A superb all-rounder during his era, Stanley Nichols was a flamboyant strokemaker who made batting look soothing, like most left-handers do. An absolute giant in First-class cricket for Essex, he plundered over 17000 runs and above 1800 wickets; gargantuan stats indeed. The story is that he was initially made to be a specialist batsman and that’s how he got noticed at the County but with his well-built figure and height, suggestions came to Nichols to also take up pace bowling. The rest, as they say, is history. An intelligent bowler who had the stamina to bowl lengthy spells, Nichols was versatile with the ball in hand. Like many cricketers of his times, his best performances came in FC level and the Test career wasn’t as extravagant although his career was a moderate success. Apart from cricket, Nichols did well in football and was a competent goalkeeper.

Written by Hariprasad Sadanandan