Wisden overview
The early 1960s were a good time for English offspin: David Allen was competing for a Test place with Ray Illingworth and Fred Titmus. Almost unnoticed, he finished with better Test batting and bowling averages than either, and 122 wickets. Allen was an under-rated, understated cricketer. He strolled in to bowl off a pace or two, which meant he was good for long spells, but he could spin it sharply and flight it artfully. He was a good enough batsman to do the domestic double twice for Gloucestershire. And when Colin Cowdrey walked out in the 1963 Lord's Test with his arm in plaster, it's half-forgotten that Allen was the man at the sharp end who saved the game by blocking Wes Hall's final fusillade. Steven Lynch

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