Ackers was on BBC TV a bit just after he retired. He was quite amusing in his droll way. There was a quote about him which was quite good from a cricket writer back in the 1970s when Hobbs and East were also on the staff :"Acfield should be spinning for England, not fencing for a place in the Essex side". I don't think he was going to have ever played test cricket, although I think Ray East was unlucky not to get on a tour. Maybe his fencing held Acfield back a bit. I think I read at the time that he had to play for us as an amateur so as not to infringe that status for Olympic competition. I don't know if that was true or not.
My first real season watching Essex was 1973 (I'd been once the previous year). I can recall Hobbs, East and Acfield all playing together in some games. In one against Leicester, I think, where the new ball was taken by Turner and Edmeades (Boyce was with the West Indies and Lever must have been injured) with third seam provided by Keith Pont and then the three spinners.
These days, apparently, Bess has to move from Somerset to Yorkshire to get a bowl!
When I first watched Essex back in the early 70s we quite often played 3 spinners. I think we only had about 13 professionals then. We dredged up club cricketers like Vic Brooks & Ken Wallace to make up the numbers sometimes When JK & Boycey were unavailabe, I remember Keith Pont openiongh the bowling a couple of times and no, I'm nt confusing him with his bro'!
Ackers was briefly talked about as an England spinner - probably mostly by Trevor Bailey - around 1973, when Ray Illingworth was clearly well past his sell-by date. I think Jack Birkenshaw & Pat Pocock got in ahead of him. I recall Raymondo playing in an England trial team (against a touring team) and getting a hat trick but I don't think he was ever seriously considered for England in days when we have Derek Underwood & Norman Gifford, then Phil Edmonds as well, completing for England places. There were so many good spinners around in those days that Yorkshire's Don Wilson, who took over 1000 first class wickets, only played a few Tests.
