. However, F other batsmen have had these « attributes but have s failed to score the ' runs that Barrington compiles. The secret of his success is his ability to judge which ball can be hit The bowler will see Barrington play five sails of an over with the most circumspect defence. The -sixth ball may be a Shade short of a length, or off the wickets—it immediately becomes four runs. It is awesome to think of Barrington in future years. Runs coming steadily match after match; bowler after bowler‘despairing of getting him out cheaply. And Barrington still there, batting phlegmatically, hitting four after four with the same efficiency as he probably showed when he was placing nuts and bolts in the correct holes when he was a mechanic.