Came across this scorecard from 1981 the other day. This was a charity match between an Old Yorkshire XI and a star studded Old England XI at Bradford Park Avenue. All proceeds were split between local charities for disabled people and former Yorkshire left arm spinner Don Wilson, who had been granted a benefit by his Bradford League club, Manningham Mills, on completion of five years service with them.
What really caught my eye was the team picture of the Yorkshire XI - all home grown of course.
How different from today's motley collection. Ten of the twelve players appeared for England in Test cricket, the only exceptions being pace bowler Mel Ryan and opening bat Brian Stott. Actual details of the match are hard to come by, as it does not appear on cricket archive or in the Yorkshire yearbook for 1982. However my own brief record shows the the England XI made 245-6 in 45 overs, with John Jameson of Warwickshire top scoring on 94, John Edrich of Surrey 62 and Mike Denness of Kent 57.
In reply Yorkshire fell just six runs short, ending on 239-8. Top scorers being Richard Hutton with 82 and Phil Sharpe with 70. According to the scorecard England's main bowlers were Fred Rumsey, Harold Rhodes, Peter Lever, Fred Titmus and John Mortimore. Others to appear included Colin Milburn and Basil D'Olivera. All of the players involved had of course long retired from county cricket.
Front row:- Bryan Stott, Doug Padgett, Fred Trueman, Brian Close, Don Brennan and Ken Taylor.
Of this very talented side unfortunately only six are still with us. The oldest is Brian Bolus, who had a successful career with Notts and Derbyshire after leaving Yorkshire, on 86. He is closely followed by Doug Padgett and Bryan Stott, both 85 and Ken Taylor 84. The two relative youngsters are Richard Hutton (77) and Geoff Cope (73).
The oldest player on the photograph is amateur wicket keeper Don Brennan who was 61 at the time.
He did not play county cricket until he was 27, soon after World War Two, but played for England in place of Godfrey Evans on a couple of occasions. He is proudly wearing his MCC sweater awarded on a tour of India, when he lost his place to the better batsman in the party, Dick Spooner of Warwickshire. A trend which continues to this day with the best batsman, rather than the best wicket keeper, being selected by England. A policy which also affected the career of Brennan's successor in the Yorkshire side, Jimmy Binks.
A memorable day which produced a large crowd all intent on seeing some of the great heroes of Yorkshire cricket for one last time.
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