Ted Dexter: Former England and Sussex captain dies aged 86 – obituary

Ted Dexter

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An innovative cricketer, Ted Dexter also excelled as a golfer, and devised what eventually became cricket’s world rankings

Ted Dexter, who has died aged 86, was a commanding, attacking batsman and medium-pace seamer who captained Sussex and England – though success eluded him in a later spell as chairman of selectors.

Nicknamed ‘Lord Ted’ since his schooldays at Radley in Oxfordshire, Dexter was also an outstanding golfer who could have played the sport professionally, and pursued a wide range of interests outside of cricket.

He was the only England Test captain born in Milan, the only player to declare himself unavailable for a winter tour in order to stand for Parliament, and the first selector to reference astrology in a news conference.

But it was as a player that he excelled, with six of his nine Test hundreds bigger than 140, and in a statement announcing his death, the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) called him “one of England’s greatest ever cricketers”.

From Milan to Sussex, via…

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