Editing Colin Cowdrey (section)

===1967–68 to 1971===
The tour got off to a bad start when they were outscored in the warm up match against the Barbados Colts, but Cowdrey made 139 against the West Indies Board President's XI, adding 249 with [[Geoff Boycott]] (135). They batted poorly against Trinidad and Tobago and [[Colin Milburn]] made 139 against the Trinidad Colts, but the fast bowler [[John Snow (cricketer)|John Snow]] was ill and went into the First Test at the Port of Spain as underdogs. It was Cowdrey's 92nd Test, taking him past [[Godfrey Evans]]'s record of 91 Test caps. He won the toss and made 72 batting at number three, followed by [[Ken Barrington]] (143) and vice-captain [[Tom Graveney]] (118) to be all out for 568. The West Indies were made to follow on after making 363, but drew the match with 243/8 in the second innings. <ref>{{Cite web |title=WI vs ENG Cricket Scorecard, 1st Test at Port of Spain, January 19 - 24, 1968 |url=https://www.espncricinfo.com/series/england-tour-of-west-indies-1967-68-61747/west-indies-vs-england-1st-test-63014/full-scorecard |access-date=2024-06-01 |website=ESPNcricinfo |language=en}}</ref>

Cowdrey made 107 when the MCC beat Jamaica by 174 runs and they went into the Second Test at [[Kingston, Jamaica|Kingston]] with more confidence. He won the toss again and made 101 in England's 376 and forced the West Indies to follow on again when Snow's 7/49 dismissed them for 143. The West Indies were 204/5 on the day four and when [[Basil Butcher]] was caught behind off [[Basil D'Oliveira]] the crowd rioted and threw bottles onto the outfield. Cowdrey tried to calm the crowd without success and play was abandoned as the police used [[tear gas]] to restore order. Cowdrey and the manager [[Les Ames]] reluctantly agreed to resume play to help placate the crowd and an extra 75 minutes was added on the sixth day to make up for lost time.<ref>Cowdrey, pp. 179–81</ref> Sobers thought it wouldn't be needed as they had battled so badly, but the riot had unsettled the England team. The West Indian captain made 113 not out and was able to declare at 391/9, leaving England 190 to win on the extra day. Boycott and Cowdrey made ducks and English crashed to 43/4 at the end of day five and barely survived with 68/8 after the extra time on day six. Sobers took 3/33 and [[Lance Gibbs]] 3/11, which would have grave repercussions in the Fourth Test. {{citation needed|date=November 2014}}

Cowdrey took the next two matches off (which were drawn), but was with [[Fred Titmus]] when the off-spinner had four toes cut off by a boat propeller while swimming and drove him to the hospital for surgery, which enabled him to return to cricket after the tour. The Third Test at [[Bridgetown]] was a dull draw, with Sobers winning the toss and the West Indies making 349, followed by 449 from England with Boycott (146) and [[John Edrich]] (90) adding 172 for the 1st wicket. They returned to [[Port of Spain]] for the Fourth Test, Sobers won the toss again and his team made 526/7. England replied with 404, Cowdrey top-scoring with 148 and hitting 21 boundaries. The game looked doomed to another draw when Sobers suddenly declared at 92/2 on the fifth day, leaving England 215 runs to win in 165 minutes. Sobers disliked the thought of playing out five draws in a series and remembered the sudden English collapse in the Third Test which might give him a surprise victory. Though he needed Tom Graveney and Ken Barrington to overcome his natural inclination to safety they set about the runs with Boycott holding up one end with 80 not out and adding 118 in 75 minutes with Cowdrey (71) for a 7 wicket victory with three minutes to spare. Sobers was lambasted throughout the West Indies for his declaration and Cowdrey found him drinking alone in a bar that evening when he was usually surrounded by fans. 

