On the 4 July, 1918, identical twins Eric and Alec Bedser were, born in Woking, Berkshire, where Alec lived until his death in 2010, at 91.

Self-taught on Horsell Common, the twins joined Surrey County Cricket Club aged 19.

After the end of the World War II, Alec became a hugely successful fast medium bowler for England, moving on to become Chairman of the Test Selectors, England manager and President of Surrey County Cricket Club. In 1997 a knighthood followed an OBE and CBE.

Eric, was a fine all-rounder, who helped Surrey win seven successive County Championships during the 1950s and served as President of Surrey County Cricket Club in 1990.

The Bedser twins had a strong affinity, and would wear identical clothes even when apart. They could finish each other’s sentences and were never happy when separated.

Umpires had their problems with the twins too. Once, when Alec was run out in a match, Eric followed him in, but the umpire refused to allow him to ‘bat again’ until Alec was recalled from the pavilion for the purposes of comparison.

At the tender age of five years old, they began cricket training under their father in the back garden. The twins later joined a team of local choirboys, and when Eric aged seven, he won a prize for making the top score in a match, in which boys twice his age participated. Their keenness on cricket prompted them to spend hours at a stretch working on a wicket, rolling, mowing and watering it with water carried from a nearby stream.

At 14 they joined Woking CC and, to provide a distinguishing identification, Alec wore a black belt.

After a few games with the Young Players of Surrey, they were taken on the playing staff at The Oval in April, 1938, and Eric promptly made his mark, scoring 50, retired, and 100, retired, in the first trial.

The twins both won places in the Second XI, where their success was immediate. Eric, firstly a batsman, hit 457 runs in 18 innings, his highest score being 92, not out, for an average of 30.46, and was third in the bowling averages, taking 22 wickets with his spinners, at an average of 19.95. Alec, bowling fast-medium in-swingers, headed the bowling figures with 42 wickets at a cost of 17.38 runs apiece, and averaged 13.50 in 12 innings with the bat in hand.

The last season before the start of World War II, Surrey headed the Minor Counties Competition, and the Bedsers made their debut in first-class cricket against Oxford University at The Oval in June. Unfortunately rain ruined the game, and neither received much chance to show his quality.

Not much was seen of Eric in cricket in that year, but Alec produced some fine bowling figures, and performed hat-tricks for an England XI against a West Indies XI at Lord’s, and also for the Royal Air Force at Westcliff against the Metropolitan Police, when he took nine wickets and held a catch. His most startling analysis was at Hove in 1942 when, playing for the RAF against the Police in a Sussex Services Tournament match, he dismissed nine batsmen in 23 deliveries for three runs, hitting the stumps eight times.

Bedsers, saw service in the RAF in France in the war, when for a time, identification was simplified when Eric was promoted to Flight-Sergeant and sported a crown over his three stripes, so when they were in uniform, it was possible to distinguish which twin was which. However, when Alec also became a Flight-Sergeant, exact similarity was restored !

Former Prime Minister, and Surrey CCC Past President, Sir John Major, unveiled statues of the twins in Woking town centre, as a tribute to their cricketing legacy

Eric died in 2006 and Alec died in 1910.

4 July, 2019