Sri Lankan batsman Upul Tharanga has announced his retirement from international cricket at the age of 36.

Having made his debut in August 2005, Tharanga last turned out for Sri Lanka in an ODI in South Africa in March 2019. He played his final T20I in March the previous year and his last Test in August 2017.

Over the course of his career, Tharanga has captained Sri Lanka's limited-overs sides several times, first taking up the role in November 2016 in an ODI series against Zimbabwe. Months later he would also take over the reigns of the T20I side for a tour of Australia. Unfortunately for Tharanga, his captaincy coincided with a lean period in Sri Lankan cricket, and he suffered the ignominy of captaining his side to three 5-0 whitewashes in 2017.

Tharanga's failed captaincy stint somewhat soured what had been an overall impressive period with the national side. While his Test and T20I careers underwhelmed, his ODI record is among the best in Sri Lanka's history. His 15 one-day hundreds are the fifth-most by a Sri Lankan batsman, while his performances in the 2011 World Cup played a major role in the run to the final. Opening the batting, his 395 runs in the tournament came at 56.42 and included two centuries.

Fans will also remember fondly his role in setting a then-world record for an opening partnership, plundering 286 runs off just 201 deliveries alongside side Sanath Jayasuriya against England at Leeds in 2006.

Tharanga finishes his career having played 31 Tests, 235 ODIs and 26 T20Is. His 1754 Test runs came at an average of 31.89 and included three centuries and eight fifties. It was in limited overs cricket though that Tharanga came into his own, scoring 6951 runs at 33.74 in ODIs, inclusive of 15 centuries and 37 fifties. While he had shown flourishes in the domestic T20 circuit, that form never really carried into his brief T20I career, in which he averaged 16.28.

"As the good old saying goes 'all good things must come to an end', I believe it is time for me to bid farewell to my International Cricket Career after over 15 years of giving the game my all," Tharanga said in a statement.

"I leave behind a road traveled with fond memories and great friendships. I am thankful to Sri Lanka Cricket for always having faith and the trust vested in me. I am grateful to the many cricket loving fans, friends and my family for standing by me during my highest of highs and even at my lowest points in my career. Your well-wishes and messages of encouragement was easily the drive behind my ambition. For that I thank you all, and I wish you well.

"I would like to wish Sri Lanka Cricket all the very best for the future and I am hopeful that the team will bounce back strong soon."

Sri Lanka Cricket, in media release, paid tribute to Tharanga's "tremendous service" to the team.

"Upul Tharanga has done a tremendous service as a player to Sri Lanka Cricket during his long career and has been an integral part of the National Team during its many achievements,'' Sri Lanka Cricket CEO Ashley De Silva said.

Scotland's Six Nations match against France is in jeopardy after a number of French players and coaches tested positive for Covid-19.

A decision on whether the match can be played will be made on Wednesday by the tournament organisers.

Should it be put back, Townsend will be shorn of a number of key players.

On Tuesday, the French Rugby Federation said there were no more positive cases in the latest round of testing.

France top the Six Nations table after winning both matches so far, while Scotland sit fourth having followed an historic win over England at Twickenham with a one-point home loss to Wales.

What's the situation?

After overseeing his team's victory over Ireland last Sunday, France head coach Fabien Galthie and a member of the non-playing staff tested positive two days later.

From that point on, as more rounds of testing were completed, more positive results were returned.

On Monday, six days after Galthie entered isolation, the tally of positives in the playing squad rose to 10, nine of whom were part of the match-day 23 in Dublin. Star scrum-half Antoine Dupont, captain Charles Ollivon and wing Gabin Villiere are among those now isolating.

Assistant coach William Servat also tested positive.

Players have been called up to replace those now unavailable for Scotland's visit, and team training is due to resume on Wednesday, with testing conducted every 24 hours and no positives recorded in Tuesday's batch.

What are the options?

The Six Nations will decide whether the Test can take place as scheduled, or must be postponed, on Wednesday.

"Ensuring the health and safety of all players and staff is our number one priority," they said in a statement. "Should the decision be that the fixture cannot go ahead, the match will be rescheduled for the earliest possible date."

The "earliest possible date" seems to be the following weekend, a rest week for the tournament outside of World Rugby's designated international window.

But that would pose problems for Scotland. Under World Rugby regulations, their players based in England and France will be released back to their clubs for domestic duty.

That would leave Townsend without a host of front-line players, including captain Stuart Hogg, fly-half Finn Russell, lock Jonny Gray and centres James Lang and Chris Harris. In fact, 11 of the coach's wider squad would be rendered unavailable for an out-of-window Test.

Scottish Rugby released a statement on Monday saying that "any postponement will have an impact on the player release agreement in place with clubs.

"We will be working closely with our Six Nations counterparts to press the case for this week's game to go ahead, should it be medically safe to do so."

What happened in the autumn?

It is worth remembering that, owing to an agreement on player load between the French Rugby Federation and its Top 14 clubs, France were at times forced to pick vastly depleted sides during the recent Autumn Nations Cup.

Missing their entire first-choice XV, they still managed to take full-strength England to extra time in the tournament finale at Twickenham.

That suggests that depth will not be a problem, and that Scotland would still face a significant challenge to earn their first win in Paris since 1999 should the game go ahead as scheduled.

Situation 'plays in France's favour' - analysis

Former Scotland, Castres, Montpellier and Bayonne number eight Johnnie Beattie on BBC Radio Scotland

Strangely, it plays in France's favour. They play a lot on psychology and emotional drivers. You've got nearly a whole XV coming in and now they've got a chance to play a part in a Grand Slam.

Weirdly, because they're all in confinement, missing Galthie doesn't make any difference until they start training together on Wednesday. Shaun Edwards is the world's best defence coach, he knows how to take a training session. Galthie and Servat will be part of every session by FaceTime. Galthie will be in every huddle, leading every team meeting thanks to the technology.

I don't think the game is going to go ahead. I think it's going to be postponed. And I think France will be favourites if it's postponed.

If Scotland get to play against this majorly weakened side, they'll be up against a line-out that hasn't had much time together, a scrum that hasn't had many reps together, so there's a chance to sneak it.

If it gets pushed to next weekend, it becomes a tougher proposition.

Former Germany international and ex-Real Madrid defender Christoph Metzelder will face trial in his home country on charges of possession and distribution of child pornography.

Metzelder is accused by the prosecutors' office of 29 charges of trying to distribute child pornography and one charge of possession of child and youth pornography.

A court in Dusseldorf said that Metzelder has "denied those accusations and that a trial will take place to determine if the allegations are true or not."

Metzelder was charged officially by the Dusseldorf prosecutors in September 2020. The trial will start on April 29.

Metzelder. 40, played seven seasons at Borussia Dortmund, where he won the Bundesliga in 2002, before joining Real Madrid in 2007.

In Spain, he won a league title and a Spanish Super Cup in his three years at the Bernabeu stadium, though his time in the Spanish capital was blighted by injuries.

He continued his career with German clubs Schalke 04 and TuS Haltern. Metzelder earned 47 caps for Germany and featured in the teams that finished runners-up in the 2002 World Cup and Euro 2008, as well as third in the 2006 World Cup.

Metzelder had been working as a TV pundit after retiring from football in 2013.

Big picture

Before the start of the series, England's best chance of winning a Test in India was the day-night Test in Ahmedabad. The fact that England go there with the series level at 1-1 has changed the dynamics in quite a big way.

England know this could be the series-defining Test and their opportunity to do what India did in Australia. On the other hand, India's chances of earning a World Test Championship final spot are just a little bit in jeopardy. If they lose this Test (or the next), they will be out of the race.

India, though, are expected to stick to their blueprint at home, which is to score big in the first innings and back the bowlers to take 20 wickets. While it may not look like their batsmen have dominated so far, each of India's top six has got at least one 50-plus score in the series. What India would want them to do is to convert those starts into big, match-winning knocks as Rohit Sharma did in the second Test.

Another thing in India's favour is that they will field their strongest bowling attack of the series so far. After a break of one Test, Jasprit Bumrah is back in the squad and will lead the pace attack alongside Ishant Sharma, with R Ashwin and Axar Patel manning the spin department. Then they have the option of playing one of Kuldeep Yadav, Umesh Yadav and Mohammed Siraj as the fifth bowler, or, possibly, even Hardik Pandya.

For England, Jonny Bairstow's availability will somewhat reduce the burden on Joe Root, while a returning James Anderson will buoy them further. Anderson was rested for the second Test, which became a talking point given the six-day gap between the second and the third Tests. England, however, stuck to their rotation policy and now have a fresh Anderson at their disposal.

While the jury is out on where Anderson ranks among the best fast bowlers to tour India, there is little doubt about his mastery with Dukes balls. And three days out from the Test, Anderson did say the SG pink ball "feels very similar to the Dukes in the hand". It was Anderson's spell on the fifth day that punctured India's hopes of drawing the first Test and England will be hoping for a similar performance from their seamer.

Seeing the assistance their seamers got with the pink ball under lights during practice sessions, the visitors may be tempted to even field three specialist seamers. But they must keep in mind the actual pitch may turn out to be vastly different from the practice tracks.

Form guide

India WLWDW (Last five Tests, most recent first)
England LWWWD

In the spotlight

The twilight. If the pink-ball Tests are a lottery, then twilight is the time when they are won or lost, with batsmen trying to adjust to the artificial light. So far, it has been observed that the pink ball swings and seams more under lights than otherwise. But will it behave the same even if there is hardly any grass on the pitch and dew in the outfield?

Virat Kohli may not have scored an international hundred for a while now but given his form one doesn't seem far away. Before leaving Australia for paternity leave, Kohli scored a masterly 74 in the first innings of the day-night Adelaide Test. He looked in absolute control during his 72 on the fifth day of the first Test of the current series, and his 62 on a rank turner in the second innings of the second Test helped India shut the door on England. Kohli would know it's time to take it one notch higher.

Team news

Bumrah's return means the only decision India need to make is about their fifth bowler. Given the pink ball and the dew factor, India may go with three seamers and two spinners. In that case, Kuldeep is likely to miss out, leaving Siraj and Umesh contesting for the lone slot.

India (probable): 1 Rohit Sharma, 2 Shubman Gill, 3 Cheteshwar Pujara, 4 Virat Kohli (capt), 5 Ajinkya Rahane, 6 Rishabh Pant (wk), 7 R Ashwin, 8 Axar Patel, 9 Ishant Sharma, 10 Umesh Yadav, 11 Jasprit Bumrah

Apart from Anderson, Archer and Bairstow walking into the XI, England could consider going in with just one spinner in Jack Leach. But Root said they would make the final decision after the final practice session. Zak Crawley, meanwhile, could replace Rory Burns at the top of the order.

