Englad cricketer Bailey dies in fire

London, Feb 10 (PTI) Former England all-rounder and BBCTest match special commentator Trevor Bailey has died in afire accident in Essex, the England and Wales Cricket Boardsaid.

Bailey, 87, died, but firefighters rescued his wife.

Bailey played 61 Tests for England during his playingcareer and was a popular member of the Test Match Specialcommentary team for 26 years.

He scored 1,000 runs and took 100 wickets in a yearseveral times, and was regarded as one of England''s mostoutstanding post war all-rounders.

Essex fire service divisional officer Bob Wahl said:"Crews did a fantastic job getting into the property quicklyand searching through the smoke to find the woman. She was inbed with the door shut and so that''s probably what saved her".

"Firefighters carried her out of the property and she wasleft in the care of the ambulance service. Her husband hadgone to the kitchen, which is where crews found him.

Unfortunately there was nothing we could do," Wahl added.

A spokesman for Essex County Cricket Club said the clubhad been in contact with Bailey''s family about his death.

Bailey spent his entire first-class career with Essex,captaining the side in the 1960s and going on to serve as clubsecretary.

He scored 2,290 runs and took 132 wickets for Englandduring his Test career and was a member of the side which wonthree successive Ashes series against Australia in 1953,1954-55 and 1956.