Brian Cole Memorial Game

Sunday 25th July 2021 Worlington Cricket Club The Street, Worlington, Bury Saint Edmunds IP28 8RU http://www.worlingtoncricketclub.co.uk/ Timings 11.30 - Bench dedication 12.00 - Limited overs game Canberras XI vs Tornados XI 17.00 - BBQ laid on by Lizzie Cole For more details about the day email lizziebcole@gmail.com
		Brain Cole (15 Sep 1945 – 14 Sep 2020)

        

Brian absolutely loved cricket - and he embodied the spirit of the game.

His sense of fair play, appreciation of rules and love of statistics enamoured him in his 20s to this most civilised of English sports.

Brian joined Worlington CC in 1992 and played many seasons for the 1st XI - often opening the bowling and occasionally making a cameo with the bat. His accuracy and natural guile made him a canny bowler - and he could become deadly when it was swinging, famously taking 8-20 away at Abberton & District on the 4th May 1997.

He played 28 seasons for the club taking a total of 556 wickets at 26.44. His 3,807 runs came at 16.06 and included eleven 50s with a top score of 74. He took 112 catches. Brian's full stats for Worly are available here.

Brian proudly played on the Nursery Ground at Lords, turned out for numerous Suffolk county teams, and was the pick of the bowlers in his one and only game for England. His youthful exuberance and enduring fitness meant he remained a threat with the ball - and quick between the wickets - well into his 70s. He was sprightly and reliable in the field, a meticulous scorer and always a barrel of fun in the bar after the game. A role model to many, Brian coached and played alongside countless young and aspiring cricketers, demonstrating with his behaviour how the game should be played.
		Worlington Cricket Club 3rd XI, Summer 2019

He was universally respected by those with, and against, whom he competed. He was voted 3rd XI Player of the Season 2019, less than a year before his final walk back to the pavilion.

Playing for England

Brian played for England 60+ on Sunday 16th August 2009 at Sheffield United's Bawtry Rd Ground.

The Aussies won the toss, chose to bat and soon wished they hadn't. Brian's mastery of swing bowling was too much for them - he caught and bowled two of their top three early on which set the tone for the game. Australia limped to 125-8 from their 45 overs and England won by 9 wickets in the 29th over.

Brian took the bowler's prize for his frugal figures of 9-3-17-2. A pretty good day at the office (as he would say) and not unusual for him.

You can read the full report - in which they describe him as "lively" - and see the scorecard here.

England 60+ vs Australia 60+, August 2009 (Brian back row, far left)

Obituary

Sqn Ldr Brian Francis Cole MBE was born in Lymington, Hampshire on 15th of September 1945 - Battle of Britain Day. His father was a Wellington bomber pilot who survived the war and flew through the Berlin Airlift. Brian attended Primary School at Little Missenden, his parents divorced when he was 12 and he joined the Royal Air Force as a boy entrant at 16 studying for his O levels between shifts while living in a tent in the Borneo jungle.

He became a commissioned officer in 1968, trained as a navigator and served on 51, 31, 39 and three times on 13 Squadron. During his 43 year career he amassed 8,000+ hours across the Canberra and Tornado in reconnaissance roles in the UK and overseas. After serving in Germany on the new 31 Tornado Squadron, he ran the RAF Winter Survival School in Bavaria in 1988/89 which meant he could ski most days and enjoy much German beer.

Back in East Anglia the family was keen to build a house and they found a suitable plot in a village with a cricket ground - Worlington. Brian took part in trials of TIALD before operating the technology in the Gulf War and he was part of the first crew into Afghanistan as part of Operation Veritas.

In 2002 he was recognised as a Master Air Navigator and awarded an MBE for services to aviation. He retired from the RAF in 2005 and began a 10-year stint as a senior invigilator at Cambridge and Anglia Ruskin Universities. He loved the work and being with the students - but for Covid he would have left his body to the Cambridge anatomy department.

Brian devised and ran very popular quizzes for Worlington church and Mildenhall Museum over a number of years. Always keen that everybody had a good time, he would give extra clues to low-scoring teams and often included a mischievous clue hidden within 10 answers that became known as “Brian's Googly”.

Always keen to be fit, he completed 7 London marathons contributing several thousands of pounds to local charities and Help for Heroes. The lack of mobility caused by three brain tumours was very hard for him to bear but he was expectedly stoic and grateful to be cared for at home until he died, 20 weeks after the diagnosis. Despite being bed-bound he watched all of England’s 2019 summer test matches and ODIs, enjoying them very much.

He died peacefully at home on 14th September 2020 aged 75, and was a much loved husband of Lizzie, father of Alastair and Douglas and ‘Grumps’ to five grandchildren.

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