Thomas William Graveney (16 June 1927 – 3 November 2015) was an English first-class cricketer, representing his country in 79 Test matches and scoring over 4,800 runs. In a career lasting from 1948 to 1972, he became the 15th player to score one hundred first-class centuries; he was the first batsman beginning his career after the Second World War to reach this milestone. He played for Gloucestershire and Worcestershire, and helped Worcestershire win the county championship for the first time in their history. His achievements for England after being recalled in 1966 have been described as "the stuff of legend."
Graveney attended Bristol Grammar School, playing cricket, hockey, rugby and golf all to a very high standard.
Final matches for England and retirement
Recalled by England in 1966 against the West Indies, he scored heavily, including 165 at the Oval, aged 39, described as "arguably the best innings of his life" by one report. He remained in the team in the following seasons, performing well at home and on tour, and captaining England against Australia for one match in 1968 when Colin Cowdrey was unavailable. The Times described him as "one of the finest English batsmen of the 1950s and 1960s, and arguably the most elegant of them all."
He was one of the first 55 people to be enrolled in the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame in 2009. His final cricket match was in 1995, when he played for the Lord's Taverners against the MCC President's XI: he scored 1 run before being caught by David Frost off the bowling of the actor Robert Powell.