England (probable): 1 Dom Sibley, 2 Zak Crawley, 3 Jonny Bairstow, 4 Joe Root (capt), 5 Ben Stokes, 6 Ollie Pope, 7 Ben Foakes (wk), 8 Dom Bess/Chris Woakes, 9 Jofra Archer, 10 Jack Leach, 11 James Anderson

Pitch and conditions

The Motera pitch does have some live grass, so while spinners will come into play later in the Test, one cannot discount the impact of the new ball and the quick bowlers, especially under lights. The refurbished stadium boasts a capacity of 110,000 spectators but given the Covid-19 concerns, only half of those seats are going to be filled. The weather forecast is sunny throughout the Test, with the temperature hovering around 35-degree Celsius during the day and dropping by ten degrees in the evenings.

Stats and trivia

• Kohli's last international hundred was against Bangladesh at Eden Gardens in 2019, in what was India's first-ever day-night Test. Since then, he has played 34 innings without scoring a century - his longest barren streak in international cricket.
• This will be Ishant's 100th Test. Among Indian fast bowlers, only Kapil Dev has played more Tests (131).
• In the 15 pink-ball Tests so far, fast bowlers have picked up 354 wickets at an average of 24.47, and spinners 115 at 35.38.
• Coincidentally, the last Test Motera hosted was also between India and England, in 2012. In that game, Cheteshwar Pujara struck 206 not out and 41 not out as India beat England by nine wickets.
• With 26 wins from 48 Tests, Root is level with Michael Vaughan for the most Test victories as an England captain.

Quotes

"You can't play for those kinds of reasons. We are not looking to win one and draw one. We are looking to win both. For us, these are two games of cricket, and the only thing we are focused on. What it does afterwards is a conversation for later. That is a reality not present right now. In the present moment, we are preparing for tomorrow, ready for the grind for five days, wanting to win a Test match for India and then move on to the next one. One day at a time is something we have followed for years now. There is no point running far ahead into the future where you have no idea what's going to happen. We are going to focus on what we can do as individuals in the present moment and let other people think of scenarios and what if and what if not."
Virat Kohli is not thinking about the WTC final just yet

"There has been a trend of collapses in pink-ball Test matches. One thing that stands out is those vital first 20 balls, making sure you get used to tracking the ball, get used to the conditions and being very aware of how things can change throughout the day. It's not necessarily just that one moment under lights or that twilight period. Sometimes it's been right at the start of the game in the morning session, or late on day four, that these strange passages of play have happened. When you get that opportunity, and you're on the right side of it in the field, you have to take every opportunity and really make that count in your favour."
Joe Root in response to England being bundled for 58 and India for 36 in their last pink-ball Tests

It's the IPL auction. On offer is a big-name player who you don't really want. But you want the other bidders to think you do. What are your options? On February 18 in Chennai, the player in question was Steven Smith, and a mock auction drill carried out by the Royal Challengers Bangalore team - a video of which has been put out on social media - shows how the group bid first, but then withdrew completely.

It did work. And it also allowed the Royal Challengers to get into the hunt for Glenn Maxwell, the player they really wanted, and ended up getting.

Smith, the former Australia captain who led the Rajasthan Royals last season, was released by the franchise ahead of the latest auction, and went up for hire at INR 2 crore (approx. US$ 138,216). The first bid went out from the Royal Challengers as planned, according to the video, and the Delhi Capitals followed with a bid of INR 2.2 crore. There were no further bids, and Smith went to the Delhi franchise.

"I'm not so sure anyone's even going to bid for him in the first round. Best thing we can do is make a bid early, Steve Smith, and then get out"

Mike Hesson on the bidding strategy

The video is revealing, instructive in terms of how teams plan their bids during the auctions, and also how they, at times, plan bids for other teams.

Mike Hesson, the Royal Challengers' director of cricket, sets the ball rolling by playing the role of the auctioneer: "Next up, captain Steve Smith, Australia, base price 2 crore." The others around the table, filling in for the other bidding teams, take the price higher - 2.2, 2.6, 2.8, 3.6… and Smith goes to the Capitals - in this case too! - for Rs 3.8 crore.

Let's be clear Steve Smith is a wonderful player in all formats he just didn't fit our mix for this season, hopefully this video explains why? https://t.co/WOMfHCoo55

— Mike Hesson (@CoachHesson) February 23, 2021

"You didn't go for Smith at all," someone asks Hesson. "Oh, Smith doesn't bowl," is Hesson's matter-of-fact reply. "Whoever bats there [presumably No. 4] has to be able to bowl, because Devdutt [Padikkal], [Virat] Kohli, AB [de Villiers] don't bowl."

Which is where Maxwell came in.

"I'm not so sure anyone's even going to bid for him in the first round. Best thing we can do is make a bid early, Steve Smith, and then get out," Hesson explained, adding that the money spent and the limit on number of overseas slots would mean that the Capitals - "they are the only ones at the moment that can outbid us" - wouldn't be able to make a play for Maxwell, who was eventually bought for INR 14.25 crore (approx. US$ 1,968,817).

The thing with cute plays of this sort, of course, is that they could go quite wrong - what if the Royal Challengers had been left with Smith at INR 2 crore? "It's not the end of the world," Hesson said, but did admit that it would cramp their style further up in the auction: "It means we don't have that bowler in the top six other than Maxwell. What we don't want, what's the worst result, is if that whole first group goes by [and] no one buys anything. So if we can get somebody to buy somebody in that first round, that's a big win for us."

They picked up Kyle Jamieson and Dan Christian, both fast-bowling allrounders, for INR 15 crore (approx. US$ 2,072,439) and INR 4.80 crore (approx. US$ 663180) respectively, while also adding Indians Sachin Baby, Rajat Patidar, Mohammed Azharuddeen and KS Bharat to fill up smaller gaps.

And the safety net: "I think if we bid straightaway, no team is going to let us get him for 2 crore."

As for the Capitals, getting Smith for the price they did didn't hurt their plans either. "A player of his calibre, to get him at very close to his base price was, according to us, an incredible opportunity which we didn't want to let go," Parth Jindal, the Capitals owner, told ESPNcricinfo soon after the auction. "For us, we just noted down the name 'Steve Smith' and were, 'Oh, won't he be such a fantastic player to add to our batting line-up?' And then we saw the auction dynamics, maybe it was because his name came up early, maybe because people were being tentative, maybe everyone had their own reasons.

"But we saw RCB bid 2 crores and then there was a lot of silence in the room, nobody was going for him, the auctioneer was about to sell it at 2 crore, and I looked at Kiran and said, 'Kiran [Kumar Grandhi, co-owner], it's Steve Smith, let's try our luck'. And we bid 2.2 and nobody bid. We were absolutely thrilled to get him at that price."

The Royal Challengers had earlier uploaded a video about their auction strategy for Maxwell too. On multiple occasions, they seemed to have got their man, but in the end they actually paid quite a bit more than they had planned.

The bidding game for Chris Morris was a curious one too. The Royal Challengers had released Morris after picking the allrounder up for INR 10 crore last season, and had hoped to get the South African for a much lower price this time. However, Morris' price went up to INR 16.5 crore (approx. US$ 2,279,367) and was bought by the Royals. The Royal Challengers went up to INR 9.5 crore (approx. US$ 1,312,363) before giving up.

The Vijay Hazare Trophy, the domestic 50-over men's competition in India, has seen its first case of Covid-19 with a Bihar player testing positive for the novel coronavirus, following which all the other members of the squad are being tested.

"It is confirmed and the concerned player has been isolated from other players," a senior Bihar Cricket Association (BCA) official was quoted as saying by PTI. "He is currently in Bangalore as he cannot travel."

Another source reportedly said all the other 21 players in the squad will undergo Covid-19 tests on Tuesday with the results expected by evening.

Bihar are placed in Group C and their league games are scheduled in Bengaluru. They faced Karnataka on Monday, and their next match is against Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday, which is expected to go on as scheduled according to a BCA official. Earlier, a player each from Maharashtra and Himachal Pradesh, too, had reportedly tested positive for Covid-19 last week, but both the teams have continued playing their league games after undergoing tests.

All matches of the Vijay Hazare Trophy are being played under bio-secure bubbles across multiple cities. This is the second tournament, after the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, conducted by the BCCI in the curtailed 2020-21 domestic season.

Steve Smythe chronicles the top results from the iconic former world 10,000m record-holder

This article lists a century’s worth of Dave Bedford’s greatest races in chronological order. For a more detailed look at his best 20 competitions, please click here.

If you’d like the complete race history of this legendary British distance runner, go to our member-only Clubhouse section by clicking here.

1965

English Schools Intermediate Cross-Country Championships, Colchester, March 20
24th 21:53

The young Bedford finished a minute down on the winner David Buckley, who had won the junior race the year before. Future rival John Bednarski was 14th.

Back then the races were maybe not taken as seriously as now even though with the absence of major boys races, there was little else for boys of this age to target on country or track.

It’s notable that for this race that there was no AW report and the results did not even have initials on them. However, it was better than the 1964 coverage in the initial issue which mentioned the event on the cover and had a page number pointing you toward it but there was nothing until just the senior results the following week. Bedford finished 72nd that year.

1966

English Schools Intermediate Cross-Country Championships, Derby, March 19
3rd 20:48

Bedford gained almost a minute on Buckley (20:41) but both were beaten by the younger 1965 junior winner Paul Marwood (20:40). Bedford did beat future rival John King to third but by how much is not known as only the three were timed as an English Schools spokesman said as the times were not material in team championships they were probably destroyed! Bedford did pick up a team silver for Middlesex.

Shaftesbury Harriers Club 3 miles, Copthall, July 17
2nd 14:32.0

This proved a highly promising three miles debut as it ranked him second in the 1966 end of season youths rankings to Ian Stewart’s British record 13:59.6.

1967

Southern Youths Cross-Country Championships, Parliament Hill, February 11
1st 16:33

In his first year in the age group, he showed his astonishing talent in that only future International junior winner Bednarski (17:00) could finish within a minute of him on a 5km course. Future top coach Mick Woods was 10th and a future senior champion, who features in many of his latter races, Pete Standing, was 12th.

English National Youths Cross-Country Championships, Norwich, March 4
3rd 14:35

He was not helped by a slow start but he moved through well as Tony Simmons (14:28) headed Ian Stewart (14:33). There cannot be too many National youths races over the years where the top three have all gone to finish in the top six in the Olympics!

Future Olympic marathoner Jeff Norman was 10th and Commonwealth marathon medallist Don Faircloth sixth and future steeplechase rival Andy Holden 19th.

Inter Counties Youths Cross-Country Championships, Derby, March 11
1st 16:29

With Simmons (preparing to finish eighth in the International Junior race) and Stewart not competing and less runners to get through after a slow start, Bedford won comfortably from Bednarski (16:37) and Holden (16:42).

