The cricket correspondent, Colin Bateman, commented, "a smooth, assured opening batsman, Eric Russell suffered from never getting a settled sequence in the England team.
"[1] Russell was a stylish right-hander, whose international appearances were limited by injury and the dominance of Geoff Boycott and John Edrich.
[1][2] He played ten Tests against six countries and toured three times, but could never establish himself in the England side.
[1] He joined Middlesex in 1956 at the age of 20, and played over 400 games for them, recording over 25,000 first-class runs with 41 centuries, and a career best of 193 against Hampshire at Bournemouth in 1964.
He scored 1,000 runs in a season 13 times, a testament to his reliability, and topped 2,000 on three occasions, his best return being his 2,343 at 45.92 in 1964.