by Abhishek Mukherjee

Len Hutton had insisted on 18 men instead of the usual 17 for the 1954-55 Ashes tour. He wanted an extra batsman for the long tour that he had expected to be an arduous one. The man the selectors gave him was Cowdrey.

Prior to the first Test, Hutton had decided that he would pick one from Cowdrey and Wilson. MCC included both men in the tour match against NSW, so it was basically a trial.

Cowdrey scored 110 in the first innings. MCC scored 252. NSW got 382. MCC were then 138/3 at stumps on Day 3. Cowdrey was 71 not out at stumps.

On the fourth morning, while leaving hotel, he received an unsigned cable. It contained five words: SEE TWO KINGS THREE FOURTEEN. He could not make anything out of the cable. In a hurry to reach the ground, he tucked it away in his hip pocket.

This time he got 103. The match ended in a draw.

The penny dropped a few days later. In Cowdrey's own words: "When sending the clothes to the dry-cleaners a few days later I found the scrap of paper and opened it again. Suddenly it came to me, it was a quotation from the Old Testament, and further research found the prophetic words: And the Lord said to Elijah, do it the second time!"

He had done exactly that.

The anonymous sender's identity was never revealed, but none of that affected Cowdrey. He played all 5 Tests in that series, scoring 319 runs at 35.44. His 102 in the third Test was one of his best ever.