English Schools Cross Country Championships, Sheffield, March 18
2nd 26:17

His best ever schools race but three big championships in three weeks may have been too much as Holden, who’d he had beaten the previous two weeks, was getting better race by race and won with plenty in hand (26:06). King was sixth and future top middle-distance coach Norman Poole was seventh, future rival Malcolm Thomas 21st and Eastern champion Thompson 23rd.

Shaftesbury Harriers 3 Miles Championships, Copthall, June 14
2nd 14:13.6 (PB)

This ranked him eighth in the UK junior rankings. Stewart was top with 13:39.8 though the low key nature of the race meant it never appeared in AW and had no date by it in the end of season rankings in AW.

AAA Junior 2M Championships, White City, July 15
7th 9:14.4 (PB)

Held within the main senior championships (there were world-class wins for Ron Clarke in the three miles and Jurgen Haase in the six miles) he ran well but was 100 metres down in a race won by Simmons (8:50.4) with Stewart only fourth after a heavy fall (8:59.4).

Alperton 2M, July 19
2nd 9:12.2 (PB)

Made a small improvement on his previous best in finishing second to senior S Buchanaen (9:08.2). This ranked him 11th in the end of season UK junior rankings with only one younger athlete (Boggis) just ahead of him.

Southern Inter County Junior 2 miles, Withdean, July 29
1st 9:13.8 (PB)

It now seems incredible that at this time the English Schools Championships had no events longer than the mile other than the 2000m steeplechase in their championships and Bedford, not sharp enough to contest the mile, won from Faircloth (9:16.2) and Standing (9:29.2).

Tooting 10,000m, October 22
1st 29:49.8 (UK age 17 record)

Junior rival Boggis led through one mile in 4:49.6 and two miles in 9:48.8 before struggling with the humidity and Bedford was ahead at halfway in 14:46.2. Out on his own he slowed on the second half with miles of 5:01.2, 5:06.6 and 4:55.8 but that faster last mile enabled him to take 5.6 seconds off Faircloth’s previous best UK mark.

Harrow 6M track race, November 19
1st 29:15.8 (PB/world age 17 record)

Running fairly evenly (halves of 14:38.8 and 14:37.0) with miles between 4:46.0 and 4:56.6 he took 23.8 seconds off Canadian Ron Stjern’s previous world age best.

1968

Southern Youths Cross-Country Championships, Parliament Hill, February 10
1st 16:39

He won by a staggering 40 seconds over a three mile course from Chris Reed (17:19) and future champion Jack Lane (17:19).

English Youths Cross-Country Championships, Sutton Coldfield, March 2
1st 15:07

See top 20 list.

Inter-Counties Youth Cross-Country Championships, Leicester, March 9
1st 14:53

The younger Inter-Counties races were held back then separately from the senior race and after the National and Bedford continued his dominance winning from John Harrison (15:03) and John King (15:04)

Herne Hill Floodlit meet 2M, Tooting, March 13
2nd 9:04.6 (PB)

Started with a 63 second opening lap and led until the last 200m when he was out-kicked by senior Geoff Biscoe (9:02.6) but did set a seven second PB.

English Schools Senior Boys Cross-Country Championships, Stoke, March 23
7th 26:46

Up against some older athletes had a rare off-day but had previously beaten most of those ahead. King (25:51), who was only eighth in the National, won from Dick Hollings (26:00) and Lane (26:07). Fourth was a certain Ian Thompson (26:29) who in Bedford’s last international track season won both the Commonwealth and European marathons.

SCAAA U21 v Middlesex U21 v BRC 2M, Isleworth, May 27
1st 8:50.00 (PB)

Running on the pear-shaped Borough Road College track, Bedford ran a faster pace than any of his previous track races with 4:23.2 at the mile and though he lost the lead and drooped back when Jim Mouat surged on the penultimate lap, he kicked well on the last lap and beat Mouat (8:56.6) comfortably and was just four seconds off of Ian Stewart’s British age best and eight off Bruce Kidd’s world age best.

At the time Bedford was suffering from a hairline fracture of his right shinbone and only training on grass and also getting overheated feet and therefore had cut ovals on his racing shoes.

AAA Junior 2M, White City, July 13
1st 8:59.8

See top 20 list.

Crystal Palace 5000m, August 6
6th 14:24.0 (13:54.6 at 3 miles)

This was his fastest 5000m as a junior and it ranked him third in the UK behind Stewart and Bednarski and his three mile time produced the same ranking.

Junior Inter-Counties Match, Thurrock 2M & 2000 steeplechase, August 24
1st 9:09.0 & 1st 6:06.6 (PB)

Just did enough to win the two miles from Chris Reed (9:15.0) but it was much closer in the steeplechase as he edged J Peel (6:06.8) with sub-6 chaser Tony Pretty third (6:14.6). His time of 6:04.0 in his book would have ranked him just inside the UK top 20 juniors for 1968 but it was printed as 6:06.6 in AW.

Crystal Palace 10,000m, August 29
20th 32:16.0

In windy conditions, world record-holder Ron Clarke produced what at the time many thought was the greatest 10,000m run in history as he passed halfway in 13:50.6 and his 27:49.4 was the second best time in history. The 18-year-old Bedford tried to help as when he was lapped he ran 68-second laps to help pace the Australian and then run a few laps to recover at 90 seconds before going fast again.

Clarke easily lapped the entire field winning by 90 seconds. Faircloth ran a European junior record 29:38.0 in fifth though as aged 20 later in the year it was not eligible as a British mark.

1969

English National Junior Cross-Country, Parliament Hill, March 1
2nd 33:12

Was closing fast on the older Holden (33:08) on the last lap but beat the rest of a quality field headed by Simmons (33:28), Bednarski (33:43) and Thomas (34:01).

International Junior Cross-Country Race, Clydebank, March 22
1st 19:38

See top 20 list.

Southern Championships 10,000m, Crystal Palace, April 19
1st 28:24.4 (UK record)

See top 20 list.

Lodz 5000m, Poland, May 15
4th 13:58.2 (PB)

The race was won by 1964 Olympian and 1966 European fourth-placer Derek Graham (13:52.8) but Bedford acquitted himself well in his biggest international track race to date, with his first sub-14 run and again bettering Bednarski (14:00.2).

Inter-Counties 5000m Championships, White City, May 26
5th 13:54.6 (PB)

Led most of the race and contributed to a number of European qualifying times but had no answer to the fast last 600m of Ian Stewart (13:42.8).

Reading Gala Night of Sport 3000m, June 11
5th 8:05.4 (PB)

Was in the thick of a battle but lost out on the last lap in a race won by Chris Stewart (8:03.0).

Southern Championships 5000m, Crystal Palace, July 12
1st 13:42.8 (PB)

Gained the European qualifier himself with a big PB with a 2:38.6 last kilometre just about holding off Geoff North (13:44.4).

Chubb Mile, Motspur Park, July 23
8th 4:02.9 (PB)

Running on the famous world record cinder track he had a huge breakthrough in his speed. The race was won by future Olympian John Kirkbride (3:58.0) but Bedford finished between 3:57 miler Andy Green (4:02.8) and future UK indoor 1500m record-holder Phil Banning and ahead of 1964 Olympian Bill McKim (4:03.6) who would make the AAA 1500m final the following week.

AAA Championships 10,000m, White City, August 1
13th 29:27.0

Was unable to use his new found track speed or replicate his April form which would have seen him make the European team and ran a passive race finishing a minute down on Taylor (28:27.6) with Mike Tagg (28:36.4) and Ron Hill (28:39.2) completing the top three. Tagg would go to win European silver and Hill marathon gold though a badly dehydrated Taylor would finish almost last in his 10,000m.

GB v France 5000m, White City, September 1
3rd 13:56.8

In his senior international track debut he produced a better run but lost out on a final chance of making the Athens team as that went to winner Mike Baxter (13:50.4) but he did beat Commonwealth bronze medallist Allan Rushmer (14:00.2). Curiously day one of the international was at Crystal Palace and day two at the White City.

Pontivy Cross-Country, France, November 23
1st 23:13

Having run within himself all winter, he opened out here to easily beat European 10,000m silver medallist and International Cross-Country winner Mike Tagg (23:38).

Jean Bouin 5.5km, Barcelona, December 7
1st 15:37.4

In front of 100,000 spectators, Britons filled the first three places with Bob Holt (15:50.0) following Bedford home.

Nos Galan 4M, Mountain Ash, December 31
1st 18:01.6

Gained a clear win over his National conqueror Andy Holden (18:17.1), but just missed Holden’s record not helped by a television camera car getting in his way over the final bridge.

1970

Inter-Counties Cross-Country Championships, Derby, January 17
4th 37:19

Taylor (36:45) won easily from Trevor Wright (36:59) and Ricky Wilde (37:10) with Bedford, who had led much of the race, just ahead of Tagg (37:23) and Baxter (37:25) who had got the better of him on the track the previous summer.

Southern Senior and Junior Cross-Country Championships, Parliament Hill, February 7
Senior 9M: 1st 45:50, Junior 6M: 1st 32:12

See top 20 list.

English National Cross-Country Championships, Blackpool, February 28
3rd 43:18

He could have run in the junior race but wanted to make the international team where he would be too old for the under-20 race and he qualified easily but could not quite match Wright (42:48) who run down early leader Taylor (43:06) in the seventh mile. Bedford was not helped by a poor start which meant he was never in contention with the top two.

Junior Inter-Counties Cross-Country Championships, Leicester, March 7
1st 28:08

Running to help his county Middlesex (who won the team race) he won easily from team-mate Lane (28:30).

International Cross-Country Championships, Vichy, France, March 22
95th 40:20

Britons dominated with Tagg (20th in the National with a heavy cold) winning surprisingly from Roelants in 36:39.8 with Wright third (36:44.6) and England had five of the first seven and won at a canter. Despite suffering from a back injury from lifting weights, Bedford was unable to contribute and finished nearly four minutes back amongst the last 10 finishers.

Hampstead 10, May 16
1st 48:29

He won easily from 1968 Olympic marathoner Tim Johnston (49:08).

Bracknell 5, August 1
1st 23:21

On an undulating course in very hot conditions, he won by 27 seconds from Johnston (23:48).

AAA 10,000m, White City, August 7
1st 28:26.4

See top 20 list.

Shaftesbury 10, Hendon, August 9
1st 47:55 (course record)

Back in action quickly after his 10,000m, he pulled away up a long hill at 4 miles and through halfway in 23:55, he held that pace well to the end to win by a minute from future Olympic marathoner Barry Watson (49:08). He won a trophy for first under-21 runner but asked that to be passed on to the next in that category.

London Fire Brigade 3000m, White City, August 29
1st 7:58.2 (PB)

In one of the last ever meetings at the famous track, he front ran to an easy win over Dick Newble (8:03.8) which moved him to joint eighth all-time in the UK.

