Keith Vincent ANDREW 1929-2010

	Player number 247 (f-c debut for Northamptonshire – 3 June 1953) Also List A #1 (debut 22 May 1963)
Birthplace	Oldham, Lancashire
	County Cap 1954; Captain 1962-66; Hall of Fame 2018.
First-Class	351 matches, 3,830 runs @ 13.78; 2 wickets @ 15.50; 653 catches, 157 stumpings
List A	9 matches, 15 runs @3.75; 6 catches

Long-serving physiotherapist Jack Jennings reckoned that ‘if Keith fell out with anyone, he must have been driven to it.’ An equable temperament was combined with consummate skill behind the stumps – the best English wicketkeeper of his generation in the opinion of many judges – and tactical shrewdness, which made ‘KV’ one of Northamptonshire’s most successful captains, missing out on the Championship title to Worcestershire by just four points in 1965. Not averse to a theory or two, Secretary Ken Turner told the story of Andrew reading Wisden in the gents’ toilet to ascertain how the opposition’s batsmen usually got out. A methodical approach reflecting his early career outside cricket as an engineer; working for Dronsfield Brothers in Oldham he designed a roller end grinding machine, versions of which are still in use in the 2020s. He also overcame a difficult start in life which saw his father leave the family home, supposedly to take a job in ship-building, and never return. That Andrew made only two Test appearances, eight-and-a-half years apart, owed more to a modest career batting average than any deficiencies in his glovework, although memories of a missed half-chance (off the inside edge, standing up to Alec Bedser) on England debut at Brisbane hung around his neck for a long time. Spotted by Jock Livingston while playing in the Central Lancashire League, Andrew qualified for Championship cricket in 1954 and at the end of that season found himself on the boat to Australia with Len Hutton’s MCC team. Unfussy to a degree, he wrote later that there is more to keeping wicket than being ‘a straight first slip with gloves on, trained mainly as an acrobat.’ Nearly two decades after his retirement as a player he was lined up to replace Turner as Northamptonshire’s secretary, only to have second thoughts and turn down the job after the public announcement had been made. Instead, he served as chief executive of the National Cricket Association from 1986 to 1994, produced the instructional Handbook of Cricket in 1989 and wrote a local newspaper column rich in reminiscence and sound cricket sense.