Former England all-rounder Allan Watkins has died aged 89, his former county Glamorgan confirmed Thursday.
Watkins died on Wednesday following a short illness, having secured his place in cricket history by becoming first Glamorgan player to score a Test century, making 111 against South Africa at Johannesburg in 1949.
He named his house ‘Ellis Park’ in honour of the venue where he made that hundred.
Left-hander Watkins’s first of 15 Tests, at The Oval in 1948, was also Australia great Don Bradman’s last.
Of the England team that day, only Watkins’s fellow debutant, John Dewes, survives, along with Australia’s Arthur Morris, Neil Harvey and Sam Loxton.
Watkins made 407 appearances for Glamorgan, scoring 17,419 runs and taking 774 wickets as a swing and seam bowler while he was also a renowned close-catcher.