UK v Poland 10,000m, Warsaw, September 12
1st 28:06.2 (UK record)

See top 20 list.

Nos Galan 4, Mountain Ash, December 31
1st 17:45

Because of the leg injury, for much of the autumn he had to jog a few miles a day instead of his usual 200 miles a week and this performance came from just two weeks of good training. He broke Holden’s course record by 16 seconds as he beat Holden by 45 seconds (18:30).

Interestingly in the end of year 10,00m merit rankings, the British rankings put Lachie Stewart top and Bedford second but the world rankings compiled by Track and Field News put Bedford top and Stewart (who had a poor run in the European Cup) third.

1971

Hillingdon 5, February 20
1st 23:08

Had another brilliant road run as he smashed the course record and again beat Simmons (23:40), his past junior conqueror. GB Olympic 1500m representative Maurice Benn was third in 24:04.

National Cross-Country Championships, Norwich, March 6
1st 47:04

See top 20 list.

International Cross-Country Championships, San Sebastian, Spain, March 20
1st 38:42.8

See top 20 list.

Southern 12-Stage Road Relay 5M, Wimbledon, March 27 1971
22:20

See top 20 list.

Motspur Park 3000m, May 12
1st 7:51.6 (PB)

Running solo in strong winds on Motspur Park’s cinders he just missed the British record as he won by 150 metres from Roger Clark (8:19.4).

Rome 5000m, May 20
1st 13:28.0 (PB)

Seven seconds up on Ian Stewart’s European record time at his 4000m split, the lack of opposition cost him and he had to settle for becoming the eighth fastest runner ever. Dane Korica was second in a Yugoslavian record sharing the same time as Lasse Viren, who set a Finnish record 13:35.2. Among many national records future European 1500m champion Francesco Arese set an Italian mark (13:40.0) whereas Olympic 10,000m champion Naftali Temu was 15th around a lap behind.

British International Games 5000m, Edinburgh, June 12
13:22.2 (European record)

See top 20 list.

Stockholm 5000m, Sweden, June 15
1st 13:24.6 (12:58.2 – European record)

Just three days after his record, he ran a similar time but this time picked up the European three mile record as that time was not taken in Edinburgh. It was a glorious solo run as no one else broke 14 minutes and he passed 1000m in 2:38.1 and 2000m in 5:18.0 but was not able to maintain the world record 13:15 pace past halfway on his own.

GB v France (inc AAA Championships) 10,000m, Portsmouth, July 10
27:47.0 (European record) (6M, 26:51.6 – European record)

See top 20 list.

AAA 5000m, Crystal Palace, July 24
DNF

Because of his stated intention to break the world record a capacity crowd of 14,000 was in attendance. He set off staggeringly fast (2:35.0 at 1000m and 5:15.2 at 2000m) and was ahead of schedule but began to get a leg pain and was slightly down at 3000m (7:58.8) but he dropped out around 200 metres later with a hamstring cramp.

Baxter won the race in a championships record 13:39.6 to gain Helsinki selection with Bedford asking not be selected for the shorter event in fairness to those actually finishing.

European Championships 10,000m Helsinki, Finland, August 10
6th 28:04.4

See top 20 list.

GB v West Germany 5000m, Crystal Palace, August 30
1st 13:40.0

In front of a record bank holiday crowd, Bedford won easily from team-mate Baxter (13:55.4).

Coca-Cola Invitation Meeting 3000m steeplechase, Crystal Palace, September 10
1st 8:28.6 (UK record)

See top 20 list. At the end of the season, Bedford won the AW British Athlete of the Year with 370 votes to European 400m champion David Jenkins’ 291 while he was second in the world male with 90 votes to Vaatainen’s 262.

Southern League 5000m and 3000m steeplechase, Erith, September 11
DQ 14:17.2 and 1st 9:19.6

This dominated the AW letter pages as Bedford started the 5000m with a plain white vest and only changed into his Shaftesbury vest mid-race and was disqualified for not wearing it throughout though apparently also broke the rules running for 20 metres without any vest or number as he changed!

Rennes 8km, October 24
1st 21:54

He won this race watched by a 30,000 crowd by just a second from Gaston Roelants (21:55) who would go on to win the 1972 International cross-country title won by Bedford in 1971.

IAC 8km Cross-Country Race, Parliament Hill, November 27
1st 22:09

A mostly domestic field lined up for this unusually televised event and suffering from gastric flu, he had to work hard to beat European 10,000m team-mate Jack Lane (22:14), Holden (22:15) and Commonwealth 10,000m winner Lachie Stewart (22:22).

1972

Braaschaat Cross-Country, Belgium, January 9
1st 23:02

He survived missing an allowed ‘false start’ which saw 150 runners get in front of him and then fighting off the challenge of Grenville Tuck (23:06), who went to win the Inter Counties race a week later against Wright and Holden. Roelants was third in 23:17.

Five Windmills Cross-Country, Milan, January 23
1st 30:52.6

Carried on his good form, winning easily from future Olympic steeplechase medallist and multi Commonwealth champion Ben Jipcho (31:18.2) and Korica (31:20) who had beaten him in Helsinki.

National Indoor 3000m Championships, Cosford, January 29
2nd 7:53.4

In the middle of a 200-mile training week, he made a late decision to run and was allowed a late entry, as was winner Ian Stewart. Making his indoor debut, he led mid race at a fast pace (5:14.6 at 2000) and set an outright PB though Stewart (7:50.0) took a few seconds out of him in the final kilometre.

Leuven 3000m, June 21
2nd 7:46.4 (UK record)

Made a great return to form to set a British record after losing out on the last lap to future world record-holder Emil Puttemans (7:44.2) and his time bettered Taylor’s 7:47.6 mark and also beat Wilde’s indoor record (7:47.0).

WAAA Championships Invitation 2000m, Crystal Palace, July 8
1st 5:03.2 (UK and Commonwealth record)

He showed his speed was continuing to progress as he kept inside his 1500m/Mile PB pace for five laps and took five seconds off Colin Robinson’s soft UK record. World Junior 5000m record-holder Dave Black was second in 5:05.2. Bedford’s 200m splits were 29.5, 29.7, 30.6, 30.8, 30.4, 30.6, 30.4, 31.0, 29.8 and 30.4.

AAA Championships 5000m & 10,000m (inc Olympic Trials), Crystal Palace, July 14/15
1st 13:17.2 (European & UK record & UK all -omers’ record) & 1st 27:52.4

See top 20 list.

Stockholm 2M, August 4
6th 8:28.2 (7:52.2 at 3000m)

Lasse Viren shocked with a world record (8:14.0) with Ian Stewart setting a British record in fourth (8:22.0). A dejected Bedford who had led much of the race faded badly. He had picked up a stomach bug while training in St Moritz which kept him out of some races but thought he had recovered.

Olympic 10,000m & 5000m, Munich, August 31
6th 28:05.4 (2nd 27:53.6 ht) & 12th 13:43.2 (2nd 13:49.8 ht)

See top 20 list.

Of his preparation for Munich he said: “There are a lot of people who would knock the way I have trained. There were only five people at Munich who trained better than me probably and even that is questionable. On a bad day I was sixth at the Olympics. Even in my own way, which may appear slap-happy but is not, I have achieved a lot and with a bit of luck, could have achieved a lot more but I don’t think I could achieve it any other way.”

Of the Munich race, he added: “The thing is I ran too slow. When I went through 5000m 15 seconds slower than I wanted it (13:30), it knocked my confidence. Had I gone through in the time I wanted I would still have expected someone to be there with four laps to go but I would have had more chance.”

Of his finishing speed, he said: “I have won club races with 54 or 55 last laps so I have the speed but not produced it when it matters. I have got some basic speed there and I think I can use it. Some of the training sessions I did in the summer were superb. I ran 13:17 for 5000m and 5:03 for 2000m and I can honestly break four minutes for the mile. If that is not speed, what is? I am a long distance runner so that is why I don’t do the bloody 100 yards. If I had speed I would be doing 100 and 200m races so as I have not got that speed, I do the longer ones.”

Helsinki 5000m, September 14
2nd 13:30.0

In front of a 40,000 crowd to cheer on Viren, he set off at world record pace and was through 1000m in 2:36.6, three seconds up on the Finn and it was down to two seconds at 2000m (5:18.6). Bedford surged through halfway in 6:38.6 three seconds clear but Viren was only a second back at 3000m (8:00.4).

Holding even pace until a driving final kilometre of 2:33.8, Viren won by 80 metres in a world record 13:16.4 to take a fifth of a second off Clarke’s mark. Bedford did at least beat his Helsinki 1971 conqueror and fellow Olympic finalist Vaatainen (13:35.4) into third though lost his European record to Viren.

Brussels 5000m, September 20
3rd 13:39.2

Again was in a world record race (Puttemans won in 13:13.0) but this time was never remotely involved which is not surprising as the pacemaker Michel Bernard ran a imbecilic 56.0 first lap. Puttemans was alone at 3000m (7:53.2) and apart from the 5000m, record he also took Clarke’s world three-mile mark by over two seconds (12:47.8)

1973

Southern Cross-Country Championships, Parliament Hill, February 10
1st 43:57

Now feeling fully fit, he ran probably the fastest anyone has ever run for nine miles around this famous course winning by 98 seconds from Les Presland (45:35) who surprisingly took second ahead of some better known names.

English National Cross-Country Championships, Parliament Hill, March 3
1st 43:55 (guest Rod Dixon 43:42)

Controversially a team of New Zealanders were allowed to run as guests and Olympic 1500m bronze medallist Rod Dixon shocked to comfortably run away from Bedford on the second of three laps. They were not included in the results and Bedford won the title from an inspired Roger Clark (44:07) and Tony Simmons (44:26). Bedford, who had had an infected abscess which had kept him out of a big indoor race the previous week, gave his winner’s medal to Dixon.

AAA Championships 10,000m, Crystal Palace, July 13
1st 27:30.8 (world record)

See top 20 list.

GB v Greece and Belgium 5000m, Athens, July 19
1st 13:44.0

He had specifically asked to be selected to get some warm weather running in and take on Puttemans, who sadly chose to just run the 1500m and he eased around with Dave Black (who also ran 13:44.0) ahead of European Indoor 3000m silver medallist Willie Polleunis and future world cross-country champion Leon Schots.

London Cross-Country Championships, Parliament Hill. November 24
1st 28:11

Making a return to competition and in need of a race prior to the Commonwealths, he won easily from team-mate Julian Goater (28:44) who had run a 13:38.8 5000m during the summer.

Auckland 5000m, New Zealand, December 19
2nd 13:28.8

In his fastest 5000m of the year, he more than confirmed his fitness but was unable to cope with Quax’s fast finish (13:24.0) though a recurrence of his tight hamstring did mean he had to miss his next planned race. Interestingly in the AW readers’ poll, Bedford finished second in the world male category to Jipcho but also second to Foster in the UK male award.

