Alan Brown has had a sporting career like few others.

Not only has he played Test cricket for England after impressing for Kent, Brown was quite the footballer, too!

It means there was plenty to reflect on, ahead of his 90th birthday.

“In football, the centre-forward hits the ball from 35 yards and it bulges the net,” said Brown, who moved to Kent in his teenage years. “I’ve done that.

“A quick bowler in cricket will hit the stump and see it catapult towards the boundary. I’ve done that - well… it’s at least got to the wicketkeeper!

“I’m quite happy with that. I suppose I’ll be looked back on as an average player.

“I did have spells where I was as good as anybody but, then again, I had other spells really good players simply don’t have.”

Before celebrating his 90th birthday on Friday, October 17, Brown’s recollections of his sporting tales over an 80-minute interview from his home in Gravesend are almost as impressive as the stories themselves.

Gravesend & Northfleet - now Ebbsfleet United - Margate, Canterbury City, Deal Town, Bexley United and Whitstable Town count among his former clubs while he also had a trial at Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Brown even dabbled at basketball, darts, table tennis and athletics. Perhaps, then, the term “a talented all-round sportsman” is an understatement for him.

Brown recalled: “I went into the army. That’s what brought me down here, aged 18.

“I’d never played basketball but I played for the regiment. I was tall and mainly played in defence.

“Someone could be under the basket and, with one hand, I could get it to them somewhat successfully.

“I did occasionally play further up and scored a couple but it was more just exercise.

“Rugby, I played a match. That was for a chap called George Baker, who was a publican in Gravesend.

“We had many late evenings where his wife went to bed - and I still had to get home!

"He followed all sports, he was a good fella and he got us into a match-up on a Sunday morning.

"His side against the local police. I’d never played before.

“One fella said to me ‘Just keep near me and, when you get the ball, just throw it to me.’. I enjoyed it.

“I could kick a ball and also, with line-outs, I could get it right to the back if necessary.

“Then, we had a scrum. They all went down and there was something bobbling about in the middle, an oval ball, so I picked it up.

"I discovered that - apparently - you shouldn’t touch it then!

“Ann, who lives up in Yorkshire, we’ve been friends since I played for Kent.

"She came down for my birthday. I knew her husband first, but he’s passed on.

“She loves her rugby so I have to listen every weekend to the rugby match she’s been to without dozing off.

“That was the only rugby match I played.

“Table tennis, I played about a bit with - although I didn’t play tennis - and then there’s golf.”

Brown’s mischievous side came to the fore at a golf day alongside Kent team-mates.

“There’s plenty of cricketers, including Colin Cowdrey and Ted Dexter, that could have taken up golf,” he said.

“Ted Dexter played with some of the professionals one day and outdrove them each time.

“There was a chap called Peter Shenton in the Kent side with me. We had this day out on Maidstone’s golf course.

“There’s a pond in the middle of the course and, as we were going around, somebody hit the ball into the water.

“Myself and Peter thought ‘We’ve got an idea here.’. We got behind a tree and, every time we saw someone swinging from the top of the hill, we threw a brick into the water.

“In darts, I could hold my own against bad players. I’d been in pubs often enough to have played it.

"I had two mates from Lancashire, Harry Pilling and John Sullivan.

“We played at Dartford, Hesketh Park, one day and we called in at the British Legion, where I used to drink, on the way back.

“There was a darts match that night and we played for the British Legion. We finished that night serving behind the bar!”

Brown and Sullivan first formed their friendship at a fixture between Kent and Lancashire - leaving legendary Kent captain Cowdrey to fulfil their own duties.

“We were both 12th men,” said Brown. “We were sat in the pavilion and there was a tent to the right.

"We said ‘Okay, let’s go for a lemonade’ - although it wasn’t lemonade we were drinking - and got to know each other.

“The next thing, over the tannoy, we heard ‘Could either of the 12th men come to the pavilion, please.’.

"We looked out to see Colin Cowdrey, taking a bat out. That was our job!

“So, we cemented our friendship then.”

Cowdrey and Brown were just two players at a star-studded Kent in the 1950s and 1960s, which included David Sayer and John Shepherd - godparents to Brown’s children - who won the Gillette One-Day Cup in 1967.

