Wayne Larkins, the free-scoring Northamptonshire favourite who played 13 Tests and 25 one-day internationals for England, has died after a short illness. He was 71.
Larkins’ England career stretched from 1979 to 1991, though chances were sporadic. His second cap came in the 1979 World Cup final, where he batted at No. 7 and sent down two tidy overs. A decade later he produced the moment that still defines him for many England supporters: a crisp push for the winning run at Sabina Park, giving Graham Gooch’s side an unexpected 1-0 lead over a powerful West Indies team.
That seventh Test appearance arrived more than eight years after his sixth, the gap explained largely by a three-year international ban for joining the 1982 rebel tour of South Africa. He returned to county cricket undiminished, piling up runs with familiar ease.
Across almost two decades with Northamptonshire and two late seasons at newly-minted Durham, Larkins scored just shy of 40,000 first-class and List-A runs. The numbers include 85 hundreds, a tally that still places him among the county game’s most productive openers. Spectators remember the easy pick-up off his pads and a cut shot that skimmed square of the wicket.
“Ned loved everyone he met and everyone loved him,” his wife Debbie said in a statement released by Northamptonshire. “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. 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 for ever.”
Former team-mate Allan Lamb once described Larkins as “the most natural ball-striker I played with”, praise that rings true when revisiting grainy footage of those Jamaica scenes. County coach John Sadler added yesterday: “Our younger players still watch clips of Wayne. The way he trusted his hands on true wickets is something every opener can learn from.”
Larkins’ story is not without its complications, yet even the rebel-tour ban feels secondary to the sheer weight of runs and the good humour that followed him from Cheltenham College to Wantage Road and beyond. He leaves behind Debbie, two daughters and a library of tall tales, many of them doubtless improved in the retelling.
Quiet tributes are planned at Northamptonshire’s next home fixture; a minute’s applause feels more fitting than silence for a man remembered, above all, for the noise of a perfectly timed square cut.
