Arthur Milton

Arthur Milton, blond and slight, was the last of a rare breed - the double cricket/football international. In his first Test, against New Zealand at Headingley in 1958 Milton - opening the innings with a rugby cap in Mike Smith - collected 104 not out. That won him a place on the following winter's tour of Australia, where the opposition was rather more ferocious than the outclassed New Zealanders, and Milton struggled, as did his fellow double international Willie Watson. Milton finished his six-Test career with 204 runs at 25.50. He was happier batting for Gloucestershire, which he did until he was in his mid-forties. He finished in 1974 with more than 32,000 runs and 56 hundreds in first-class cricket, most of them from the top of the order, while his tally of 758 catches emphasises his value in the field, where he was a star close in, especially at short leg. In retirement he became a postman in the Cotswolds, maintaining his fitness by jumping on and off his bicycle during his rounds.
Steven Lynch