Gleaned from the net: It became one of the most famous Test match stands: 411 in eight hours 20 minutes. Not merely did they save the game, they transformed the relationship between the sides: Ramadhin was never a match-winner again. While May counter-attacked, Cowdrey stayed in his crease and played this most mysterious of bowlers as if he were an off-spinner, pushing forward and letting the leg-break go by. "Once Colin had committed himself to a policy of complete defence," said May later, "his technique was so good that he made no mistake in execution." Three weeks later, the other Cowdrey reasserted himself and he smashed 152 at Lord's, followed by 55, 68 and two. England were now so dominant that he never needed to bat twice in any of the last four Tests. So, at last, his cricketing personality was starting to emerge fully. He would still be compared to Hammond, especially when he launched into his cover drive or pouched slip catches with absolute certainty. But there was still something of Hobbs: the lightness of touch both technically and spiritually - with a sense that he sympathised with a bowler a shade too much for the sternest tastes. And there was also something all his own: an introspection that, as at Edgbaston, could help him think through cricketing problems like a master detective, but at other times could exasperate even his closest admirers. (To be continued).
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