The MCC beat Guyana and England went into the Fifth Test at [[Bourda]] with a 1–0 lead. Sobers won the toss again and revived his reputation with an innings of 150, adding 250 with [[Rohan Kanhai]] (152) as the West Indies made 414. England made 371 with Boycott (116) and Cowdrey (59) adding 172, then England collapsed to 269/8 before [[Tony Lock]] (brought over from [[Western Warriors|Western Australia]] to replace Titmus) struck 89. Sobers made 95 not out in the West Indies second innings of 264, and England needed 308 to win on the last day. They fell to 41/5, but the four-hour Kent partnership of 127 between Cowdrey (82) and [[Alan Knott]] (73 not out) saved the day and England drew the match with a nail-biting 206/9. The win assumed greater proportions over the following years as it would be 32 years before England won another series against the West Indies. Cowdrey finished with 534 runs (66.75), his most prolific Test series and the only one in which he exceeded 500 runs.{{citation needed|date=November 2014}}

Australia had held the Ashes since 1958–59 and Cowdrey was keen to return them to England, but he was frustrated by the damp summer. There was no excuse for the First Test at Old Trafford where Australia made 357 and England fell from 86/0 to 165 all out to the part-time off-spin of [[Bob Cowper]] (4/48) and lost by 159 runs, though Basil D'Oliveira made 87 not out in the second innings. The Second Test was the 200th between the two countries and Colin Milburn hammered 83 and Cowdrey 45 in England's 351/7 while Australia were hustled out for 78 after a freak hail storm whitened the ground. 15 hours were lost to the weather and after following on Australia salvaged a draw with 127/4.

The Third Test at Edgbaston was Cowdrey's 100th, the first time that anyone had completed a century of Tests. He celebrated by making 104, using Boycott as a runner after straining his leg. He became the second batsman after [[Wally Hammond]] to make 7,000 Test runs, but England took 172.5 overs to make 409 and though Australia only made 222 the match was drawn. Both Cowdrey and the Australian captain [[Bill Lawry]] were unfit for the Fourth Test, which was drawn when England finished on 230/4 needing 326. Australia's 1–0 lead ensured that they held onto the Ashes, but Cowdrey went to the Fifth Test determined to at least even the series. As the ball was swinging at the Oval that season he wanted the bowlers [[Tom Cartwright]] and [[Barry Knight (cricketer)|Barry Knight]], but they were both unfit and the opener [[Roger Prideaux]] caught a virus of the eve of the Test. D'Oliveira was an all-rounder who could swing the ball so Cowdrey asked for him to cover both needs and he made a politically important 158 in England's 494.<ref>Cowdrey, pp. 197–99</ref> Australia made 325 and dismissed England for 181, but collapsed to 85/5 at lunch on the last day needing 352 to win when a deluge flooded the Oval. The players started packing their bags, but Cowdrey called on the crowd to help the groundstaff dry the ground. "Like a modern-day [[King Canute]] he rolled up his trousers, waded into the water...and supervised the mopping up operations of hundreds of volunteers",<ref>John Snow, Cricket Rebel: An Autobiography, Littlehampton Book Services Ltd (1976), p. 61<!-- ISBN needed --></ref> [[Derek Underwood]] took 7/50 and England won by 226 runs with six minutes to spare. Kent came second to [[Yorkshire County Cricket Club|Yorkshire]] again in the County Championship, winning more matches, but falling behind on bonus points.{{citation needed|date=November 2014}}

[[Basil D'Oliveira]] was a [[Cape Coloured]] who emigrated to England so he could play first-class cricket, from which he was banned in South Africa. When he was not included in the MCC team for South Africa after his match-winning century there was a press storm in what was known as the [[D'Oliveira affair]]. It appeared that he was omitted as he was unacceptable to the South African government, then at the height of [[apartheid]]. Cowdrey and the selectors maintained that he had not been chosen for purely cricketing reasons, but when Cartwright was declared unfit they brought in D'Oliveira, who was the first reserve. To President [[B.J. Vorster|Vorster]] of South Africa it looked like the MCC was caving in to anti-apartheid pressure and he cancelled the tour. Cowdrey offered to fly to South Africa to mediate, but it was 26 years before England next played South Africa.{{citation needed|date=November 2014}}

