England’s oldest surviving Test player Raman Subba Row – who also served as president of Surrey and an ICC match referee – dies aged 92

  • Raman Subba Row was England’s oldest surviving Test player
  • He played 13 times for England between 1958 and 1961, scoring 984 runs 
  • His two centuries helped save England from defeat in the 1961 Ashes series 

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Cricket is mourning the death of Raman Subba Row, who has died at the age of 92 and was England’s oldest surviving Test player – a mantle that now passes to Micky Stewart.

Subba Row won 13 caps between 1958 and 1961, scoring 984 runs at just under 47. That included 94 in only his second Test, against India at The Oval, a century in his third, against West Indies in Guyana, and two more hundreds in his final series – the 1961 Ashes.

Both his centuries against Australia, at Edgbaston and The Oval, helped save England from defeat. 

In between, he made 49 at Old Trafford, before becoming one of six victims for Richie Benaud on a famous final day which ensured Australia retained the urn.

In all, Subba Row scored over 14,000 first-class runs, half of them for the Northamptonshire side he joined and later captained after two seasons at Surrey. 

Raman Subba Row played 13 times for England between 1958 and 1961, scoring 984 runs

The 300 he made against his old county at The Oval in 1958 remained a Northants record until Mal Loye broke it 40 years later.

But with the English cricket authorities asking questions about his status as an amateur, he retired from the game aged just 29 to focus on his business interests. 

He did not, though, leave cricket altogether, managing England’s tour of India and Sri Lanka in 1981-82, and serving as president of both Surrey, between 1985 and 1990, and the old TCCB, forerunners to the ECB. He was also an ICC match referee for almost a decade.

A left-hander with a powerful drive, Subba Row possessed ‘monolithic concentration and unshakable determination,’ according to his county team-mate and England fast bowler Frank Tyson.