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Guest feature from Rob Kelly, author of Hobbsy

chasingthedon

International Regular
Cricketweb is delighted to feature an extract from Rob Kelly's excellent book, "Hobbsy: A Life in Cricket".

Robin Hobbs made his Test debut for England in the summer of 1967 playing three matches against India and one against Pakistan. After appearing in the opening Test of the 1967/68 tour of the West Indies he was dropped and didn’t feature in the Ashes series later that year. Out of the frame for England, Robin headed for South Africa at the end of 1968 where he and his fiancé Isabel were getting married. England had also been due in South Africa but the tour was cancelled as a result of the D’Oliveira Affair and in its place a tour of Ceylon and Pakistan was hastily arranged. It was intended that the tour party would be the same 16 players that had been selected for South Africa but following the withdrawals of Boycott and Barrington – both for health reasons – the selectors decided to reduce it to 15 players. With an extra spinner needed for the sub-continent, Robin was picked as the man to replace the two world class batsmen.

Read an extract from chapter 10 of the book here:-

Hobbsy: A Life in Cricket | Cricket Web
 

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