With the South African tour cancelled a new one was arranged to [[Sri Lanka|Ceylon]] and Pakistan, which was in political turmoil that resulted in the fall of [[Ayub Khan (Field Marshal)|President Ayub Khan]] and imposition of [[martial law]] by his successor General [[Yahya Khan]]. After a few easy-going matches in Ceylon the tour match against the West Pakistan Governor's XI saw play abandoned after 25 overs, there were no other tour matches and all the Tests were affected by political demonstrations against the military regime. In the First Test at [[Lahore]] Cowdrey won the toss and made exactly 100, his 22nd Test century to match [[Wally Hammond]]'s England record. England made 309, dismissed Pakistan for 209 and Cowdrey declared the second innings at 225/9 to give them 326 to win, but Pakistan made 203/5 for a draw. [[Saeed Ahmed (cricketer, born 1937)|Saeed Ahmed]] won the toss in the Second Test at [[Dacca]] in [[East Pakistan]], soon to be [[Bangladesh]], where there was rioting and gunfire around the team hotel.<ref>Snow, pp. 66–68</ref> Pakistan made 246, which was matched by England's 274, thanks to D'Oliveira's 114 not out. Pakistan took 101 overs to make 196/5 and a token declaration left England to make 33/0. Cowdrey won the toss again in the Third Test at [[Karachi]], but there were riots on the first two days by fans who wanted [[Hanif Mohammad]] as captain instead of Saeed. England piled up 502/7, with [[Colin Milburn]] making 139 and Tom Graveney 105, but the match was abandoned after demonstrators wrecked the stadium on the morning of the third day, leaving [[Alan Knott]] stranded on 96 not out. Cowdrey was not there to see it as he left on the second day after his father-in-law died,<ref>Cowdrey, p. 78</ref> leaving Graveney in charge. The team followed on the third day, with manager [[Les Ames]] abandoning the Test and the rest of the tour to save the team.<ref>Snow, p. 73</ref>

Cowdrey broke the [[Achilles tendon]] in his left heel three weeks into the 1969 season and he could not play until the last match in September. The veteran [[Yorkshire County Cricket Club|Yorkshire]] professional [[Ray Illingworth]] was his surprise replacement after only a month as captain of [[Leicestershire County Cricket Club|Leicestershire]]. He was chosen over his rivals [[Brian Close]] and [[Tom Graveney]] as he was not seen as a threat to Cowdrey's long-term captaincy due to his age and inability to establish a regular spot in the Test team.<ref>Swanton, pp. 63–64</ref> However, Illingworth made his maiden Test century in his second Test in charge, beat the West Indies and New Zealand 2–0 each and remained captain even when Cowdrey recovered. Kent suffered from his absence and fell to 10th in the County Championship, but Cowdrey was able to get some match practice in by touring the West Indies with the [[International Cavaliers]] and the [[Bernard Fitzalan-Howard, 16th Duke of Norfolk|Duke of Norfolk's XI]].

The South African tour was cancelled and as the cricketers needed practice against a top team before going to Australia, and to fill MCC coffers, a [[Rest of the World cricket team in England in 1970|Rest of the World XI]] under Gary Sobers was organised from overseas cricketers playing for English counties. Cowdrey was still easing himself back into cricket when the First 'Test' was played and he was not selected, but played in the other four and made 1 and 64 in the Second, 0 and 71 in the Third, 1 and 0 in the Fourth and 73 and 31 in the Fifth, a total of 241 runs (30.13). England lost the series 4–1, but three of their defeats were close and they were playing the best team in the world. These were counted as Tests at the time, but the ICC subsequently disallowed them. This meant that Cowdrey passed [[Wally Hammond]]'s record of 7,249 Test runs when he made 71 at Trent Bridge to become the [[List of Test cricket records|most prolific Test batsmen]], and would do it again in Australia. {{citation needed|date=November 2014}}

Cowdrey's return to the England team fueled speculation that he was to resume the captaincy from Illingworth, but he did not and in the Third 'Test' he was told that his rival would be made captain for the Australian tour. He was willing to accompany him as a player, but had to think about being vice-captain again as he thought a younger man should be chosen. In the end he accepted in order to help his Kent teammate [[David Clark (cricketer)|David Clark]] with the administration.{{citation needed|date=November 2014}}

