Colin Bland, the first great out-fielder, dies aged 80

South African cricket has lost one of its proudest sons. Colin Bland, the finest fielder of his generation in an era before the art had yet to be fully appreciated, died on Monday at the age of 80, after a long battle with colon cancer.

Bulawayo-born, Bland was a star of the emergent South Africa side in the Sixties that would crystallise all-too-briefly into the best team on the planet before international isolation struck in 1970.

He played 21 Tests between 1961 and 1966, making three centuries and nine fifties at an impressive average of 49 – and he may well have scored more, but for a propensity to loft the ball back over the bowler’s head at the first opportunity – but while his work in South Africa’s middle order would have ensured the enduring respect of his countrymen, it was as a cover fieldsman that Bland would achieve true cricketing greatness.

It was at Lord’s in 1965 that the legend of ‘The Eagle’ would be secured. England were mounting a sizeable first-innings lead with Kenny Barrington obdurately inching towards a century when, on 91, he attempted a quickish single into the covers. Bland swooped to collect and in one movement threw the stumps down at the non-striker’s end.

Barrington was short of his ground, and when Jim Parks followed soon after, another victim of Bland’s lissom brilliance, the course of the match had changed. His interventions enabled South Africa to claim a dramatic draw.

Bland’s fielding became one of the stories of that summer. He would perform masterclasses before play to the watching hordes, positioning stumps in various spots on the outfield and with a crowd forming on the outskirts, merrily throw them down, one after another. It was, after all, how he’d practised all his life. Later that summer, he would appear for the Rest of the World XI alongside the likes of Garfield Sobers, Hanif Mohammad and his team-mate Graeme Pollock.

Ali Bacher, a team-mate at the time, said: “Colin would spend hours and hours practising by himself, chasing a ball, picking it up, turning and throwing at the stumps. We’d watch him and would think he was from a different planet.”

He popularised out-fielding more than any other cricketer; it would take another generation, and South Africa’s re-admittance to the international fold at the 1992 ICC World Cup, for Bland’s heir apparent to emerge in the springy form of Jonty Rhodes.

It would be a savage irony that Bland’s career would be badly affected due to a fielding injury, his knee buckling in attempting to save a boundary against Australia in the 1966/67 series. By then, though, he had made his mark. A Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1966, and a fielder of rare grace and style in an era before the game had seen the like. He would continue to play domestic cricket until 1974 before turning to coaching.

“On behalf of the Cricket South Africa family I extend our deepest condolences to his family, his friends and his many cricketing colleagues,” commented CSA Acting Chief Executive Thabang Moroe. Cricket has lost one of its true pioneers.