legal adviser, he retracted this, leaving Yorkshire to sack him. The reason, according to Yorkshire, was Close's dislike for the new 40-over one-day cricket league that was first played in 1969 (Close thought it led to bad habits and negative play), and because Close had supposedly not brought on the younger players. Later life and career Somerset After being sacked by Yorkshire, the 39-year-old Close received offers from many other counties, including Lancashire, Glamorgan, Middlesex and Leicestershire. But he turned all these down, preferring to accept a non-captain's role at Somerset. The rest from the captaincy did Close good; he went through the 1971 season without injury, and scored 1,389 runs, including a century in his first game for Somerset, and a century in the game against Yorkshire. In 1972, he was awarded the CBE by the Queen for his services to cricket. Close was also promoted to Somerset captain. He soon gained the same respect and commitment from his players as he had at Yorkshire. He was also called up to the England one-day squad to captain them in a three-match One Day International series against Australia, which England won 2–1, when the regular England captain and his former Yorkshire teammate, Ray Illingworth, injured his ankle in the last Test. In 1972/73 Close led a two-match tour of the "International Wanderers" to Rhodesia. The next two winters he captained the Derrick Robins' XI tours to apartheid South Africa. Robins' tours were the closest thing the South Africa team had to Test cricket at that time, and for his efforts in the first of the tours to South Africa, Close was named as one of the four South African Cricket Annual Cricketers of the Year in 1974. During his time at Somerset Viv Richards and Ian Botham joined the county squad, and Close's leadership and discipline helped them become great cricketers. Botham said of Close, "There was a genuine enthusiasm for cricket which rubbed off on all those playing alongside him. You couldn't help but get excited by the game." Final Test innings In 1976, the 45-year-old Brian Close was called up for the first three Tests in England's five-Test series against the West Indies, who were no less ferocious than when Close was battered by them in 1963. In the second innings of the third Test at Old Trafford, Close's final Test innings, Close opened with the 39-year-old John