1974

Wellington 5000m, New Zealand, January 3
2nd 13:28.8

Just as he ended 1973, there was an almost identical result in the first of 1974 with Quax again proving too fast for him (13:24.4).

Commonwealth Games 10,000m & 5000, Christchurch, January 25
4th 28:14.8 and 11th 14:18.8 (13:59.2 heat)

See top 20 list.

AAA Championships 10,000, Crystal Palace, July 12
1st 28:14.8

See top 20 list.

1977

English National Cross-Country Championships, Parliament Hill, March 5
7th 44:38

It did not help being left behind at the beginning due to a mass false start but after just nine weeks of solid training he worked his way through the field to qualify for the International team in certainly one of the greatest ever line-ups.

The first three had finished third, fourth and eighth in the Olympics as Foster (43:49) won from Ford (43:50) and Simmons (43:53). Commonwealth runner-up Black (44:31) was fourth and Bedford just lost out to future Olympic runner-up Mike McLeod and Golden 5000 winner Barry Smith (both 44:37) but he beat top athletes like Steve Kenyon, Julian Goater, Steve Ovett, Geoff Smith, Steve Jones, Grenville Tuck and Tagg.

World Cross-Country Championships, Dusseldorf, March 20
45th 38:53

Again unable to run to his potential as he suffered leg cramps and took off his shoes and down in 120th at one point, he worked his way all the way up to 45th and just miss out on the scoring six as England just lost to Belgium by three points.

Leon Schots (37:43) won from Carlos Lopes (37:48) with Ford the leading Briton in fifth (37:54).
If times are correct this was easily the most congested finish in international cross-country history as the 50 spots from 26th to 75th occupied all of seven seconds!

Southern 5000m Championships, West London Stadium, April 27
1st 13:46.0

See top 20 list.

Oxford University Track Opening 3000m, May 4
2nd 7:57.4

Tried repeating his sitting-in tactics again and followed Southern cross-country champion Neil Coupland but the Southampton athlete who ran 13:31.13/28:16.73 in the summer kicked in a 89.4 last 600m but Bedford managed a highly encouraging 2:33 final kilometre – probably one of his fastest ever but Coupland won by a few metres in 7:57.0. Despite this hugely promising result that was effectively the end of his fast running in the summer and the last at around international level.

London Cross-Country Championships, Parliament Hill, November 26
1st 29:31

He won a good battle with future Southern Champion Bob Treadwell (29:38), Guy McCallum (29:43) and leading junior Dave Beaver (30:00).

1978

Southern Cross-Country Championships, Parliament Hill, February 11 1978
3rd 45:26

Neil Coupland (44:47) won his third title in a row from Standing (45;19) with Bedford winning a medal just ahead of Andy Catton, who is still running well in the veteran ranks. Future London Marathon winners Hugh Jones (47:11) and Mike Gratton (47:28) were 27th and 35th respectively while another Eamonn Martin was fourth in the junior race won by Dave Clarke.

Golden Lay Polytechnic Marathon, Windsor, June 10
70th 2:45:05 (PB)

While he may have been capable of well over half a hour faster (or even 40 minutes!) his marathon debut should not be taken too seriously as he ran with a friend for 18 miles and then ran a faster last eight miles in 43 minutes which did allow current AW reporters Martin Duff (2:28:38) and Steve Smythe (2:34:06) to gain a moral victory though he did beat long-time AW contributor and Sunday Times journalist Cliff Temple (2:52:27), who helped write Brendan Foster’s book which had just been published.

Berdford did do another marathon – deciding to do the first London Marathon in 1981 in the early hours of the day of the race while in a Luton nightclub the worst for wear as a bet. And needless to say he struggled.

1980

Southern Six Stage Road Relay, Crystal Palace, October 3
20:25 (Team 3rd)

Back to the scene of his first British record in 1969 and his world record in 1973, Bedford moved Shaftesbury Harriers from fourth to third with the quickest final leg.

The fastest overall was Penny who took his Cambridge Harriers team from 32 seconds back to a decisive 68-second lead with a 19:39 clocking. It was a busy period as in the weeks before that he did a 30:17.46 10,000m that ranked him 51st for 10,000m in 1980 and a few days later he also ran around 14:30 in an open 5000m at Copthall as I remember just about avoiding being lapped by him when I did my still standing PB 41 years ago!

Bedford’s early days – 1964-65 – CLICK HERE

Bedford’s junior promise to British record from 1965-69 – CLICK HERE

Bedford’s International title and Euro records 1970-71 – CLICK HERE

Bedford’s 1972-74 period plus later highlights – CLICK HERE

Steve Smythe remembers a British legend and chooses 20 of his best or most famous competitions

Half a century ago, Britons dominated the 5000m and 10,000m lists in the way Kenyans and Ethiopians do now. The 1970 world rankings revealed the UK had the fastest three and four of the six fastest 5000m runners and the top two and four of the fastest seven at 10,000m. They also had six of the top nine at two miles.

Ian Stewart headed the 5000m – and you can read more about him here – but it was Dave Bedford who topped the 10,000m.

This year Bedford celebrates the 50th anniversary of his biggest win and the publication of the Dave Bedford Story. Not too many 21-year-old athletes have had a book detailing their life and career.

However, back in the early 1970s when Crystal Palace was struggling to take over the mantle from White City as Britain’s premier athletics venue, Bedford is largely credited for bringing the crowds flocking back.

With his Mexican bandit looks and moustache, red socks and long stride and aggressive and flamboyant front-running and his boast of upcoming special deeds, Bedford made the headlines with his vibrant personality and a string of brilliant performances. He was unable to translate some of those incredible record runs into medals on the track but he had plenty of success and 50 years on is not forgotten among track fans of the 1970s.

If only a fully fit Bedford had the shoes now available, a full London Stadium and pacer lights, he might have beaten Yobes Ondieki to the first sub-27 10,000m by over 20 years.

While most will remember his world record 10,000m but question his ability to win races, it’s worth recalling he won both the International Cross Country junior and senior titles when they were effectively the world titles.

And winning five successive AAA 10,000m titles was no easy matter when British athletes had the greatest depth of any distance nation. He did not prove as successful in major Games but without him you wouldn’t have got up to then the fastest and greatest European, Olympic and Commonwealth 10,000m races and a total re-writing of the world all-time lists in those championship races. At the end of 1974, 13 of the top 16 10,000m performers of all time came in races where Bedford did all the hard work!

Many believe he could have done better with different tactics – the speed coming later when the others were tired – rather than the speed coming early and then the races getting progressively slower. Of course, it is possible that the likes of Vaatainen in 1971 and Viren in 1972 would have won whatever tactics were used.

In all three of his big championship 10,000m races, Bedford went into the races as fastest in the knowledge that hardly any of his rivals had times in his vicinity and the belief he was going to go much faster than he had before – especially in 1972 and 1974.

He was actually remarkably consistent in his three big Games races but there is no denying that while the likes of Viren might have been unbeatable, he did lose to some runners not at his level such as the ultra consistent Mariano Haro, who beat him in both big races in 1971 and 1972, who could never run the sort of times that Bedford was potentially capable of.

Unfortunately injury meant it was a short international track career, many believing the relentless 150 and 200 mile training weeks took their toll on his body and he thought the injuries even affected his ability in some of his biggest races.

Bedford made a huge contribution to the sport after he retired. He later became the President of the International Athletes’ Club, secretary of the British Athletics Federation and AAA of England and a fantastically successful race director of the London Marathon, was heavily involved in the organisation of the 2012 Olympic marathon and also served the IAAF’s road running commission. He was appointed OBE in the 2014 New Year Honours for services to athletics and charitable fundraising.

His son Tom bettered his father in that he won an English Schools title (at steeplechase in 2002) and also ran a sub-2:20 marathon and he is the organiser of this year’s Olympic trials marathon.

For me, Dave Bedford was a huge presence. I started running in 1969 after he was already a 19-year-old British 10,000m record-holder. As he was absent from both the 1969 Europeans and 1970 Commonwealths, the first time I saw him on television, and I was really aware of him, was when he was a shock winner of the 1970 AAA 10,000m.

I started getting AW shortly after after that when he had regained the GB record at the end of the 1970 season and then over the next year he went from being relatively unknown to being the most exciting runner in the world and one of the best known sportsmen in Britain and the glossy Dave Bedford Story came out and at all of 65p it was a must for all aspiring young runners.

Just to get a picture of his personality and humour but also his gruelling training, in 1971 he answered the AW Questionnaire not long after his senior International win.

What performance has given you the most pleasure?
Breaking 100m, 200m and 400m personal bests all in one race. I ran 14 and 28 en route to a 55!

How many days a week do you train?
7 days – 3 sessions per day (morning, lunchtime and evening).

How long are your training sessions?
30 minutes to 3 hours.

Please give details of a typical week’s training in winter?
Monday: am 8 miles. Lunch: 6 miles. pm 16 miles steady.
Tuesday: am 8 miles. Lunch: 6 miles. pm 14 miles inc 30x200m hill and fartlek.
Wednesday: am 8 miles. Lunch: 6 miles. pm 16 miles inc 5 x 1M efforts.
Thursday: am 8 miles. Lunch: 6 miles. pm 12x400m (62) with 200m recovery, 12x300m (47) with 100m recovery, 12x200m (32) with 100m recovery.
Friday: am 8 miles. Lunch: 6 miles. pm 8 miles steady.
Saturday: am 15 miles. Afternoon: (watching QPR – quite a strain!). pm 10 miles steady.
Sunday: am 20-25 miles from Lauriston (Wimbledon). pm: 5-10M on country
Most of running on road. Approx weekly mileage: 200

Please give details of any weight training?
Lifting pints is the nearest I get to this.

What are your targets?
Olympic, European, Commonwealth golds and world records.

He did at least achieve the latter and compiling his best races (and ploughing through nearly a 1000 AW’s) brought back some great memories to me and hopefully will be of some interest to others too and hopefully nothing too major has been missed due to a few missing copies!

1 AAA Championships 10,000m, Crystal Palace, July 13 1973
1st 27:30.8 (world record)

As he had not publicised any record attempt or shown any form that suggested anything special was likely, only 3500 fans were present on the Friday night for a programme of predominantly heats but clearly he had a target as he powered through 1600m in 4:17.4. Surprisingly as he was operating at 26:45 pace, he still had four takers. Even at 3000m (8:08.4) – the second fastest ever split after his Olympic opening, Tony Simmons, Seppo Tuominen and Bernie Plain remained.

