Tom Graveney: Cricketer hailed as a consummate stylist who piled on the runs for England, Gloucestershire and Worcestershire

Even if he were not remembered as a consummate stylist and handsome stroke player, Tom Graveney would command attention by the sheer weight of his runs: he scored 47,793 at an average of 44.91, ahead in the all-time list of Gooch, Cowdrey, Hutton and Compton, among others. For 23 years Long Tom delighted cricket watchers, especially those along the banks of the Severn, with his mastery of the bowling, his elegance at the crease and his rarely failing geniality and courtesy. He was a Professional but he contained all the best of the Gentlemen of cricket's golden age.

A Northumbrian, he transferred from Newcastle Royal Grammar School to Bristol GS and thereafter to Gloucestershire, though he could have made a more financially successful career in golf. He began with a duck but also scored a century in his first season (1948) and three years later passed 2,000 runs, scored eight centuries and played the first of his 79 Test matches.

He passed 1,000 runs in a season 21 times, and four times scored two centuries in the same match. He was happier playing on English turf and was less successful in Australia, where harder surfaces and higher bounce restricted his front-foot play. His one century against Australia, 111 in two hours in Sydney in 1954, is remembered with admiration. With 122, he stands 13th on the list of players to have passed 100 centuries; he was also a useful change spin bowler, taking 80 wickets at 37.96, and an accomplished slip fielder, with 547 catches.

While his class as a player was never in dispute, the selectors were sometimes unconvinced as to his temperament until his 258 against West Indies at Trent Bridge in 1957 settled that doubt. But keeping a place in the England order in the 1950s was difficult. Graveney was competing with Denis Compton, Bill Edrich, Peter May and Willie Watson, and later, Colin Cowdrey. When he was tried as an opener Graveney was contending with Len Hutton, while Reg Simpson and David Sheppard were also candidates. Even what might be called the second XI order of those days reads impressively now: Jack Robertson, Frank Lowson, Jack Ikin, Don Kenyon.

In county cricket Graveney was never less than formidable, and his outstanding record made his progress towards the Gloucestershire captaincy inevitable. He was appointed in 1959, when the county finished second. The following year the team was hugely handicapped by injuries and finished eighth, bringing to a head a situation of which the captain and team were unaware.

Tom Pugh, an Old Etonian and an amateur, a steady batsman and an outstanding racquets player, had been recommended to Gloucestershire by Percy Fender, the former Surrey captain, and had been promised the captaincy in the future. Graveney was reluctant to include an amateur instead of one of his promising younger professionals, but neither he nor the team expected him to be asked to stand down in favour of Pugh at summer's end in 1960.

Graveney, according to David Green, himself then a Gloucestershire player, initially agreed but felt he should not be blamed for the serious financial position, nor for the team's record in his second season, and he wrote to the chairman accordingly. Pugh, having reorganised his life to commit himself to Gloucestershire, would not withdraw, and amid much acrimony and debate Graveney – the county's most famous player since Wally Hammond – left for Worcestershire. The Gloucestershire committee ensured that the incident would leave a sad memory by using the regulations existing at that time to ensure that Graveney had to miss the 1961 season to qualify for his new county.

At Worcester, on what was then a much faster pitch than Bristol, Graveney's career blossomed again and he regained his place in the England team. In 1968 he began a two-year term as Worcestershire's captain, and in the same year, in an emergency, captained England at Headingley. One of the best summaries of Graveney's play came on the occasion of his 100th century at Worcester, in August 1964, from John Woodcock.

"He had played characteristically, an innings of distinction and grace," Woodcock wrote. "Most of his 19 boundaries were drives, beautifully made with a flowing swing of the bat. We shall remember him for the high stance, the tanned face, the long peak to his cap and the shoulders slightly rounded, the right rather lower than the left. When we are old we shall recall, nostalgically, the charm of rhythm of Graveney's stroke play. 'Ah,' we shall say, 'you should have seen Graveney; there was elegance for you.'"

In his History of Gloucestershire (1990), David Green remembered him thus: "The ease and grace of his play put a bloom on what was one of the soundest of techniques. [He] was a beautiful player of spin and a fine and aggressive player of fast bowling, which he had the disconcerting habit of hooking dismissively off the front foot. Two of his finest innings were against Wes Hall, Charlie Griffith and Gary Sobers in the 1966 series against West Indies, namely his 109 at Trent Bridge and his 165 at the Oval, the latter being one of the cornerstones of a famous English victory".

Later he coached and lived in Queensland for a spell, returned to Cheltenham as a pub landlord, became a respected commentator on the BBC and was awarded the OBE for his services to cricket. He eventually achieved a notable double, becoming president of Worcestershire after his brother Ken – who predeceased him by nine days – had been president of Gloucestershire. He was also president of the MCC in 2004-05. Ken's son David was chairman of the England selectors from 1997 until 2008.

DEREK HODGSON

Thomas William Graveney, cricketer and coach: born Riding Mill, Northumberland 16 June 1927; OBE; married 1952 Jackie Brookman (died 2013; one daughter, one son); died 3 November 2015.