Eddie Barlow

Eddie Barlow
Barlow in 1977
Personal information
Born(1940-08-12)12 August 1940
Pretoria, Transvaal
Died30 December 2005(2005-12-30) (aged 65)
Jersey
BattingRight-handed
BowlingRight-arm medium
International information
National side
Test debut (cap 205)8 December 1961 v New Zealand
Last Test10 March 1970 v Australia
Career statistics
Competition Test FC LA
Matches 30 283 99
Runs scored 2,516 18,212 2,983
Batting average 45.74 39.16 31.73
100s/50s 6/15 43/86 3/22
Top score 201 217 186
Balls bowled 3,021 31,930 5,010
Wickets 40 571 161
Bowling average 34.05 24.14 18.08
5 wickets in innings 1 16 2
10 wickets in match 0 2 0
Best bowling 5/85 7/24 6/33
Catches/stumpings 35/– 335/– 43/–
Source: CricketArchive, 3 December 2020

Edgar John Barlow (12 August 1940 – 30 December 2005) was a South African cricketer (an all rounder). Barlow was born in Pretoria, Transvaal, South Africa, and played first-class cricket for Transvaal and Eastern Province from 1959–60 to 1967–68 before moving to Western Province for the seasons from 1968–69 to 1980–81. During this time he also played three seasons with Derbyshire in the English County Championship from 1976 – 1978. He completed his first-class career in Boland in 1982–83. Barlow was named as one of the six South African Cricket Annual players of the year in 1962.

The bespectacled Barlow was both a popular and easily recognisable figure in South African cricket from the 1960s onwards. A prodigious run-maker and frequent wicket-taker, he was one of the leading all-rounders on the world stage in the 1960s. According to Louis Duffus, Barlow "did more than anyone else to break down the timid defensive tactics which for so many years kept South Africa a second-rate cricket country".[1]

He was nicknamed "Bunter" because of his supposed resemblance to Billy Bunter. A stand at Newlands Cricket Ground was to have been named after Barlow but due to opposition from some of the voting clubs it has been "put on hold".

  1. ^ Quoted in Rodney Hartman, Ali: The Life of Ali Bacher, Penguin, Johannesburg, 2006, p. 122.