Brown, a member of the 1970 County Championship-winning side, revealed: “I’m the oldest Test player in Kent that’s alive.

"Alan Dixon is 91 and then there’s Bob Wilson, Colin Cowdrey, Fred Ridgway, a bowler, and Arthur Phebey.

“There was John Prodger and Alan Dixon, who was probably my big mate. Godfrey Evans was keeping wicket but Derek Ufton was a keeper, as well.

“Tony Catt came in so you have Godfrey, Derek and Tony all as wicket-keepers. There was also Asif Iqbal, who was a lovely man.

"About the same time as me, there were people coming in like David Sayer. He was quick.

“He’s godfather to my daughter - and John Shepherd is godfather to my son.

"Shep was staying in hotels but I did say to Colin or Les Ames ‘He can stay with me for a couple of weeks.’. That’s how he has got the connection with my son.

“They were also getting people from abroad and we became a good side because people like Alan Ealham were infiltrated into that.”

Like Brown, Ufton played both cricket and football. He won one England football cap in 1953 while making 149 first-class Kent appearances.

“When I played football for Fleet as a centre-half, Charlton sent a scout down to watch,” said former forward Brown. “I found out I wasn’t recommended.

“It was then only once I’d started playing cricket that I found out Derek Ufton was the centre-half they had been sent down to look at!”

Brown’s most successful season came when he claimed 119 wickets at 19.04 in 1965, taking more than 700 wickets across his career overall, but further England honours eluded him.

He was also a hard-hitting tail-ender with a top score of 81.

Both he and team-mate Sayer were given a Kent joint-benefit in 1971, playing a benefit football friendly as part of it.

“I put myself at wing-half,” recalled Brown. “I got a couple of Gravesend & Northfleet players in so we could keep the ball between ourselves.

“Towards the end, I hit it properly and saw the net bulge. David Sayer came up behind me ‘I knew you played football - I didn’t know you were good.’.

“That was real praise.”

The pinnacle of his cricketing career was to come when he was selected by England to tour India, Pakistan and Ceylon (Sri Lanka), playing Tests against Pakistan and India in October and November of that year.

On his call-up, Brown, who was briefly on Nottinghamshire’s books, said: “Kent were playing at Leicestershire so I was staying with mum and dad.

“They were in the car park because dad insisted on watching the game from there. I was called by their secretary into his office.

“He told me ‘MCC Lord’s has been on the phone and they wanted you to make yourself available for the tour.’. So, I could tell mum and dad straight away.

“I wish I had gone on two tours because there is so much to see. But the wickets were not helpful.

“My first Test wicket was caught behind by John Murray. He must have been the best tourist there’s ever been!

"He was so funny. He was a good wicket-keeper and not a bad batsman.

“When I say I didn’t have a successful tour, I only played in two Tests but we quickly found, if you didn’t hit your length or it bounced badly, it was going to go for four.”

Another of the more poignant memories came in Brown’s early years as he and a friend followed Rufford Colliery, the team a man called Wilf - someone he practised playing football with as a child - played for.

He said: “I followed the side Wilf played for, which was the local colliery side, Rufford Colliery, all over the place.

"Me and another lad, Jim, from the other part of the village, started following them every Saturday.

“They weren’t very good and they never won anything. But we sat on the bus with the players and had a sing-song.

“One year, they progressed through a cup competition to a final. It was in midweek.

“When we went down to get on the bus to go down for this final - Wilf was still at work at this time - and the manager, Jack Copley, said ‘Sorry Alan, sorry Jim, we can’t take you this time.’. The manager of the colliery was going.

“That meant we were standing outside when Wilf, who had cycled home, got his kit and came down, arrived.

“As he was getting on the bus, he said ‘Come on Alan, come on Jim’ because we were standing against the wall. We said ‘Mr Copley said we can’t come.’.

“He said ‘Why’s this?’. Mr Copley said ‘Sorry Wilf but we’ve got Mr Jones coming with his wife.’.

“Wilf said ‘How many times have they been to watch us play before?’. Mr Copley replied ‘None.’ Wilf pointed out that we had been here every time.

“He then said ‘Jack, if they don’t go, I won’t go.’. Suddenly, they moved a kit bag, and myself and Jim were sitting on that bus.

“They lost 1-0, but that’s something which has never left me.”

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