Only a small number of first-class cricketers have appeared in more matches than Norman Gifford, who has died aged 85. Beginning in 1960 with Worcestershire and ending in 1988 at Warwickshire, he played 710 games in all, the 20th highest total in history.

Having collected 2,068 wickets with his left-arm spin, he also reached 27th on the list of all-time wicket takers, with an impressive average of 23.56. Good enough to play 15 times for England between 1964 and 1973, he would have had more Test caps but for the presence during much of his era of an even better slow left-armer, Derek Underwood, who was habitually chosen ahead of him.

Though Gifford’s international career was frustrating, his time in the domestic game was anything but. He won three County Championships with Worcestershire, in 1964, 1965 and 1974, the last as captain, and also led them to a 40-over John Player League title in 1971. After leaving for Warwickshire in 1983 he skippered his new county from 1985 until 1987, before retiring the following year at 48.

Running in at a sharp angle to deliver the ball from well wide of the crease, he was a highly effective bowler across his 28-year career, employing a low-slung trajectory that kept batsmen on their toes. As a captain he was astute and tenacious, yet happy enough to take risks in pursuit of a win. Above all, however, he was known for his friendly, open demeanour, with a nickname, Apple Norm, that reflected his rosy cheeks and good nature.

Born in Ulverston in Lancashire to John, a Glaxo laboratories manager, and his wife, Jan (nee Baxter), Gifford ended up in Worcestershire, at the age of 19, after the county put an advert in a cricket magazine inviting young hopefuls to a trial. Although he had made an impression for Ulverston Victoria high school and Ulverston CC, where his father, John, and his three brothers, Derrick, Tom and Alan, also played, his home town was in those days more than three hours by car from Lancashire’s headquarters in Manchester, where no one was particularly aware of his talent.

After journeying to Worcester for his trial, Gifford was offered a contract, which he accepted despite a counter-proposal from Lancashire, who had suddenly got wind of the situation. Making his first-team debut in June 1960 against Kent at Tunbridge Wells – a spectacular match in which his team were bowled out for 25 and 61 – he became Worcestershire’s leading wicket taker with 41 victims that season, despite playing in a limited number of games. The following full season he had 133 victims, and within three years he was playing a key role in delivering Worcestershire’s first-ever County Championship title, taking 98 wickets.

That form prompted the England selectors to give him a debut in the 1964 Ashes Test at Lord’s, where he took 3-31 in the match off 29 overs, bagging the scalps of Bill Lawry and Wally Grout. In the following Test at Headingley, however, he was less effective, and he was dropped for the rest of the series. Not long afterwards Underwood came to the fore, and Gifford was unable to win another England cap for the next seven years.

Following a second County Championship title in 1965, Gifford returned his best figures of eight for 28 against Yorkshire in 1968, then became vice captain to Tom Graveney in 1969 before taking over as skipper in 1971, guiding his side to the John Player title in his first year. His bowling was exceptional that season, winning him a recall to the England side at Underwood’s expense for four home Tests, two against Pakistan and two versus India.

He remained in favour with the England captain, Ray Illingworth, for the next couple of years, gathering another nine caps, including in India and Pakistan in 1973. By then, however, Underwood was re-establishing his supremacy, and Gifford’s final Test arrived at Lord’s against New Zealand in June that year, leaving him on 33 wickets at 31.09, with best figures of five for 55.

Back at Worcestershire he presided over a third championship title in 1974. Although he had Glenn Turner, Basil D’Oliveira and Vanburn Holder to call on, otherwise there were few big names in the side, and the win was a credit to his leadership skills. For his achievements as captain, he was made a Wisden cricketer of the year in 1975, and in 1978 he was appointed MBE.

Relinquishing the Worcestershire captaincy in 1980, Gifford continued with the county for three years before switching to nearby rivals Warwickshire, who made him their skipper in succession to Bob Willis in 1985. That year he also had a surprise reappearance on the international stage at the age of 44, when he was called up to be England captain for two one-day internationals against Australia and Pakistan in Sharjah. A stopgap replacement for David Gower, who was being rested, he lost both matches but was England’s most successful bowler against Pakistan, taking four for 23 off 10 overs.

After retiring in 1988 Gifford went on to coach at Sussex, Durham and Worcestershire, where he was president in 2017-18. Since 2016 Worcestershire and Warwickshire have played for a trophy named in his honour whenever they meet in T20 matches.

The word most commonly associated with Gifford was “affable”, a quality best illustrated by an incident in 1988 involving the journalist Neil Manthorp, who, as a raw 21-year-old, carried out a wide-ranging hour-and-a-half radio interview with Gifford to mark his retirement. When the marathon effort came to a close, Manthorp moved to press the stop button on the tape recorder, only to find that it had never been on in the first place. Once the truth had been exposed Gifford was happy to go through the whole process again – though only after making both parties a strong pot of tea.

He is survived by his wife, Alison (nee Browning), whom he married in 1986, and their son, Mark; by two children, David and Caroline, from his first marriage, to Jan, which ended in divorce; and by two grandchildren and his brother Alan.

• Norman Gifford, cricketer, born 30 March 1940; died 21 January 2026