Colin Milburn - Test Career

Test Career

Milburn had a reputation as an all-or-nothing batsman, sparkling centuries alternating with indifferent scores, but by 1966 he had forced himself back into the Test reckoning. Selected for the First Test against the West Indies, Milburn had the most ignominious start for an opener, run out for a first-innings duck. He redeemed himself with 94 in the second innings as England went down to a heavy defeat. An aggressive century (126 not out) helped England to draw the Second Test, and despite standing up courageously to the formidable Caribbean pace attack in the following matches, he was dropped for the final Test, supposedly because his bulk hindered his mobility in the field. Milburn's riposte was typical of the man, an innings of 203 for Northamptonshire against Essex. His swashbuckling season earned him a nomination as one of Wisden 's Cricketers of the Year in the 1967 edition.

That winter Milburn travelled to Australia, where he played Sheffield Shield cricket for Western Australia. He played a Test against India and against Pakistan in 1967, and was selected to tour the West Indies in the winter, where he was much more successful off the field than on. He was picked for the Lord's Test against Australia in 1968, scoring 83, but injury ruled him out of the next two Tests, before returning for the final Test at The Oval. In the English winter of 1968/9, Milburn was left out of the MCC squad that was due to visit South Africa. The tour was dramatically cancelled over the hosts' objections to the presence in the touring party of Basil D'Oliveira, a Cape Coloured cricketer who had moved to England in pursuit of his first-class cricket career.

Milburn returned to Perth, where he enjoyed a prolific season for Western Australia. The highlight was an innings of 243 against Queensland in Brisbane, where he scored 181 runs between lunch and tea. Milburn was called up in an emergency to reinforce the MCC touring party in Pakistan. He scored a spectacular 139 in the Karachi Test in March 1969, before it was abandoned because of rioting. It was his highest Test score in what would prove to be his final Test innings.