by Mayukh Ghosh
June 26, 1969.
Gloucestershire find themselves struggling at 180/6 in response to Northants' 205.
An easy pitch, everyone thought, including David Allen, the Gloucestershire captain.
Their sixth captain in that decade.
John Mortimore joins him at the crease.
One of the former captains in the team.
Soon it is lunch but Allen and Mortimore choose to stay there.
"What the hell's going on in this side, Morty? Here we are on the flattest wicket ever, 180 for six, down to the bowlers. Where are we going?"
"Well, let's give it out our best shot.", replies the calm Mortimore.
He scores a century in no time.
The driving on the front foot is spectacular.
Allen declares and they win the match by 9 wickets.
"The most vital innings of his career.", says The Daily Telegraph.
Everyone agrees that his calmness made all the difference.
It always did.
1807 wickets in first-class cricket.
For a team where there was never a shortage of quality spinners.
Sam Cook. Bomber Wells. David Allen.
Despite such competition, Mortimore was a favourite among most captains he played under.
They said that he found a nice spot in the month of April and kept on bowling there till September.
Not a big turner of the ball, he often deceived the batsmen in flight.
Nine Test matches.
In November 1958, he was summoned to join the struggling England team in Australia.
His call-up led to a much-repeated joke about a deaf man on hearing the news: "Forty more? Is it as bad as that?"
And when a journalist contacted one of the selectors for information about Mortimore the first thought was that he was asking about the Chelsea centre half of the same name.
The Test career wasn't great but Mortimore always insisted that he enjoyed his time as a England player.
Mike Brearley remembered him as “wry, philosophical, shrewd and friendly, a terrific cricketer”.
And according to his team-mate Tony Brown, Mortimore never lost his temper.
He thought that was key to his success.
Forgotten.
Even in the west country.
John Mortimore was born on May 14, 1933.