Ted Dexter

Did You Know?

• Dexter was born in Milan, Italy, where his father ran a successful underwriting agency, and moved to England at age three just before World War II.
• While head boy at Radley College, Dexter inflicted corporal punishment on younger boys including the comedian Peter Cook.
• He did national service as a second lieutenant in the 11th Hussars during the Malayan Emergency and was awarded the Malaya Campaign Medal.

Tour of Australia and New Zealand 1962–63

Dexter scored 481 runs (48.10) on the tour, the most by an England captain in Australia, a record that still stands. The team manager was Bernard Fitzalan-Howard, 16th Duke of Norfolk, and it was joked that only a duke could control "Lord Ted". In a tour match between the MCC and an Australian XI, Dexter hit 102 in 110 minutes with 2 sixes and 13 fours. John Woodcock of The Times wrote that Dexter hit the ball as hard as possible, twice clearing the sight screen against off-spinner Veivers. At the Adelaide Oval he hit a six onto the roof of the stand, one of the biggest hits seen there. Over a million spectators watched the tourists, the most since 1936–37, and the tour returned a record profit of £24,000 for the MCC.

Home series 1963–64

As captain against Frank Worrell's West Indian team in 1963, Dexter played an exciting Test series. After losing the First Test, in the Second Test at Lord's his hard-hitting 70 off 75 balls against fast bowlers Charlie Griffith and Wes Hall was widely remembered. In the second innings Colin Cowdrey batted with a broken arm, and David Allen blocked the last two balls for a draw. England levelled the series in the Third Test thanks to Dexter (4/38 and 1/7) and Fred Trueman (5/75 and 7/44), but lost the last two Tests and the series.

In the rain-soaked 1964 Ashes series, in the decisive Third Test at Headingley Dexter removed off-spinner Fred Titmus after he had taken three wickets, then gave the new ball to Fred Trueman, who bowled bouncers that Peter Burge hooked and pulled to 160, leading to an Australian win. Dexter was heavily criticised for the decision. In the Fourth Test Australia made 656/8, but a stand of 246 between Ken Barrington (256) and Dexter (174) helped England reach 611 and avoid defeat, though the draw meant Australia retained the Ashes. Dexter led Sussex to the Gillette Cup finals in 1963 and 1964, winning both, the county's first trophies.

Administration 1989–2003

After retiring from cricket in 1968, Dexter became a journalist, broadcaster and founded a PR company. In the late 1980s he joined Bob Willis to find new fast bowlers for English cricket, sending application forms to pubs, but most were filled in by jokers and drunks, and only a few potential candidates were discovered. The only bowler in the scheme who played first-class cricket had already been signed by Warwickshire, so the plan failed despite generating publicity. In 1987 Dexter conceived a ranking system for Test cricketers, developed it with statisticians Gordon Vince and Rob Eastaway, and launched it as the Deloittes Ratings. The system gained credibility and was formally adopted by the International Cricket Council in 2003 as the official ICC Player Rankings.

Outside cricket

Dexter married Susan Longfield on 2 May 1959, the daughter of former Kent cricketer Tom Longfield, whom he met at Cambridge University and decided to marry on sight. She worked as a model and joined him on the 1962–63 tour of Australia, where she earned more than any cricketer and generated considerable press interest. Fred Trueman recalled that at a press conference most questions were about her. The couple had a son Thomas and a daughter Genevieve.

Dexter was a talented golfer and amateur champion; in Australia in 1962–63 he played a foursome with Norman Von Nida, Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player, with Colin Cowdrey as his caddy, and was offered a chance to become a tournament golfer in America but declined. He won the President's Putter three times. He owned Jaguar cars, Norton motorbikes, greyhounds and race horses, and in 1970 piloted his Aztec BPA-23 Pommies Progress to Australia to cover the Ashes as a journalist, covering 12,000 miles with 24 stops.

He launched a PR company, briefly became a television cricket commentator, and wrote columns for The Observer and the Sunday Mirror. He co-wrote the crime novel Testkill (1976) with Clifford Makins. In December 2012 he appeared on BBC One's Antiques Roadshow with Paul Atterbury.