Ted Dexter and wife Susan Longfield at the Kumar residence on Monday evening. Picture by Bishwarup Dutta

In the winter of ’61, Ted Dexter scored fifties in both innings of a Test at the Eden Gardens but didn’t celebrate because his team lost. The former England captain is back in town this December with another fifty under his belt, this one worthy of celebration — the golden jubilee of his marriage to Susan Longfield.

“Our 50th anniversary is on May 2 and Susan wanted to begin commemorating our time together with a holiday in the city where she was born and spent the first eight years of her life,” Dexter, one of the most charismatic cricketers of his generation, told Metro on Monday evening.

Hosted by “old friends” Naresh and Sunita Kumar, the 73-year-old all-rounder whose favourite cricketer is Kapil Dev counts Calcutta among his favourite cities. “Me and my family have had some wonderful times here over the years. The fact that Susan’s father Tom Longfield captained Bengal in the Ranji Trophy makes this association even stronger.... I flew a six-seater Piper-Aztec from England to Calcutta en route to Australia with my family in 1970,” recalled Dexter, nursing a whisky.

Bengal won the Ranji Trophy for the first time in 1938-39 under the captaincy of Dexter’s father-in-law, who also founded the Calcutta Cricket Club. The Dexters intend visiting the grave of Susan’s grandfather during their stay in the city.

Settled in France, the couple have visited India a few times in the past two decades “to catch up with friends” but it is cricket that binds this Calcutta jamai to the country.

“We were to be in Mumbai to watch the India-England Test that was cancelled because of the terrible tragedy.” Dexter watched the Chennai Test on TV and the “ebb and flow of that wonderful match” made him wonder why the traditional version of cricket doesn’t bring in the crowds. “I hope Test cricket survives.... As a spectator, I don’t enjoy Twenty20 that much.”

But wasn’t Dexter prone to batting at T20 velocity in Tests and dismissing rival bowlers (“These c***** can’t bowl”)? “That was long ago. I don’t make an effort to remember the things I said and how many I scored in which match,” he chuckled.

What Dexter does remember is watching Azharuddin decimate England with 182 of “the best runs I have seen” at Eden Gardens in 1993.

The co-author of the novel Testkill about an Australian bowler’s murder at Lord’s — “blame it on a deep, underlying animosity (towards Aussie cricketers),” he said with a wink — also admires city boy Sourav Ganguly. “He had his weaknesses as a batsman but he was a tough character and an extraordinary leader.”

Ted Dexter should know.