The latter two soon dropped off but at 4000m, Simmons surprised Bedford by going by and leading before Bedford went ahead again and pushed on through the fastest ever halfway time of 13:39.4 with Simmons (13:41.0) also running a time previously unsurpassed even by Clarke and Bedford.

At 6000m he lapped fellow International cross-country winner Mike Tagg, who tried to briefly help Bedford. From 6400m to 8400m and needing 67 second laps, Bedford astonishingly reeled off five successive exact 67.0 laps.

At 8000m , he had been 15 seconds up on Viren’s equivalent but clearly was not going to finish like Viren did but he had a 19 second buffer at 9km and perhaps more importantly was 10 seconds quicker at that point than Clarke had ever run.

While he had slowed to a 67.8 four out, knowing the record was almost certainly his, his last three got faster and a 60.8 final circuit was wildly received by a stadium of 10,000m aficionados as he took over seven seconds off Viren’s world mark and 16 seconds off his own British (and former European) record.

It was the first world record set in London by a Briton since Chris Chataway beat Vladimir Kuts in an epic 5000m in 1954.

Simmons (28:19.4) and Plain (28:30.2) survived their suicidal starts to set PBs despite slowing 40 seconds on their second half’s. Bedford’s lap times were: 63.0, 64.4, 64.9, 65.1, 65.8, 66.4, 66.2, 66.2, 66.6, 66.0, 65.4, 66.0, 66.8, 66.2, 67.2, 67.8, 67.0, 67.0, 67.0, 67.0, 67.0, 67.8, 66.0, 65.2 and 60.8.

In the press conference he said: “I planned this from about a week ago. When I left home I was nervous. I’ve been confident in the past and it has not come off.  I had four weeks of really good training and it began to click and last week I knew it was on. Recently I did a session of 2 x 6 laps and I did 6:24 and 6:25 with a jog in between and I wanted to go through in 6:30 tonight (he did 6:29.6). I was conscious of the lap times and got worried with 8 or 9 laps to go as it was feeling quite hard but it should be at that pace! I knew if I kept to 67s I should get the record and kept pushing them as hard as I could.”

The following day (to appease the large home crowd) he ran in the 5000m and was 6th in 13:47.54 in a race won by Brendan Foster (13:23.8).

2 AAA Championships 5000m and 10,000m (Inc Olympic Trials), Crystal Palace, July 14 & 15, 1972
1st 13:17.2 (European & UK record & UK all-comers’ record) & 1st 27:52.4

As he was primarily targeting the 10,000m at Munich, he almost did not compete at this Friday night event but made a late decision to compete and then ignored coach Bob Parker’s instructions to just do enough to make the Olympic team. He started fast and was four seconds up on Clarke’s world record pace at 1000m (2:35.0) and 2000m (5:12.4) and this was enough to move him clear of his final challengers Stewart and McCafferty, who had battled for Commonwealth gold in 1970.

He was through 3000m in an unprecedented 7:53.6 (3.4 seconds up on Clarke’s time) but the gap was down to 1.4 seconds at 4000 (10:38.6) as the laps had dropped from 63s to nearer 66. He narrowly fell behind Clarke’s time with 600m to go and was still only 0.7 of a second down with 200m to go and he was only able to claw a tenth back in his last 200m as his time fell 0.6 short of Clarke’s seven-year-old 13:16.6 despite a lively 59.6 last lap.

McCafferty, who at one stage was closing down Bedford in the last 800m, set a Scottish record 13:19.8 to go third all-time on the world lists. A subdued Stewart (13:24.2) ensured his selection ahead of Haro (13:26.0) and teenager Black (13:28.0) who would have comfortably made any other country’s Olympic team.

His lap times: 61.6, 62.4, 62.8, 62.6, 63.0, 63.8, 65.4, 65.2, 65.8, 66.0, 65.8, 62.4 and 30.0 for the final 200m.

Just 19 hours after his European 5000m mark, he was back in action to secure selection at his premier event. In front of a fervent 20,000 crowd he ignored sizzling hot conditions.

He was through 3000m on world record pace in 8:12.4 (27:20 tempo) and was only a few seconds down on Clarke’s time at 5000m (13:47.6). He did ease back on the second half but still won by 46 seconds from Commonwealth winner Lachie Stewart (28:38.8). The three runners most favoured to complete the team – Tagg, Simmons and Lane all dropped out due to the combination of the pace and heat.

Surprisingly the third spot on the British team went to Dave Holt (28:42.0), who had been told to run in the B race as the A race was limited to 30 but he defied officials to ensure Munich selection.

3 GB v France (inc AAA Championships) 10,000m, Portsmouth, July 10, 1971
27:47.0 (European record) (6M; 26:51.6 (European record)

He took an astonishing 17 seconds off Jurgen Haase’s European record despite the temperature being in the 80s and it being on a dusty cinder track and suffering badly from blisters because of the track and the heat. The first lap was a too slow 70.0 and the second a too fast 59.0 but he was well ahead of schedule for Clarke’s 27:39.4 world record after a 2:40.0 opening kilometre.

He was still ahead at 3000m (8:09.0) and 5000 (13:45.2) and at 8000m (22:09.2) was still four seconds up on Clarke’s split. Thereafter, he was not quite able to maintain the tempo dropping from 67 to around 69 seconds but finished with a 64 and he won by a staggering 52 seconds from Lane (28:39.6) who also secured his European team spot.

His lap times were 70.0, 59.0, 63.6, 65.0, 65.8, 66.6, 66.4, 67.2, 67.2, 67.4, 67.2, 66.6, 67.0, 66.4, 67.4, 66.8, 67.2, 67.2, 66.8, 68.4, 69.2, 68.2, 68.8, 67.2 and 64.4.

4 International Cross-Country Championships, San Sebastian, Spain, March 20 1971
1st 38:42.8

After being just an injured 95th the previous year, he proved himself the greatest cross-country in the world with some ease breaking clear after a kilometre and he ran away from the field winning by 22 seconds from Trevor Wright (39:05.2) with Kiwi Eddie Gray in third. The quality of the field is illustrated by the eighth to 12 places of major track or country medallists Mariano Haro, Ian Stewart, Rod Dixon, Pekka Paivarinta and Gaston Roelants. England (56 points) won the team race incredibly easily from Belgium (174).

5 Southern Senior and Junior Cross-Country Championships, Parliament Hill, February 7 1970
Senior 9M: 1st 45:50, Junior 6M, 32:12

On an astonishing unparalleled afternoon (having already trained in the morning and then done a long warm up), he first destroyed the senior field over nine miles winning by almost a minute from steeplechase international Bill Mullett (46:45) and Bob Holt (47:01).

Twenty minutes later he set off in the junior race and though struggling up the first hill, he was soon well clear of the field and he won by a minute from Lane (33:13), who went on finish a very close second in the National Junior and would be in Britain’s 10,000m team alongside Bedford in Helsinki 1971 and win the World Student Games cross-country title in 1972.

6 Southern 12-Stage Road Relay 5M, Wimbledon, March 27 1971
22:20 (Course record)

He took 54 seconds off Bob Holt’s course record with a stunning run – surely one of the greatest road relay runs in history though his Shaftesbury team could only finish 10th.

He set off 69 seconds behind former National winner Gerry North and 5 miles later finished 49 seconds ahead. Dick Newble (23:12) did actually briefly Holt’s record a few minutes before Bedford finished. Newble ran 13:48 for 5000m early in the summer but probably ran better here but was almost a minute slower than Bedford.

It was reported as a totally implausible 5.25M at the time in AW (4:15 miling on a far from flat course!) and then this leg was referred to as a more plausible 5M 125 yards when the lap was remeasured when it was extended in 1973.

Even Clarke in his then unapproachable world 10,000m track record went through five miles in a similar overall time to what Bedford ran (Clarke went through 8km, which was 40m short of 5M in 22:13.0) but the Briton probably went further and therefore faster and it was a staggering run which was not truly appreciated at the time.

7 British International Games 5000m, Edinburgh, June 12 1971
13:22.2 (European record)

In very windy conditions – the 100m wind reading was -6.3m/sec – he produced an astonishing solo run which but for the conditions might well have been a world record.

At 3000m in 7:58.8 he was within a few seconds of Clarke’s world record pace and though he slowed a little, he still did enough to break Ian Stewart’s European (and track) record set in winning Commonwealth gold and he went second all-time.

Mike Baxter followed him him home over 100 metres behind in 13:40.2 with Dane Korica third in 13:43.6.

His lap times were 62.1, 64.0, 63.3, 63.9, 64.3, 63.4, 64.2, 65.4, 65.2, 66.0, 64.3, 64.3 and 31.8 (into wind!).

8 Southern Championships 10,000m, Crystal Palace, April 19 1969
1st 28:24.4 UK 10,000m record

To say this was a major shock was a major understatement. A teenage athlete only 11th in the senior Inter-Counties cross country a few months earlier and fourth in the later Inter-Counties junior race became Britain’s fastest ever senior at 10,000m.

He blasted through 5km in a PB 14:14.4 and everyone expected him to wilt but he actually run a faster second half of 14:10.0 and took a few seconds off Mike Freary’s UK record (28:26.0) and run a time that only 12 men in the world had ever beaten and it was four minutes quicker than his previous 10,000m race.

John Bednarski (second to him in the International Junior race a few weeks earlier) was a distant second in 28:51.8 but moved to sixth all-time in the UK rankings.

Bedford’s lap times were astonishingly even: 69.4, 66.2, 67.0, 66.8, 68.4, 69.0, 69.2, 68.8, 69.2, 68.4, 68.4, 69.2, 68.4, 68.6, 68.0, 69.2, 68.6, 67.8, 68.2, 69.0, 67.8, 68.0, 68.0, 68.0 and 64.8.

9 AAA 10,000m, White City, August 7 1970
1st 28:26.4

After a quiet summer with injury causing modest results, he suddenly burst back to form with a run that considering the cinders was a better run than his 1969 British record.

He led at a good, fast pace with 14:14.0 at halfway but still had Wright, Tim Johnston, International champion Tagg and Bob Holt following. Gradually his surging and some 67 laps jettisoned all bar National champion Wright and then a 66.2 gave him a solo run to the end and he set a championship record.

Lap times: 65.6, 66.4, 67.2, 67.6, 68.8, 69.0, 69.0, 69.0, 69.4, 69.0, 69.4, 70.2, 69.0, 70.4, 69.0, 68.6, 69.6, 67.4, 67.6, 66.2, 67.8, 68.0, 68.4, 68.4 and 65.4.

10 UK v Poland 10,000m, Warsaw, September 12 1970
1st 28:06.2 (UK record)

Running pretty much the same pace for 25 laps as he managed for eight in a recent two miles at Crystal Palace, he edged Taylor’s UK record with a magnificent solo run. It was against just three opponents in a match that otherwise Britain were thrashed by the Poles.

