Trevor Edward Bailey (born 3 December 1923) is a former England Test cricketer. He was educated at Alleyn Court School in Westcliff-on-Sea before going to Dulwich College and Cambridge University.
A right-arm fast-medium bowler, dependable right-handed batsman and strong fielder, Bailey played 61 Tests for England between 1949 and 1959. He took 132 wickets at the bowling average of 29, scored a century (134 not out) in attaining a useful batting average of nearly 30, and took 32 catches. At the Lord's Test in 1953 England were facing defeat. He shared a defensive fifth wicket stand with Willie Watson, defying the Australian bowlers for over four hours to earn a draw. England went on to regain The Ashes. His best Test bowling figures of 7/34 enabled England to bowl out the West Indies for 139 in the first innings of the fifth Test at Kingston, Jamaica in 1953-4, on a pitch on which the groundsman expected the home side to score 700. This enabled England to win the match and to share the series 2-2.
For Essex in English county cricket he was a linchpin for many years with his swing bowling. His first-class cricket career began just after World War II in 1946 and lasted 21 years as he played 682 matches, taking 2,082 wickets at a bowling average of 23.13, which puts him 25th on the all-time list of wicket-takers. Bailey achieved the rare feat of taking all 10 wickets in an innings, for 90 runs, against Lancashire at Clacton in 1949. His 28,641 runs in first-class cricket put him 67th on the all-time list of run-getters. He captained the county from 1961 to 1966, well enough for many to think that it was unfortunate that he never captained his country. He was also the county's secretary from 1955 to 1967, which enabled him to receive a salary whilst at the same time technically remaining an amateur cricketer.
He is the only player since the Second World War to score more than 2,000 runs in a season and take 100 wickets, a feat he achieved in 1959, and he achieved the all-rounders' double of 1000 runs and 100 wickets in a season eight times, a post-WWII record he shares with Fred Titmus. He was selected as one of the five Wisden Cricketers of the Year in 1950.
He was renowned for his slow scoring, Neville Cardus writing of one innings in his book Cricket of Vintage: "Before he gathered together 20 runs, a newly-married couple could have left Heathrow and arrived in Lisbon, there to enjoy a honeymoon. By the time Bailey had congealed 50, this happily wedded pair could easily have settled down in a semi-detached house in Surbiton; and by the time his innings had gone to its close they conceivably might have been divorced."
After retiring from cricket in 1967, Bailey continued to play for Westcliff-on-Sea Cricket Club for many years and also became a cricket journalist and broadcaster. He was the cricket and football correspondent of the Financial Times for twenty years. He was a regular on the BBC's Test Match Special for many years, where fellow commentator Brian Johnston nicknamed him "The Boil", based on the supposed Australian barrackers' pronunciation of his name as "Boiley". He still watches Westcliff-on-Sea Cricket club play at their Chalkwell Park Ground which he played on so many times for school, club, and county.
He played football for Cambridge University (appearing in the University Match against Oxford), Southend United reserves, Leytonstone and Walthamstow Avenue. At various times he played at centre-half, inside-right and on the wing. He was a member of the Walthamstow Avenue side which won the FA Amateur Cup in 1951-2. The following season, he played in the side which reached the fourth round of the FA Cup. Drawn against Manchester United at Old Trafford, they drew 1-1, a fine achievement for an amateur side. The replay took place at Highbury, and Manchester United won 5-2.
