It’s a toss up whether I became a cricket writer because my grandfather, former Australian captain Vic Richardson — who I admired greatly — was one, or else English was the only subject where I didn’t spend the whole lesson gazing longingly out the window at the playing fields. For more than four decades I’ve enjoyed writing on the game and been inspired by some of the press box characters. Sadly, their numbers are dwindling and the cricket world is the poorer for their passing.

First to go was Ian Wooldridge, a lyrical English sports writer who spent many years on the cricket circuit. He described the defiant Australian opener Bill Lawry as; “The corpse with pads on,” after a backs-to-the-wall innings against England in 1961. Wooldridge’s wicked sense of humour wasn’t reserved for the players. “It’s cheaper to get a divorce than ring home from an Indian hotel,” he lamented, prior to the introduction of cell phones. I met Wooldridge through his friend Richie Benaud, who left us in 2015.