Whilst reading an old White Rose magazine I noticed an article
by Nigel Pullen on Ronnie Burnet who he visited in 1994 and
talked about his life.
One of the most important matches he played in as Captain of
Yorkshire was the Sussex match in 1959.
He stated that Yorkshire could not get Sussex out on the last day before lunch .Sussex batted 40 minutes after lunch before Birkenshaw caught Marlar on the boundary. By then we were seething with Marlar for not declaring but he could not be seen to assist other counties. So we had to score 100 an hour and in the dressing room I said that we had two choices -we could shut up shop or have a go. The players all said "lets have a go " We changed the batting order a bit, I wanted Doug Padgett at No4.Some players objected that he could not hit but I said "he will score off every ball ".Doug and Bryan Stott put on 141 in just over an hour scoring more twos than fours so good
was the running between the wickets. There was even a three minute delay as Close hit a six out of the ground but
we scored 217 in 97 minutes " .So winning the Championship,the first since 1946.
Ronnie believed that Brian Sellers made two significant misjudgements ,when the Committee was not fully consulted ,which had a long term detrimental effect on Yorkshire Cricket. The first was the decision to release Ray Illingworth. Sellers showed the letter to the press at Bradford without either talking to the Committee or the player.
Ronnie was also critical of the dismissal of Brian Close, again without consultation with the full Committee. Ronnie also supported Close over the Edgbaston incident in 1966 when Yorkshire
was accused of time wasting.Brian Sellers wrote to M.C.C apologising which put Close in a difficult position.I was with Herbert Sutcliffe when he snaw the letter and they were both
incensed.
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