Cowdrey had other considerations in the summer of 1970, which was Kent County Cricket Club's Centenary. Kent had been 13th in the County Championship in his first year as captain in 1957, but had improved and were runners up in 1967 and 1968. The county has been short of funds throughout the 60s, but agreed to increase resources for extra staff for the 1970 season, which could only be justified by winning the County Championship for the first time since 1913. Apart from their energetic overseas player [[Asif Iqbal (cricketer, born 1943)|Asif Iqbal]] and the Scottish [[Mike Denness]] they had home-grown talent in the shape of [[Alan Knott]], [[Derek Underwood]], [[Bob Woolmer]], [[Brian Luckhurst]], and [[Alan Ealham]]. At the start of the season [[Edward Heath]], Kent fan and leader of the [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative Party]], gave a speech at their dinner, saying that 1906 had seen Kent win their first County Championship alongside a [[1906 United Kingdom general election|change of government]] and they should do so again in 1970.<ref>Cowdrey, p. 211</ref>

In early July it appeared that he had jinxed both their chances with Heath behind in the polls in the [[1970 United Kingdom general election|General Election]] and Kent at the bottom of the championship table. The change came when Sussex defeated them in the [[Gillette Cup (England)|Gillette Cup]], giving them two rest days which Cowdrey used to hammer out their difficulties in a team meeting. They decided to chase bonus points and won 7 and drew 5 of their last 12 games, often by close margins and it was a draw at the Oval, where Cowdrey made 112, that gave them the title with the newly elected [[Prime Minister of the United Kingdom|Prime Minister]] Heath at the ground to invite them to a reception at [[10 Downing Street]] to celebrate.<ref>Cowdrey, p. 219</ref>

Cowdrey was made vice-captain for an [[1970–71 Ashes series|Australian tour]] for the fourth time and Illingworth's tough no-nonsense approach to the game clashed with the MCC tour manager [[David Clark (cricketer)|David Clark]], who had been captain of [[Kent County Cricket Club|Kent]] in Cowdrey's youth and had given him his county cap. As a result, Illingworth effectively took over the running of the tour with the support of the players and Clark's influence declined,<ref>Snow, pp. 94–95</ref><ref>Swanton, pp. 150–51</ref> as did that of Cowdrey, who as his only ally he became isolated, though he still had his Kent teammates [[Derek Underwood]], [[Alan Knott]] and [[Brian Luckhurst]].<ref name="p110, Snow">Snow, p. 110</ref> The players tended to avoid the press and public, even to the point of having their meals in their hotel rooms, and only Cowdrey made an effort to meet and greet the cricket fans. The rotund Cowdrey was in the sunset of his career and failed on tour, making only one century – 101 against [[Victorian Bushrangers|Victoria]] – which was so slow that he was likened to a [[beached whale]].<ref>[[Richard Whitington]], ''Captains Outrageous? Cricket in the Seventies'', [[Stanley Paul]] (1972), p. 54<!-- ISBN needed --></ref>

In the First Test he overtook [[Wally Hammond]]'s record of 7,249 runs to become the [[List of Test cricket records|most prolific Test batsman]], a record he held for a year when it was overtaken by [[Gary Sobers]]. Cowdrey made only 1 run in the inaugural [[One Day International]] at Melbourne and was dropped for the Fourth Test, had his cap stolen while fielding in the Fifth Test and was dropped again for the Sixth and Seventh Tests. Illingworth won an argumentative series 2–0 and regained the Ashes, but Cowdrey only made 82 runs (20.50) in the series. They carried on to New Zealand, and Cowdrey missed the First Test and needed a runner to make 54 and 45 in the Second Test at Auckland, coming in at 63/4 in the second innings when New Zealand had a real chance of winning their first victory against England, but he added 76 with Alan Knott (96), and the danger was averted.{{citation needed|date=November 2014}}

Cowdrey played what he thought was would be his last Test against Pakistan at Edgbaston, making 14 and 34. He was now 38 and a serious bout of [[pneumonia]] meant he could not play for half the season, though his 15th year as Kent captain he equalled [[George Harris, 4th Baron Harris|Lord Harris]]'s record and made him the longest serving post-war captain in county cricket. His vice-captain and successor [[Mike Denness]] led Kent for most of the season; they fell to 4th in the County Championship and were the finalists in the Gillette Cup, but Cowdrey was unable to play and they lost to [[Lancashire County Cricket Club|Lancashire]] by 24 runs.{{citation needed|date=November 2014}}