Derek Pringle looks at the colourful life of the great Brian Close, who was honoured recently with the naming of ‘Brian Close Walk’ in Baildon, Yorkshire

Legend: Brian Close was one of cricket’s great characters, and is remembered for the bouncer battery he took from the West Indies at Old Trafford in 1976
PICTURE: Getty Images

“Rather than risk getting out by trying to play the rising ball, Close allowed the many 90mph bouncers Holding sent down to strike his body”
Cricketers don’t get much designated in their honour outside the grounds they played...