Spin-master Ted is still bowling over batsmen

AT 71 not out, Ted Enevoldsen shows no signs of retiring. After 55 years in the sport, he continues to turn his arm over in top-flight league cricket and he is still producing match-winning performances.

Playing recently for his Wanderers side against Mavericks in the first round of the GCA Cup, the septuagenarian came in at number 11 and made 26 runs to drag his team out of the mire.

His last-wicket stand of 49 with keeper Andrew Boyce posted a testing total of 184. He then bowled 10 overs of his off spin to take one wicket for 29 to ensure that Mavs ended up 60 short of their target.

He was modest about his performance afterwards.

'At 136 for nine, we were in trouble,' he said.

'I was batting from memory and all of my shots were coming out of the middle of the bat. The timing was there and it was the best I've batted in 15 years.

'I then bowled my 10 overs straight off and collapsed in a heap. The next day, I was stiff as a board.'

The former detective inspector retired from the Guernsey police force in 1986 after 31 years' service. He then worked in Carey Olsen's litigation department until his retirement six years ago.

He took up golf when he left the police and now likes to spend a lot of time on the course. He had actually announced his retirement from cricket at the end of last season.

'It has always been my favourite sport by far,' he said.

'In fact, I had given up this year and I hadn't been to any nets over the winter. I was speaking to Christine Birkett in the golf club car park the other week and she asked me if I missed cricket and I said ?no?.

'But when I got home, I realised that I do. I love cricket.'

And he certainly has played some.

His league career has been split between two teams.

He started at Pessimists, where he stayed for eight years before joining Optimists until 15 years ago when he rejoined Pessies. He has captained the island side in an inter-insular, his only one, in 1964, which was cut short with no result due to rain.

His career with the police limited the amount of time that he could dedicate to cricket, which he believes curtailed his inter-insular appearances.

The highlight of his career was when he took six for 68 against Hampshire when they visited the island in 1968. Another top moment was when he played against a certain Gary Sobers at the College Field and Enevoldsen vividly remembers one shot that the great West Indian all-rounder hit off him.

'Sobers hit me for the lowest-elevated six in my life.

'It passed me by my knee cap and it bounced just short of the gate at the Rue a l'Or end. He is without the doubt the best player that I ever played against.

'He bowled his full repertoire that day and when he batted, it was a delight to watch.'

Cricketers against whom Enevoldsen has played reads like a Who's Who of great players, from England legend Sir Len Hutton and Caribbean opener Gordon Greenidge to the English spin twins, John Emburey and Phil Edmonds. It is possible to name an international eleven of players he has been on the same pitch with.

According to Enevoldsen, his greatest scalp was former England captain Mike Brearley.

'He came over during his benefit year.

'We were playing at the College Field and I had him caught at forward short leg by one of the Gill boys.

'He just stood there with that turned-up hat on that he used to wear with a look of, how did I get out to that? He wasn't very happy.'

Enevoldsen started playing cricket at 16 as a swing bowler. His stock delivery was the in-swinger until the former Elizabeth College cricket master, Jack Reddish, convinced him to take up spin in his early 20s.

If you speak to any batsman in the island about Enevoldsen, they will no doubt mention his arm ball: the off spinner's variation delivery that swings away from the right hander. He is renowned for it and it seems to be his stock delivery these days because he doesn't look to turn too many.

'My fingers have thickened up and I haven't got the supple wrist I used to have.

'I used to be a swing bowler who started to experiment with a bit of spin. When I took it up full-time, I was bowling against a Gloucestershire batsman who had come over and I bowled an arm ball at him that beat his edge.

'The next ball, I bowled him with one that turned and as he passed me he said that it was the ball before that got him out. I've been bowling them ever since.

'It's a variation: look at how many deliveries Warne has. As an off-spinner, you do need to have variation, an arm ball, a floater or a top-spinner.'

Enevoldsen's captain at Pessimists and Wanderers, Dave Piesing, believes that the veteran cricketer is a national treasure.

'I think that you should preserve his action on film,' said Piesing.

'He's got such a great action. It's quite a testament and a credit to his fitness that a person of his age can still bowl at that standard. I thought he had given up at the end of last season.'

So how about next season for the 'old boy'?

'The way I feel at the moment, yes,' said Enevoldsen.

'But I have to take each winter as it comes.'