John Brian "George" Statham, CBE (17 June 1930 - 10 June 2000) was one of the leading English fast bowlers in 20th century English cricket. Initially a bowler of a brisk fast-medium pace, Statham was able to remodel his action to generate enough speed to become genuinely fast. This, together with unflagging accuracy and the ability to make the ball - new or old - break back, made Statham a consistent force both for Lancashire in the County Championship and in Test cricket, where his strikepower helped give England perhaps its strongest attack of the 20th century during the 1950s and early 1960s. He overtook Alec Bedser's record of 236 Test wickets in the Fourth Test at the Adelaide Oval in 1962-63.

After being relieved of the Lancashire captaincy, Statham announced that the 1968 season would be his last - indeed he announced early on he would not play after the August Bank Holiday match with Yorkshire. With Lancashire no longer dependent on him due to Higgs' great form, Statham still went off on a high note with a first innings return of 6 for 31. In 1968, he took 69 wickets at an average of 17.08. Statham had given such service to Lancashire that the county gave him a second benefit in 1969, but it raised only PS1,850 compared to over PS13,800 for his 1961 benefit.  Statham was also appointed a CBE in 1968 in recognition of his services to cricket.  Statham became a member of the Lancashire committee in 1970, and was a member of it until 1995. He was appointed as president of the club from 1997 to 1998. Believing after erroneous media reports that Statham was in financial trouble, Fred Trueman organised two testimonial dinners to raise money for Statham. He died of leukemia a week before his 70th birthday, survived by his wife Audrey and two sons and a daughter.  The section of Warwick Road which runs past Lancashire County Cricket Club's Old Trafford Cricket Ground was renamed "Brian Statham Way" in Statham's honour. Incidentally, the other end of Warwick Road was previously renamed Sir Matt Busby Way after the former Manchester United manager, as the road runs past their stadium's Scoreboard End.  On 30 July 2011 Tameside Council dedicated a plaque to Brian for permanent display at Denton West Cricket Club which was unveiled by Brian's widow Audrey in the presence of Brian's former teammates Geoff Clayton and Colin Hilton.

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Statham was also appointed a CBE in 1968 in recognition of his services to cricket.