Robert Charles "Jack" Russell (born 15 August 1963) is an English retired international cricketer, now known for his abilities as an artist, as a cricket wicketkeeping coach, and a football goalkeeping coach.

In the 1996 Birthday Honours, he was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for services to cricket.

Early life and education

Russell was born in Stroud, Gloucestershire, England. His enthusiasm for sport started with his father, John, who played for Chalford Cricket Club, where Russell would field when the team was short, fielding from fine-leg to fine-leg. He became a first class cricketer after developing his skills at Stroud Cricket Club, and at Archway School. He was spotted by Gloucestershire Scout and local man, Frank Birt. Two days before his fourteenth birthday, he saw a catch on television: McCosker, caught Knott, bowled Greig, at Headingley in 1977. Russell himself has commented: "Low-down, one-handed, across first-slip. Brilliant. I thought then that I would like to be able to do that. That's where it started; that was the inspiration [for becoming a wicket keeper].”

The other inspiration cited was the death of his brother, David, of a brain haemorrhage; Russell quickly rededicated himself.

Russell would be involved in a number of controversial Test selections. He was frequently passed over in favour of Alec Stewart on account of the latter's superior batting ability. Russell, however, was considered the best wicket keeper in the world at the time, and could also be an unorthodox but resolute lower-order batsman. In 1990, he was one of Wisden's five Cricketers of the Year, with Wisden stating:

<blockquote>At the beginning of 1989, Jack Russell had played only one Test for England, and was not considered a good-enough batsman to merit a place in the one-day squad to face the Australians. By the end of the year, he was the only Englishman who could justifiably expect a place in anyone's World XI.</blockquote>

It was his batting that got the fans on their feet – not the high scores, but the determination to stay and grit it out against the Australians. So, with mentor Alan Knott, Russell turned up early for the second Test at Lord's, and for four hours had the MCC ground staff boys bowling plastic balls at him – without Russell batting a stroke, just ducking and diving to miss the short deliveries. That day, he also adopted some suitably pungent language in response to the Aussies' sledging, and after he had scored 64 not out, the Aussies never tried it on him again. England's dilemma was epitomised in an unusual incident in the third test of the Ashes in 1991 when Russell dismissed Dean Jones stumped off the bowling of Gladstone Small, at the time a manner of dismissal only commonly pulled off from spin bowlers. In spite of this indication of Russell's skill behind the stumps, with results poor, England dropped him for the next test in order to accommodate another bowler. The Wisden review of the tour observed: "It was an ironic reflection on the gulf between the teams that Jack Russell, the one Englishman other than Gooch who could have been certain of selection for a Combined XI, was unable to hold his place as England's wicket-keeper because of the length and helplessness of the tail".

Russell remained a popular figure, and his exclusion from the England side for the tour of India and Sri Lanka in 1992, along with that of David Gower and (initially) Ian Salisbury, sparked public outrage. It also hardly helped the side, who lost all four Test matches on the tour. He would still thereafter be called up when England needed a good man behind the stumps, and had some successes, helping to steady a nervous run chase during a rare victory against the West Indies at Old Trafford in 1995, Christopher Martin-Jenkins observing on this occasion that "the fighting qualities and underestimated batting skill of Jack Russell" helped England to overcome a "crisis". Russell's ability to stay at the wicket was again demonstrated on 4 December 1995 against South Africa in Johannesburg where he shared a stand of 119 with Michael Atherton to help England save the match. He batted for 4 hours 34 mins scoring just 29 off 235 balls, and of those scoring runs from only 14 of those balls. It is symptomatic of how wicketkeepers' contributions behind the stumps are neglected that it is often forgotten that, in the same match, Russell also broke the Test world record for the most dismissals in a match (a record now held jointly with A. B. de Villiers and Rishabh Pant).

The following summer Russell made his second and last Test century, against India at Lord's, helping again to secure a draw for England, and winning the man of the match award. Yet three test matches later, with England struggling against Pakistan, as Wisden observed: "Once again, Russell was the first casualty of England's bid to level the series. Atherton's statement after Headingley that they would not sacrifice the wicket-keeper showed that a week in sport is about as long as seven days in politics". Curiously at the time Russell had a better batting average in Tests for a designated wicketkeeper over the time period encompassing his career than Stewart, or any England player. But Stewart made his first Test century as a wicketkeeper that winter, and Russell would only thereafter play five more Tests.

Eventually after an unsuccessful final tour of the West Indies in 1998, he decided to retire after being left out of the following winter's Ashes tour squad. Former England wicketkeeper Godfrey Evans commented that Russell "was discarded not because of anything he'd done but because Alec [Stewart] was a better bat and they were trying to cover for the lack of a proper all-rounder. There was a terrible irony about all this: we were the worst Test team in the world and our one player of undeniable world class couldn't get into the side." and together with captain Mark Alleyne won a couple of ODI caps. In 2002, he set a world record when conceding no byes in Northamptonshire's mammoth 746–9 declared. After an inconsistent season due to persistent back problems, he retired from county cricket in 2004, just short of the age of 41.

Character

Russell was known for his painting, and his protective attitude to his family life. For lunch, Russell would eat two Weetabix, soaked for exactly fifteen minutes in cold milk. He was one of the first to eat bananas on the field of play at drinks break. For dinner, steak and chips or chicken without skin was a favourite meal – Russell once spent every night of a Test at a Chinese restaurant in Perth, ordering chicken and cashews: without the cashews.

When England toured Pakistan in 1987, Russell had two days' cricket in a six-week tour, so kept his mind sane through sketching and photography. On return to the UK, he displayed 40 sketches in a gallery in Bristol; they sold out in two days.

Post-retirement

In 2007, Russell was appointed goal-keeping coach for football team Forest Green Rovers then playing in the Conference National. After his mentorship from Alan Knott throughout his own career, Russell later provided one-to-one coaching for wicket-keeper Geraint Jones. He also provided coaching and mentorship at Gloucestershire in 2008.

In 2018, he was wicket-keeping coach at Middlesex.

References

  • Russell, Jack & Murphy, Pat – Jack Russell – Unleashed Pub. HarperCollinsWillow, 20 May 1997.
  • New Horizons – The Art of Jack Russell Pub. 2007.
  • The Art of Jack Russell – Caught on Canvas Pub. HarperCollinsPublishers, 1998.
  • The Art of Jack Russell: A Personal Journey Through Eighteen Counties First Published, 2013. Second Edition, 2019.

Notes

  • The Jack Russell Gallery contains notes on his domestic and Test cricket records
  • Wisden Almanack – Cricketer of the Year 1990