Legend Russell is honoured (From Gazette Series)

Legend Russell is honoured

JACK RUSSELL has been awarded honorary life membership to the MCC.

The Stroud-born cricket star retired from the game last summer because of a back problem after a career in which he took 1,191 catches and struck 128 stumpings.

The former England wicketkeeper has been recognised for his services to the game alongside Pakistan's Wasim Akram, Mark Waugh and Michael Slater of Australia, Sri Lanka stars Arjuna Ranatunga and Aravinda de Silva and Zimbabwean Alistair Campbell.

Russell, 41, first played for Gloucestershire in 1981, and made his England one-day debut in 1987, with the first of his 54 Test appearances coming the following summer.

In 465 first-class matches he scored 16,861 runs at 30.93, but was just as renowned for his spectacular catches and stumpings.

In Tests, he scored 1897 runs at 27.10 as well as holding 152 catches and making 12 stumpings.

He scored two Test centuries against Australia and India and holds the world record for dismissals in a Test match (11 against South Africa in 1995). He was named Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1990 and was awarded the MBE for services to cricket in 1996.

When his Test career ended prematurely, at the whim of the selectors rather than because of any decline in his ability, he reinvented himself as the hub of Gloucestershire's all-conquering one-day side.

He has always been very popular with the public, and with his various obsessions - ranging from his battered sun-hat to his love of painting - he has always been considered something of an eccentric.

The MCC, which stands for Marylebone Cricket Club, was founded in 1787 and is the world's most famous cricket club, although it is better known today as an official governing body which enforces the good of the game.