Horse, they called him, from his initials, G.G. it was said. Geoff
Arnold was a typical English bowler, deadly on helpful English wickets,
steady but with little penetration on flatter wickets abroad. He seamed
it rather than swung it, according to Surrey team-mate Pat Pocock.
Probably Arnold's finest hour was at Headingley in 1972 when he removed
Ross Edwards and Aussie skipper Ian Chappell for ducks to reduce
Australia to 7 for two. He had been one of the young hopefuls who made
their mark with Mike Brearley's M.C.C. under-25 side in Pakistan in
1966-67.
He was chosen for his first Test against Pakistan the following
summer, taking 3-35 on his debut at Trent Bridge. In the next match at
the Oval he took 5-58 and scored 59, but he was not to feature in an
England side again until the 1972 Ashes series. Even then he was left
out of two Tests in favour of old warhorses like John Price and Peter
Lever, but by the end of the summer he was an England regular. He toured
India under Tony Lewis, taking 6-45 and 3-46 in Delhi. He had 5-73 at
Headingley against the 1973 New Zealanders, 5-113 against the West
Indies at the Oval in the same year.
In 1975 Arnold played for England
in the first World Cup, bowling 10 overs for just 20 runs in the
infamous match when Sunil Gavaskar batted through 60 overs for just 36
not out. He played throughout a 1974-75 Ashes series, but lost his place
after the first Test of 1975, when Tony Greig took over the captaincy.
At the end of his career Arnold spent four years at Sussex, where he was
reunited with his best Test partner, John Snow. (Bob Harragan)
After his playing career ended, he returned to Surrey as a bowling coach, and assisted at national level with upcoming pace bowlers. Arnold subsequently had a stint as bowling coach for Kent, and Northamptonshire.
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