Brief encounters with Yorkshire greats.

 Posted by Tony Hutton

Christmas 2021 will certainly not be one to remember for Yorkshire cricket followers. The existing problems of both Yorkshire and England had already cast a huge shadow over proceedings before the sad death of Raymond Illingworth was announced. Already his considerable achievements with England, Yorkshire and Leicestershire have been listed in some excellent obituaries elsewhere, so I will content myself with brief memories of a conversation I had with him only a few years ago. In addition I am also able to recollect brief encounters with Fred Trueman, Brian Close and Geoffrey Boycott.

The picture below is from a painting by John Blakey of probably the four greatest Yorkshire cricketers of my lifetime which was reproduced in Chris Waters' excellent book on Fred Trueman. The first chapter of the book recalls the reunion lunch conversation between the four, who had often not agreed in the past, but were in slightly mellower mood in 2005.

Four Yorkshire cricket legends.

I met both Boycott and Illingworth at the Headingley Test Match in 2010 when Australia played Pakistan. Boycott, who had become a friend of my son's during his television work in India, had invited him and myself as his guests for lunch in the pavilion. Geoffrey was the perfect host and made quite a fuss of us both, even to the extent of getting our drinks from the bar. 

Australia were rather swiftly bowled out for 88 on the first morning and I think during the interval between innings I noticed Raymond was sitting on his own and took the liberty of introducing myself and asking him how Farsley were getting on in the Bradford League. He seemed delighted to talk to someone with some knowledge of the Bradford League and we chatted for quite a while about a subject which was obviously always close to his heart.

I did not have the temerity to bore him with my personal memories of seeing him play, but now recall I first saw him back in the 1950s playing for Yorkshire Seconds against Staffordshire at Walsall. I then saw quite a lot of him at Bramall Lane, during my time at Sheffield in the late sixties and early seventies. He always seemed to make runs when Yorkshire were in trouble and I remember several fifties and sixties in county games around that time.

However it was his off spin bowling which won so many games for Yorkshire and most notable of all was his performance in 1968 when Yorkshire beat Australia at Bramall Lane, taking four wickets in each innings, including those of Bill Lawry and Ian Chappell.

It was also at a Sheffield occasion that I was introduced to Fred Trueman, as far back as 1973 when a celebration dinner was held at the City Hall to mark the last match at Bramall Lane. Again I was fortunate to have been invited as a guest by my then business colleague, Frank Lowson, who of course made his first appearance for Yorkshire alongside Fred and Brian Close back in 1949.

Frank introduced me to the great man, who was already in full flow with endless complaints against the then Yorkshire committee, as well as one Geoffrey Boycott. Obviously the two did not get on for many years and it was a relief to read in Chris Waters' book many years later of their reconciliation in 2005. In an evening when I met many cricketers from both sides of the Pennines, it was obviously my boyhood hero Fred who stood out and I was rendered almost speechless, unable to get much of a word in anyway.

Close, Illingworth and Trueman in the centre with Boycott extreme right at Lord's 1965.

Some years after that I got to meet Brian Close at a Tilcon Trophy game at Harrogate cricket club, where four counties regularly played a mid-season friendly, one day competition. It was not taken very seriously, certainly not by Brian Close who was scheduled to nominate the man of the match, but as usual spent most of his time studying the Racing Post and on the phone to his bookie, rather than watching the cricket.

As my employer was one of the sponsors, with our own tent to entertain our guests, my wife and I were invited to the pavilion lunch with both Close and Trueman in attendance. Their two wives certainly made a hit with my wife, but obviously the two cricketers had seen it all before and did not get very involved in the social niceties. However as the game neared it's conclusion Close obviously realised that I had been following the play from the pavilion balcony and asked me who he should choose as 'Man of the Match'.

I was able to point out that a young Australian, playing for Leicestershire, had made top score of the day and won the match. This was non other than Mike Haysman, who has now achieved fame as a cricket commentator in South Africa. Mr Close duly gave him the award, so one of my rare claims to fame is that I gave cricketing advice to not only a former captain of Yorkshire, but a former captain of England as well.

An all round sad state of affairs.

Posted by Tony Hutton

I have so far tried to stay at arms length from the ongoing controversy surrounding Yorkshire county cricket club, which together with England's somewhat abject performances in Australia have brought about a rather gloomy outlook on the game as we enter the final weeks of what has been a trying year all round.

