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Happy 80th birthday Graham Burgess
Somerset cricketing legend, Graham Burgess celebrated his 80th birthday recently at the Cooper Associates County Ground in the company of a number of friends and former team mates who were attending the Somerset Former Players gathering.
Budgie, as he is affectionately know by all, was born and grew up in Glastonbury. His all round sporting attributes won him a place at Millfield School where his cricketing talents as a right handed batter and medium pace bowler were nurtured.
He played regularly for Somerset Second XI between 1963 and 1966 where a number of impressive performances saw him make his senior debut against the West Indies. He scored one and 35 as the hosts followed on and ended with bowling figures of 0 for 101.
However, Budgie retained his place for the next match, against Lancashire at Southport in the County Championship, and coming in with the scoreboard showing 29 for five. He proceeded to add 145 for the sixth wicket with Ken Palmer, of which he contributed 66 while Ken hit 118 to enable Somerset to pull off an innings victory.
From that start Budgie went on to develop into a genuine all rounder. Between 1966 and 1979 he became a regular member of the team, appearing in 252 First Class games, scoring over 7000 runs and claiming 474 wickets.
Budgie played in Somerset’s first ever one-day final against Kent at Lords in 1967 and crowned his career by being a key member of the one-day side that lifted the Gillette Cup and John Player League Trophy on consecutive days in 1979.
After hanging up his boots following the John Player victory at Trent Bridge, Budgie went on to become a First Class umpire. He officiated in over 500 county matches between 1990 and 2008 as well as several international games.
To mark his birthday, Graham was presented with an 80th birthday cake which was presented to him during his stint in the live stream commentary box by Vic Marks and Peter Trego.
