Remembering Wayne Larkins: ‘Up there with the best – what a player when he was on song’

Northamptonshire County Cricket Club is deeply saddened by the death of Wayne Larkins at the age of 71. He passed away in University Hospital, Coventry after a short illness.

Wayne – known to the cricketing world as ‘Ned’ – made 716 appearances for Northamptonshire across first-class and one-day cricket between 1972 and 1991, scoring 29,929 County runs with 60 centuries.

He also played 13 Tests, spread over 11 years, and 25 ODIs for England – touring Australia, India and West Indies – and his many fans around Wantage Road (and far beyond) have long felt it should have been substantially more.

Not many cricketers have been the inspiration for a new verb, but Wayne could lay claim to that distinction in the 1980s.

Around the county circuit it was not unusual to hear pace bowlers – including the future BBC cricket correspondent Jonathan Agnew, widely credited with coining the term – fearing they would be ‘Nedded’ when the Northamptonshire opener arrived at the crease.

Unquestionably one of the most exciting and naturally talented English top-order batsmen of his generation, he feared no-one with the new ball and could inflict severe damage on the very best.

His driving through (and often over) extra cover was a joy to behold, as was his two-over tussle with the decidedly rapid West Indian fast bowler Patrick Patterson at the tail end of a Championship match against Lancashire in 1986 – as Cook looked on with admiration at the non-striker’s end.

But his career in the professional game got off to a faltering start.

Regarded initially as an all-rounder (his medium-pace bowling would feature briefly in the 1979 World Cup final at Lord’s, attempting to contain Viv Richards and Collis King), Bedfordshire-born Larkins struggled to make a mark with Northamptonshire after being signed on at £7 per week, and averaged under ten with the bat in his first 25 first-class matches between 1972 and 1975. Fortunately, the club kept patience with him and the breakthrough came towards the end of the 1975 season with a superb 127 – batting at number five – against Essex at Chelmsford, sharing a 273-run partnership with captain Mushtaq Mohammad after coming in at 21 for three.

The following season he secured a place in Northamptonshire history as a member of Mushtaq’s side that lifted the Gillette Cup – the County’s first major trophy – and received his county cap, before in 1978 the retirement of Roy Virgin allowed him to form a fruitful opening partnership with Geoff Cook, ‘The Old Firm’, which lasted a decade.

The contrast between the two, accumulator and stroke-maker, posed problems for countless opposition attacks.

As Cook observed years later, a potentially awkward 20 minutes before the close would be regarded by ‘Ned’ as an opportunity to put a few on the scoreboard when the field was up and the ball hard and new: “How did we ever fail?” Cook asked.

It’s almost frightening to think what he might have achieved – and how much money he might have made – in the present-day Twenty20 global merry-go-round.

Larkins passed 1,000 first-class runs in every season between 1978 and 1985, and his magnificent purple patch in 1983 – hitting 236 against Derbyshire at Derby and 252 off Glamorgan’s attack at Swansea in the space of seven weeks – might well have earned a Test recall, had he not been banned at the time for joining the unofficial tour to South Africa in 1982.

Although never officially appointed captain of Northamptonshire, he deputised as skipper in over 50 matches in the absence of Cook and Allan Lamb. ‘Ned’ was – in Lamb’s words – “up there with the best. What a player when he was on song!”

Jim Watts, captain of the County at the start of Wayne’s career, commented: “It gave me such pleasure to watch him play so many wonderful innings. He was part of my life and I will miss him.”

Larkins left Northamptonshire in 1991 to seek a new challenge with Durham as they began their first-class adventure and spent four seasons there, completing the ‘set’ of centuries against the other 17 counties when he hit 112 against his old club.

Later, he turned out for both his native Bedfordshire and Huntingdonshire in Minor (now National) Counties cricket.

Paying tribute, his wife Debbie said: “Ned loved everyone he met and everyone loved him. People were drawn to his infectious energy. He lit up every room and never wanted the party to finish.

“He loved his soul mate of a wife and his precious daughters so much. He will be partying up in the sky, drinking a toast to everyone and to his own life. We are devastated but we’ll never forget his undeniably unique presence and his impact on our lives.

“We will carry him in our hearts forever.”

Everyone connected with Northamptonshire CCC offers sincerest condolences to Wayne’s family and his many friends.