Gordon Rorke 1938-2025

Gordon Rorke died last week. Not that you’d know it. No obituary in any newspaper. No update on Wikipedia or Cricinfo. A cursory note from Cricket NSW, nothing from Cricket Australia. I mentioned it on Offsiders, and we discussed Gordon on the podcast. But seriously, he was a cricketer well worth remembering - a kind of prototype of the long-levered giants in which the game now abounds, nicknamed Lothar for Mandrake the Magician’s mighty offsider.

1958-59 was a vintage Ashes for pace: Lindwall, Meckiff, Davidson, Trueman, Tyson. But Jack Fingleton thought that Gordon on debut at Adelaide Oval provided ‘the fastest [bowling] I had seen in the series’, even if umpire Ron Wright did allow him ‘a ridiculous liberty in his drag.’ Fingo continued: ‘His action will be debated but it is highly significant that a man of great cricket background like Alan Melville, who had no vested interests, closely studied Rorke and passed him.’ Alec Bedser went further, deeming Gordon ‘as fast as anything I have seen’; when Gordon was bowling ‘the ball hitting the pad of the batsmen made more noise than any other I can remember.’

Looking down on the bowler they all looked up to

It’s thirty years since I interviewed Gordon for The Summer Game, but I often call to mind some advice he inadvertently gave me. When we’d finished several hours of cricket chat, he said: ‘You don’t say much. It forced me to talk more.’ Great insight for any prospective interviewer - shut up and let your subject speak. Still, I have to say, Gordon was a brilliant raconteur - he had wonderful recall, excellent comic timing, and a certain worldiness. His post-cricket career had been spent at Xerox, and he had a healthily sceptical take on corporate life. There’s a nice glimpse of him here.

Friend of Cricket Et Al Ron Cardwell had a similar experience of Gordon, albeit over many more years, which culminated in a short book, The Story of a Gentle Giant, which you can order here. Ron’s given me permission to publish the opening, which concerns Gordon’s Test debut. It’s delightful. GH