latter's superior batting ability. Russell, however, was considered the best wicket keeper in the world at the time, and could also be an unorthodox but resolute lower-order batsman. In 1990, he was one of Wisden's five Cricketers of the Year, with Wisden stating: At the beginning of 1989, Jack Russell had played only one Test for England, and was not considered a good-enough batsman to merit a place in the one-day squad to face the Australians. By the end of the year, he was the only Englishman who could justifiably expect a place in anyone's World XI. It was his batting that got the fans on their feet – not the high scores, but the determination to stay and grit it out against the Australians. So, with mentor Alan Knott, Russell turned up early for the second Test at Lord's, and for four hours had the MCC ground staff boys bowling plastic balls at him – without Russell batting a stroke, just ducking and diving to miss the short deliveries. That day, he also adopted some suitably pungent language in response to the Aussies' sledging, and after he had scored 64 not out, the Aussies never tried it on him again. In the third Test at Edgbaston, he scored 42, the second highest score of the first innings. But his greatest achievement was to come in the fourth Test at Old Trafford, where in the summer of the South African cricket rebels and near-certain defeat, for six hours he held up Aussie celebrations by scoring his highest-ever score in cricket, 128 not out, to almost save the Test for England. It was also his maiden century in all forms of cricket, an achievement only matched by one other Englishman in the twentieth century – Billy Griffith against West Indies in 1947–48 – but it was largely forgotten in the furore of the South African debacle, and the loss of the series. Russell finished the Ashes series as England's third-most-successful batsman, with 314 runs and an average of 39.25. The summer of 1989 gave Russell a run in the England side, but his batting rarely reached such heights again. With England commonly struggling in these years, to give the side more balance Alec Stewart often got the gloves ahead of Russell due to his superior batting and increasingly reliable keeping. England's dilemma was epitomised in an unusual incident in the third