customary short leg position, close to the batsman, ready to take the catch – or a full blow to the body had Sobers middled it. Sobers c. Close, b. Snow 0 off one ball. England went on to win the game by an innings and 34 runs. There was no overseas tour in 1966/67, so the next game Close captained was the first Test at Headingley against India in 1967. Of the 16 Tests India had previously played in England, England had won 12 and drawn 4, and there were no expectations that there would be anything other than an England victory in the three-match series. But they still needed to be beaten, and England, under Close, won each game convincingly. Pakistan toured England in the second half of the summer of 1967. The first match of that three-Test series was a rain-affected draw. The second Test was won comfortably by England by 10 wickets. It seemed certain that Close would be selected to captain England in their 1967/68 tour to the West Indies. Then on 16, 17 and 18 August, Yorkshire, captained by Close, played Warwickshire at Edgbaston, Birmingham. Warwickshire had been set 142 to win in 100 minutes. When the match ended, Warwickshire were 133 for 5, nine runs short of victory, and the match was drawn. However, Yorkshire managed to bowl only 24 overs, with only two being bowled in the last 15 minutes. Whilst it was wet, and Yorkshire had to dry the ball often, this was seen as unacceptable time-wasting and gamesmanship. Close did not help himself as he personally berated a Warwickshire spectator who he thought had called out something inopportune, though in the event he picked on the wrong man. After the game, Close said to the Warwickshire captain, M.J.K. Smith, "Bad luck, Mike, you played better than we did. But I couldn't give you the game." Smith appeared to accept this when he replied, "I quite understand." Brian Sellers, chairman of Yorkshire and the one who had berated Close in 1949 for saying "Thank you, Billy", then made matters worse for Close by sending an apology to the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC). In 1967 England touring sides were still MCC sides rather than "England" sides, and the MCC took the opportunity to overrule the selectors who picked Close as captain. Close, whose "temperament had been shown lacking", did not go to the