England's 'Toughest' Batsman Brian Close Dies

One of the "toughest" batsmen ever to play for England, Brian Close, has died aged 84.

The ex-Yorkshire and Somerset captain was the youngest person ever to play test cricket for the national side when was picked to play against New Zealand in 1949, aged 18.

Several figures from the cricketing world and fans of the game paid tribute to a man some described as one of the bravest players ever.

Alastair Campbell said on Twitter: "Yorkshire in human form. As tough as they come. No mean footballer either. Too many childhood heroes dying."

The English Cricket Board said: "Incredibly sad to hear of the passing of an @englandcricket & @Yorkshireccc legend. Brian Close RIP."

Commentator Jonathan Agnew, referring to a YouTube video he posted on Twitter that showed him avoiding a series of Michael Holding bouncers, said: "Ever a tougher batsman than Brian Close? Watch this. No helmet/chest/arm guard A towel for a thigh pad. He was 45."

Posting the same clip, ex-England cricket captain Michael Vaughan added: "Courage, Bravery, Madness. #Legend #RIPClosey."

Yorkshire Cricket Club captain Andrew Gale told Sky Sports: "He was a legend. It's a sad day for Yorkshire cricket."

Many people tweeted a piece from a book by Sir Ian Botham which described how Close was hit on the shin by a shot from a Glamorgan opener.

The excerpt from Sir Ian said: "When we went for lunch, there was blood coming out of the lace holes of Brian's boots.

"When he pulled up the leg of his flannels, he had a livid bruise and a four-inch gash on his shin.

"He still didn't say anything, he just had it stitched up, put on a clean pair of flannels and led us back out after lunch as if nothing had happened."

Close went on to play 22 test matches for England and captained seven of them.

He captained Yorkshire to four county championship titles and at Somerset is widely regarded as moulding Sir Ian and former West Indies captain Viv Richards into the players they became.

Throughout his career, he scored 35,000 first class runs, took 1,168 wickets as a bowler and caught out 800 batsmen.

He was an occasionally controversial figure, being blamed for England's defeat to Australia in 1961 by adopting an aggressive batting strategy that purists deemed inappropriate.

In the early 1970s, he led unofficial tours to white minority-led Rhodesia and apartheid-era South Africa.