Through halfway in 13:59.8 – the third man in history to go sub-14 on the first half, he held his form well and just missed Jurgen Haase’s European mark (28:04.4) but did go third all-time with his time supplanting Lachie Stewart’s Commonwealth win (28:11.8) as the world’s leading mark of the year.

Roger Matthews (fourth in Edinburgh) finished half a lap behind in 28:35.4. Bedford injured himself in the race and had to be helped off the track.

11 European Championships 10,000m Helsinki, Finland, August 10 1971
6th 28:04.4

Bedford felt he was 40 seconds less fitter than in Portsmouth after injury meant he dropped out of the AAA race but after a steady first lap he kicked in laps of 63.6 and then three 65s and he was on 27:30 world record pace at 3000m (8:15.0) but seven athletes were able to hold on and the pace slowed at 5000m (13:54.4) – nine seconds down on Portsmouth but significantly faster than anyone else in the race had ever run.

Much to the crowd’s delight Juha Vaatainen threw in a 63.4 lap at 6km which initially dropped Bedford but he caught up and regained the lead and still tried to grind out a sub-28 pace and despite a 65.2 penultimate lap, five runners held on and then 350m out, they all sprinted past. The Finn who covered his last lap in a then unprecedented 53.9 won in 27:52.8 to go third all-time while the next four moved to fifth to eighth all-time in what thanks to Bedford was the greatest mass 10,000m race in history.

Bedford ran a disillusioned 65.5 last lap but his time would have been a European record a month earlier.

12 Coca-Cola Invitation Meeting 3000m steeplechase , Crystal Palace, September 10 1971
1st 8:28.6 (UK record)

Again he attracted a capacity crowd as he aimed to break the British record (8:30.8). He actually set off well inside world record pace with a 61.2 first lap and 66.4 second though gradually he paid for his start and dropped to 68s and 70s and Andy Holden caught him just before the bell.

Bedford followed him until the last hurdle and then with the whole stadium roaring, ‘sprinted’ past though Bedford insisted that he was just jogging faster than his rival (8:28.8) who also broke the old UK mark.

At the end of the year Bedford won the British Athletics Writers athlete of the year award, the AAA gave him the CN Jackson Cup for outstanding athlete of the year, the Harvey Memorial Cup for the best champion of the year and the Carborundum Golden Jubilee Trophy for the best track performance at the Championships.

Additionally, Bedford won the AW British athlete of the year with 370 votes to European 400m champion David Jenkins’ 291 while he was second in the world male with 90 votes to Vaatainen’s 262.

13 Olympic 10,000m Final, Munich, September 3 1972
6th 28:05.4 (2nd heat 27:53.6)

The period between the glorious AAA double and the Olympics was actually a nightmare for Bedford. Apart from mystery stomach pains, Fleet Street’s non athletics press were watching his every move as then as possibly the best known sportsman in Britain. Additionally the IOC were looking into whether he had broken the amateur rules with his newspaper column and he had also upset team members by allegedly taking shots at them with a air rifle.

Thinking he needed a race and to escape the training he ran a 2 miles in Stockholm on August 4 but after leading much of the race he fell away (6th 8:28.2) as Lasse Viren shocked with a world record (8:14.0) with Ian Stewart setting a British record in fourth (8:22.0).

A few days after this disastrous race for his confidence, he joined in a 300m rep session with Foster who was preparing for the 1500m and at a different level of sharpness and after half the session and trailing Foster a disillusioned Bedford stopped and by the evening was back in London while the rest of the team stayed in Switzerland.

Despite the pressures he looked back in form in the Olympic heats as he blasted through 3000m in sub 27:30 pace in 8:14.2 and was through halfway in 13:48.6, a time that only he and Clarke had ever run. He spent the last few laps chatting with Emiel Puttemans who eased ahead to win in an Olympic record 27:53.4.

In the final there were hopes from the likes of Clarke that Bedford might try a different tactic and attempt a 13:30 second half but instead he ran his most aggressive race from the off. He opened with laps of 60.6, 64.0, 64.4, 64.4 and 65.4 which had he continued would have taken almost a minute off Clarke’s world record. The pace slowed slightly but 3000m in 8:06.4 – easily the fastest ever split but not surprising as it was still 26:50 pace.

Despite this unprecedented pace, he still had eight followers and though the pace slowed to 68s, Bedford started surging every 200 metres but he would stretch the group out but they would close up each time he slowed.

At 4400m, Viren and 1968 5000m champion Mohammed Gammoudi fell with Viren losing a few seconds but still getting back into contact as Bedford led through history’s quickest halfway time of 13:44.0 though Gammoudi pulled out.

At 6km Viren went ahead as Bedford laboured and the latter dropped back at 7km, seemingly paying for his fast heat and excessively fast front-running and surging.

Viren went on to produce a 1:56.6 final 800m and despite his fall and very slow 5-8km, he took a second off Clarke’s world record with his 27:38.4 with Puttemans (27:39.6) challenging until the last 100 metres. Bedford finished almost 200 metres back.

A few days later (September 7) he was second in his 5000m heat in 13:49.8 after a sub-60 lap seven out gave him a surprisingly easy qualification and he ambled home alongside Gammoudi (13:49.8).

With just two to qualify and the heat being slow, Olympic steeplechase runner-up Ben Jipcho (13:56.8), 1976 chasing champion Anders Garderud (13:57.2) and 1976 10,000m medallist Carlos Lopes (14:29.6) all missed out.

In the final of September 10, he briefly led at halfway but made no real contribution to the race and faded away in the last kilometre which Viren (13:26.4) covered in a vicious 2:26.4 with Gammoudi (13:27.4) and Stewart (13:27.6) taking the other medals and he finished 12th in 13:43.2.

14 Commonwealth Games 10,000m, Christchurch, January 25 1974
4th 28:14.8

Well adjusted to the New Zealand summer and in good form – having run a 15x400m session in 59 seconds, Bedford thought he was fitter than in his world record run and he set off again with the intention of running world record pace.

Simmons actually led the opening three laps at a fast pace before Bedford took over and his first 1600m of 4:14.8 and 3000m time of 8:06.0 was up on his record run though half a dozen athletes were still in contention but by 4km it was down to just Black and three Kenyans with the Africans crowding Bedford and trying to slow the Englishman who was spiked, tripped and lost his balance at their intimidating tactics which involved holding his shorts and pushing him.

The pace slowed though a 13:47.0 5000m time was still territory that only Bedford had past experience of among the leaders but Bedford admitted the jostling had destroyed his concentration and he had lost his cool.

Home favourite Dick Tayler who had been running evenly up to 50 metres back at one stage caught the leaders on the 16th lap. Bedford was still up the front three laps out but when English team-mate Dave Black threw in laps of 62.9 and 62.1 up to the bell only Tayler could respond. It was the Kiwi much to the delight of the huge crowd, who proved the strongest in the last 200m and his 27:46.4 – a 42 second PB – moved him to sixth all-time in a run that he had never previously matched or would ever again come close to again.

Black was second in 27:48.6 which moved him to world eighth all-time with Bedford just edging fourth spot, 100 metres back on the medallists.

Two days later he eased through his heat in 13:59.2 and then another two days later set off with intent in the final with a 61.8 opening lap but at 1600m (4:20) he was well down on his time in the 10,000m and when Black went ahead shortly after, he started drifting down the field.

Ultimately he ended up almost a minute behind (11th 14:18.8) in a cracking race which saw Jipcho (Commonwealth record 13:14.4) narrowly edging Foster (UK record 13:14.6) as the pair went second and third all-time.

15 AAA Championships 10,000, Crystal Palace, July 12 1974
1st 28:14.8

Having stopped running for four months in the winter and still nine pounds overweight and with no quality results, he almost did not compete but he said he enjoyed this race more than any other in the previous five years.

The first half was a slow 14:23.2 and then Ford began to string the field out with some 67 second laps and by 8km it was down to seven runners.

Ford covered the 20th lap in 66.4 which was surprisingly too much for Black and then another 66.4 got rid of the rest other than Bedford which as Simmons and Roelants dropped back.

Ford tried all he could to drop Bedford with two laps of 66.6 up to the bell but just short of 300m out, Bedford kicked by and completing the last lap in 61.0 (similar to his record finale) he opened up on a second on Ford (28:16.0) with Simmons, who would go on to gain European silver third (28:19.4).It meant in unusual circumstances, Bedford had won his fifth successive AAA title but his only major race in a sprint finish.

The run did qualify him for the European Championships but he was not interested in selection (the selectors picked Ford, Simmons and Black) and the Palace race would prove to be his last track race at this level.

16 National Cross-Country Championships, Norwich, March 6 1971
1st 47:04

Taking the lead after half a mile, he destroyed a top quality field winning from 1972 champion Malcolm Thomas(who had beaten him as a junior) by 40 seconds with defending champion Trevor Wright, who was the favourite after his Inter Counties and Northern wins a well beaten third (47:58).

17 International Junior Cross-Country Race, Clydebank, March 22 1969
1st 19:38

While superbly consistent he had not been able to win any major junior races all season but with some of the older UK juniors barred, he dominated on a very tough switchback course and took gold winning easily by 21 seconds with team-mates Bednarski (the reigning champion) and John Harrison following him home as England scored a perfect six points. Non-scorer Standing finished seventh (20:51).

18 Southern 5000m Championships, West London Stadium, April 27 1977
1st 13:46.0

This was wrongly reported in AW that this was his first track race since his AAA title and his first 5000m since the 1974 Commonwealths but it was his fastest 5000m for well over four years and his last top quality track win. Kevin Steere led most of the way with 66 second laps but it went down to just four at the bell and most expected Loughborough student Malcolm Prince or renowned kicker Keith Penny to be favourites but Bedford executing a double kick, blasted two consecutive 29.0 splits for a 58.0 final circuit. Prince (13:46.6) and Penny (13:49.4) won the other medals.

19 AAA Junior 2M, White City, July 13 1968
1st 8:59.8

In front of a 19,000 crowd there to watch the senior championship (including the Olympic trials) with the Queen attending the event for the first time since 1952, he enjoyed his biggest track win to date. Leading early on, only King could stay with his 4:27.0 first mile and King (9:03.2) finally crumbled with 660 yards to go.

It’s worth noting though that fellow junior Stewart was competing in the senior 5000m at the same meeting and ran a European junior record 14:02.2 in finishing fourth Briton.

20 English Youth Cross-Country Championships, Sutton Coldfield, March 2 1968
1st 15:07

A huge favourite, he proved too strong for his rivals winning from Northern champion Dave Wright while Northern and Southern runners-up John Harrison and Chris Reed were third and fourth.

