fourth Test at Port-of-Spain when he pulled a rib muscle and could not bowl again on the tour. Wisden evidently thought he was well out of the match because, on such a true and easy-paced surface, even he would have found difficulty in worrying the batsmen. At the end of the tour, Hutton said that Statham had been England's biggest weapon and predicted that he would be a key bowler in Australia next winter. 1954 season In 1954, Statham was effective when available to play against Pakistan who were on their first tour of England. Because of injury, he missed England's shock defeat at The Oval in the fourth Test. He headed the national first-class averages for the first time, though his tally of wickets was limited to 92 because of appalling weather constantly interrupting cricket in Lancashire. Playfair noted that Lancashire had slipped from third to tenth in the championship but blamed the weather which ruined eleven of their matches. The main problem that Lancashire had was the lack of a second good fast bowler, their attack being effectively limited to Statham, off spinner Roy Tattersall and left arm spinner Malcolm Hilton. Cricketer of the Year awards Statham was chosen as one of the five Wisden Cricketers of the Year for 1954, the award being announced in the 1955 edition of Wisden Cricketer's Almanack. The other four players were Bruce Dooland, Fazal Mahmood, Eric Hollies and George Tribe. Unless there are exceptional circumstances, a player may only receive this award once in his career. The original format Playfair annual selected a team of the season in each of its 1950 to 1962 editions under the heading of Playfair's XI Cricketers of the Year. In contrast to the Wisden award, there was no limit on the number of times a player could be selected by Playfair. In the 1955 edition, Statham was named for the first time (he was also selected in 1956 and 1961). In its summary of Lancashire's 1954 season, Playfair gave Statham a special mention by praising him as a greatly improved bowler who took a wicket once every six overs. In its Cricketer of the Year dedication, Wisden said Statham was always considered by the selectors, but had to fight for his place because of the competition from Bailey, Bedser and Trueman. Statham was a self-assured young man, said Wisden, though always ready to listen and