It was some time in the 1980s. The details have gone hazy: it could have been any county cricket ground and any captain being asked by the press why they had lost so badly to Northamptonshire: “What went wrong?” The answer was equally terse: “We got Nedded.”
A “Nedding” meant being on the receiving end of a blistering innings from Wayne “Ned” Larkins, who has died in hospital, while awaiting a heart bypass, aged 71. When he was hot, he could be the most thrilling batsman in the country. But demons of insecurity lurked beneath his cheery countenance and his 13 Test matches were a feeble reward for an exceptional talent.
