at Lord's, and did not disappoint, scoring 120. The match ended in a draw due to rain. However, he was not selected for the 1964–65 tour of South Africa. Injuries to other players resulted in another recall to the England side for the Third Test against New Zealand at Headingley in July 1965, where he scored 310 not out. This innings spanned over eight hours, and included 52 fours and five sixes – 238 runs or 77% of his innings. Commentators at the time said that he might have broken the existing Test record of 365 within another 90 minutes or so if his captain, Mike Smith, had not felt it necessary to declare the innings closed. However, a week later during the First Test against South Africa, he suffered a blow to the head from a short-pitched delivery by Peter Pollock. This was before helmets came into use, and he was forced to retire hurt on 7 not out. Wisden named Edrich as Cricketer of the Year in 1966 for his achievements in 1965, alongside Colin Bland, Dick Motz, Graeme Pollock and brother Peter Pollock. As well as his Test triple century, he had scored a total of 2,319 runs at an average of 62.67 during the season, including eight hundreds. At one stage, in nine successive innings he scored 139, 121*, 205*, 55, 96, 188, 92, 105 and 310*. Not previously known as a big hitter, he struck forty-nine sixes during the course of the season. He had by now become an established member of the England batting line-up, rarely omitted unless injured. Beginning with the 1965–66 Ashes series, he sometimes batted at number three rather than, as hitherto, opening the innings. In the 1970–71 Ashes series his 687 runs (52.85) kept him at the crease for 33 hours and 26 minutes, a record for a Test series until broken by Glenn Turner against West Indies the next season. His form at this time helped England play 27 consecutive Tests without defeat in 1968–71, and lose only one Test out of 40 in 1966–71. Edrich played in the first-ever One Day International (ODI), on 5 January 1971 against Australia. After the Third Test had been called off due to rain, the umpires called for an unscheduled match, consisting of 40 eight-ball overs per side. Edrich top-scored with 82 runs, thus scoring the first half-century in an ODI, and