Bedford’s early days – 1964-65 – CLICK HERE

Bedford’s junior promise to British record from 1965-69 – CLICK HERE

Bedford’s International title and Euro records 1970-71 – CLICK HERE

Bedford’s 1972-74 period plus later highlights – CLICK HERE

By ANDY WHIPP – Squash Mad Correspondent

Most of us know that Ahmed Barada was a trailblazer in squash and a huge factor in inspiring a whole nation to world domination.

In 1996 (already the World Junior Champion) he reached the final as a wildcard entrant in the very first Al-Ahram event in front of the Pyramids. He went a step further two years later when he won the event and reached No.2 in the world rankings.

He united a nation, became a household name, attracted the attentions of the-then president Hosni Mubarak, and began the Egyptian squash domination that we see now.

Next came Amr Shabana, then Ramy Ashour, then a whole host of other players. Raneem El Welily was just a nine-year-old girl when she watched in awe as Barada won Al-Ahram. She remembers that day well.

Because of Barada, half-full squash clubs became full every day and every night – and most importantly, filled with juniors wanting to learn the sport.

Since 2003, when Shabana won the first of his four world championship titles, we’ve all sat back and been amazed by wave after wave of Egyptian wizardry on the squash court.

However, this blog is not a history lesson. I want to look at what has been happening over the last 15 years and is still happening. I know in the past squash domination has gone through 10/15/20 year cycles.

We had Pakistan, Australia, England and now Egypt as the main driving force. Some people think this is just Egypt’s turn and it will change again in five years, as history suggests it will.

However, I absolutely believe that this is different – Egyptian domination isn’t going anywhere. We can see this by their junior successes. We can already see Mostafa Asal (19) and Hania El Hammamy (20) are moving into place to dominate the top of the world rankings for the next decade – but there are other Egyptians of a similar age right behind them.

At every British Junior Open, the finals are massively dominated by Egyptians at every age group, and this doesn’t look like changing, especially in the girls age groups.

There are already dozens of top Egyptian juniors who will realistically see themselves as the next Mohamed ElShorbagy or Nour El Sherbini.

So, what is their key to success – and continued success?

Success breeds success. This is especially true when wannabe superstars have access to the current superstars. This is what happens in Egypt.

Squash in Egypt is bunched in about 10 main clubs in two cities, Cairo and Alexandria. For aspiring young players, proximity to greatness plays a huge factor. Have a look at this list of which city Egyptian players in the World top 20 train in:

CAIRO: Ali Farag, Tarek Momen, Karim Gawad, Mohamed Abouelghar, Mustafa Asal, Mazen Hesham, Omar Mosaad, Raneem El Welily, Nouran Gohar, Nour El Tayeb, Mania El Hammamy, Yathreb Adel, Nadine Shahin, Nada Abbas.

ALEXANDRIA: Mohamed and Marwan ElShorbagy (when they are not in England), Fares Dessouky, Zahed Salem, Nour El Sherbini, Salma Hany, Rowan Elaraby.

That’s 21 players, out of the top 40 male and female players in the world!

Imagine being a junior in one of these cities – most times you go to the squash club you’ll be guaranteed to see one or more of these players. You can watch them train, speak to them, and hopefully even play with them. You get to see how great players play, how they train, what they eat etc etc.

How amazing is that??! As a junior you couldn’t not be inspired and want to emulate them. So purely because of the squash club geography of the country, this is a recipe for potentially never-ending success. Success begets success.

Egypt has so many juniors playing squash. The last national junior championships had 1200 entrants across all ages. Imagine that? So, just by playing the numbers game, Egypt will end up with some great players capable of becoming top professionals.

Egyptian juniors are encouraged to spend a lot of time on court. Improvement is made on the court, not in gyms. The massive majority of court time is used for matchplay. English players ‘practice’ more, Egyptian players ‘play’ more. They develop their own nuances – one size definitely does not fit all – which is the opposite of what our juniors in England are often taught.

They have 14 national-ranking junior tournaments each year. Players are allowed to play nine tournaments in their own age category and five in the upper age brackets.

The top two seeds of an age category are also allowed to play in the upper age bracket in the same event. For example, when Mostafa Asal was 16, he played in the U17 and U19 National Championships over the same weekend. This seems unique. I do not know of any other countries which would allow this.

So, because of the number of entrants and the fact some players can play in two age categories, junior tournaments in Egypt allow for more matches to be played by each individual, gaining valuable match experience. By encouraging their juniors to at least experiment with older age group events, players are also helped to become even better and even stronger if they so wish.

Since the days of Ahmed Barada and his relationship with the president (who was a keen squash fan anyway), squash is recognised by the government as the country’s second biggest sport behind football. Because of this status, squash and, in particular the junior scene, does receive some government funding.

Egyptian Squash itself has a lucrative long-term partnership with CIB (Commercial International Bank, CIB Egypt) which of course helps a lot. This all filters down and several clubs themselves even sponsor some of their top juniors.

A few years ago, former World No.14 Omar Elborolossy said there were more than 2,000 players aged from 5-10 among his academy. “That’s enough to dominate squash for the next 20 years,” he said.

The only issue he can foresee is a lack of courts to meet this extraordinary demand, probably a nice problem to have – like when a Premiership football manager has a squad so great he doesn’t know who not to play in his starting 11 line-up.

There could be as many as 150 squash courts in Cairo alone. There are 12 clubs that have a minimum of eight courts, and there’s a national complex with six courts where the national team often train together. This is a healthy number of courts for a relatively small area.

There is one other factor in play: Egypt has a deeply orthodox and patriarchal society, yet women squash players may compete in skirts and they are free from their hijabs on court. The sport has given women a new progressive identity. Squash offers an appealing escape.

All these reasons show how Egypt offers a perfect melting pot for squash success. Surely we can see that this period of domination will not just fade away like what happened with Pakistani and Australian squash, and to think this it will is simply hopeful and naive.

If England are going to have a strong presence in the World Top 10 male and female rankings ever again, we need to learn from Egypt’s success and emulate what we can.

Squash will never be the second biggest sport in England, but we can find ways to increase junior participation.

We can alter some tournament rules, England Squash can provide much more support to clubs wanting to host a junior event (instead of hindering the club by charging them a fee!), and I’m sure we can find a way to give juniors regular access to top professional players.

It all gives us food for thought …

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Ellyse Perry, Meg Lanning, Rachael Haynes, Alyssa Healy, Jess Jonassen and Megan Schutt are the core of one of the greatest Australian Women's sides yet to take the field. Their quality has helped the national team to victories at each of the past two T20 World Cups and dominant runs of victories in bilateral series, in addition to their pioneering place in the game's vault into full-time professionalism in Australia.

While this generation remains a lauded bunch still vital to the team's fortunes, the national selector Shawn Flegler is having to plan for the days when they begin to sidle off into retirement, either one by one - as he would no doubt prefer - or as a group leaving an enormous hole. The delay in the next ODI World Cup, meant to have been played in New Zealand presently but postponed by a year ostensibly due to the Covid-19 pandemic, means it is a younger squad going across the Tasman for a series against New Zealand.

This is partly to add to the options Australia have available this time next year, notably the re-addition of Tayla Vlaeminck after she missed the 2020 T20 World Cup on home soil with serious injury, but it is also part of the bigger-picture plans to keep "topping up" the Australian XI with fresh generations, much as Sophie Molineux, Georgia Wareham, and Annabel Sutherland have emerged as regulars over the past couple of years.

"We've got an amazing team right now. It's a strong team, we've been able to introduce some young players over the last couple of years in Annabel and Sophie and Georgia, Tahlia McGrath's had a couple of games here and there as well," Flegler said. "But you've got to keep evolving as a team, you can't sit still; the competition from around the world is going to keep getting stronger.

"You saw that Indian side with a few of their young players like Shafali Verma, a 16-year-old, so they're getting international experience and it's important our best young players get that experience where possible as well.

"That's the challenge over the next few years, we've got some of the best players in the history of Australian cricket playing right now, but at some point the end comes for everyone, so we need to make sure that team keeps evolving and keeps getting stronger."

"You watch her bowl, it's exciting, but she's on the edge the whole time. We want to make sure she's still bowling for Australia in 10 years hopefully"

Flegler on young pacer Tayla Vlaeminck

That wider focus goes some way to explaining why the likes of Sammy-Jo Johnson, Erin Burns, Molly Strano, Heather Graham and Elyse Villani are missing from the ranks as well as they have played in recent editions of the WBBL. Instead, Darcie Brown, Hannah Darlington are set to experience their first international games, while Sutherland can expect graduating levels of exposure as a batting allrounder who was encouraged wherever possible to go on the attack with the Melbourne Stars.

"Darcie had an outstanding WBBL, a fast bowler, bowling outswing at 17, nearly 18 years of age, an exciting prospect, I've seen her since she was 13 or 14, first saw her at the Under-15 national championship," Flegler said. "So, she's always had that ball speed within her, she's improved her accuracy over the last 12 months, but really exciting prospect and I'm sure she'll enjoy the opportunity over there.

"Hannah has been involved in the pathway all the way through as well, change-up in pace, that sort of closing death bowler option. With Delissa [Kimmince] unavailable for selection, we thought Hannah would be a great addition, particularly for the T20Is, that's the focus for Hannah. The bonus is with her leadership qualities as well, I've seen that in the pathway, she's captained NSW Metro and has been selected as vice-captain for NSW - I don't think they're particularly happy with me selecting her for this tour, but a great opportunity."

Vlaeminck's return allows Australia to look again to the sorts of plans they had before the T20 World Cup, namely to use her express pace in the way that Perry's was once harnessed, in balance with the swing of Schutt and the spin of Jonassen, Wareham and Molineux. "For someone like Tayla, who 12 months ago when she got that injury, you would've thought the World Cup was out of the question for her, but now we're 12 months out from the World Cup, she has the opportunity to go over to New Zealand and test her skills over there," Flegler said.

"It's another 12 months into playing Darcie and Annabel, even Georgia and Sophie Molineux, another 12 months of international cricket is great for those players, so while it was disappointing, to have this opportunity to go over there and play some games in those conditions 12 months out from a World Cup is an absolute bonus, whereas we wouldn't have been doing that if the World Cup was on right now. So, [it is] a great opportunity.

"I can't imagine we'll be able to play Tayla in all the matches, she's coming back from a big injury and we're still managing her workloads. It's really important we see her as a really long-term player for Australia and she's a high-risk athlete. You watch her bowl, it's exciting, but she's on the edge the whole time. We want to make sure she's still bowling for Australia in 10 years hopefully, so we need to look after her, make sure she gets through this series."

Australia ODI and T20I squad: Meg Lanning (capt), Rachael Haynes, Darcie Brown, Nicola Carey, Hannah Darlington, Ashleigh Gardner, Alyssa Healy (wk), Jess Jonassen, Tahlia McGrath, Sophie Molineux, Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt, Annabel Sutherland, Georgia Wareham, Belinda Vakarewa, Tayla Vlaeminck