by Arunabha Sengupta
Alan Oakman scored nearly 22,000 runs with 22 centuries, captured 736 wickets with his off-breaks and snapped 594 catches.
Most of that was for Sussex —20117 runs, 703 wickets and 562 catches from 497 matches. Towering at six and a half feet, he used his height to get disconcerting bounce for his off-breaks, leaned forward to drive balls that were near good length and scooped up catches that would have been beyond the reach of regular-sized mortals.
It was the catching that made him immortal in record books. In conjunction with a certain JC Laker. And the excellence of the British constabulary had something to do with it.
Chosen as an off-spinning all-rounder for England during the 1956 Ashes, Oakman batted at No. 3 at Leeds on Test debut and was bowled by Ron Archer for 4. He was not asked to send down a ball as Laker and Lock did all that was required for an innings win. He spent his time in the field rather productively, standing close to the wicket.
He did not quite expect to play the following Test at Old Trafford. However, on the eve of the match, Tom Graveney pulled out due to injury. Oakman, thus, had to be included. However, he had gone back to Hastings and could not be contacted. Hasty consultations followed and Gubby Allen, the Chairman of Selectors, called up Hastings Police Station, requesting them to search for Oakman. It was a national emergency after all. The constabulary came knocking on the door. “England expects”. Oakman was asked to report for the Test.
It was the second and the last match of Oakman’s short Test career. He stood throughout at short-leg, catching 5 off the 19 wickets Laker eventually captured.
Oakman was selected for the 1956-57 tour of South Africa, but did not play a Test. However, he did get involved in another talked-about incident. Curiously, he once again had Jim Laker for company. Curiouser still, it involved another policeman— though, not nearly as dedicated an upholder of the Law.
It had to do with a brush outside the antiseptic White bubble of the apartheid regime. The event took place during a tour match at Cape Town.
Oakman had rented a car to go out for the evening and Laker had accompanied him for an entertaining evening. Driving back, Oakman was too late on the brakes as a Coloured man on a bicycle shot out of the corner.
The man lay on the ground, leg broken. Oakman, visibly shaken, got out of the car wondering what to do. A crowd gathered around him, mostly White. No one was really interested in what happened to the Black man. “Hello, Mr Oakman, will you sign my book?” … “You played a bad stroke today, Mr Oakman.”
Along came a policeman, full of pomp and power. He took one look and asked, “He was drunk wasn’t he, Mr Oakman?”
The Sussex all-rounder had no answer. So, the policeman picked on a Black man in the crowd. “You live near this nigger … he’s always drunk, isn’t he?” The scared Black fellow nodded.
That was all the evidence required to close the case. “Once this ‘justice’ was done, the injured man was taken to the hospital.”
Alan Oakman. Associated with Jim Laker and the police in two curious ways.
The Sussex stalwart was born on April 20, 1930.