However recent attitudes from some quarters of the cricketing press do rather call for comment. I this week had a letter on the Yorkshire situation published in the Cricketer Magazine, who chose to edit it so much that the original message was lost. The theme of my letter was that if their 'investigative journalist' had dug a little deeper into Azeem Rafiq's past behaviour he might have realised that there could be an element of exaggeration in his allegations or even some reasons behind his alleged abuse. However these comments were not considered suitable for publication.

To emphasise the magazine's rather one sided view, their senior correspondent has apparently advocated lifetime bans on a long list of players mentioned in Mr Rafiq's 'evidence' as well as a suspension of Barnsley cricket club. Not much sign here of inclusivity or reconciliation which appeared in Lord Patel's initial statement following his appointment as Chairman.

A further mystery has been the Yorkshire Post newspaper's coverage of events. One would have thought that such a local issue would have brought extensive coverage and a flood of readers' letters. Let us not forget a leading article in the early stages which first suggested Yorkshire should lose the Test Match, which was as much a knee-jerk action as those from the incompetent ECB and the rather prejudiced MPs committee. Then the mysterious business of the paper's cricket correspondent's absence from the scene for the last few weeks and the only further comment being another leading article lauding the impending return of Darren Gough as some sort of messiah. All very strange.

At long last a letter from long-standing member David Tunbridge of Sheffield did appear in Sports Monday a week ago, which certainly echoed my thoughts on the matter, including reference to the sacking of sixteen good people without any opportunity of defending themselves. So although Lord Patel quickly settled with Azeem Rafiq, his next move is certainly open to question and has caused even more divisions which yesterday resulted in all the first team squad requesting permission to approach other counties.

So a sad state of affairs to which it is difficult to see an end. The long suffering members will at last be given a chance to air their opinions at a members' forum to be held at Headingley at 10 a.m. on Saturday 22nd January.

Memories of Bellerive Oval, Hobart

Posted by Tony Hutton

Yesterday's announcement that the fifth match of the current Ashes series in Australia will now be played at the Bellerive Oval, Hobart, Tasmania brought back memories of my visit there on a previous England tour in 1994/95. The move from Perth has been brought about by the strict covid rules applied by the Western Australian government. Test matches have previously been played in Hobart but never before by England. This has been a controversial decision to select the small ground, which only has a  20,000 capacity, over the much bigger stadiums of Melbourne and Sydney, but has been welcomed by the television companies as the game will be a day/night affair, which helps get a bigger audience in the UK and elsewhere.

Bellerive Oval, Hobart 1994

The game I saw back in November 1994 was a warm up game between an Australian XI and an England XI, immediately before the first test in Brisbane. As now England were underdogs with a few controversial selections in the touring party. The pace bowling looked rather thin with the inexperienced Darren Gough, Martin McCague, an Irishman brought up in Australia, and Joey Benjamin of Surrey playing in this game. The spinner was Phil Tufnell and wicket keeper Steven Rhodes of Worcestershire.

River estuary view at Bellerive Oval.

The strength of the England side was in the batting line up of Atherton the captain, Stewart, Thorpe, Gooch, Crawley and all rounder Craig White. The Australian XI also has a strong batting side with Hayden, Blewett, Langer, Damien Martyn the captain, Ricky Ponting a local boy, then only 19 years old, and Stuart Law. Two other local Tasmanians in the side were wicket keeper Atkinson and spinner Robertson, together with the pace bowlers Merv Hughes, Paul Reiffel and Jo Angel.

Think the grassy bank may have now disappeared.

The attractive setting of the ground, overlooking the Derwent River estuary was matched by the hospitality provided to the handful of England followers who were welcomed into the members' enclosure. Fortunately some time before the Barmy Army took centre stage. Australia made a poor start losing Hayden and Langer early on and then Blewett with the total on 99-3. However Martyn and the young local boy Ponting came together to put on a partnership of 133. Ponting had already impressed with 82 in the first game of the tour at Lilac Hill.

Play in progress in 1994.

Martyn, who later had a brief but memorable time at Yorkshire, went on to a century, ably supported by Ponting with 71, Law with 68 and Atkinson with 51 not out, before the home side declared after an hour of day two with an impressive total of 386-7. The England bowling figures did not look good with the first test rapidly approaching. Gough had 1-101, McCague 3-115 and Tufnell 1-62. The batting was not much better only Gooch and Rhodes with fifties impressing as the three Australian pacemen shared the wickets.

Another view from 1994.

England all out for 209 were invited to follow on after day three was almost completely lost to rain. They did manage a much better performance in the second innings and were able to bat out for a comfortable draw. Alec Stewart made an impressive century and Atherton (49) and Thorpe (48 not out) also looked in good form as the game finished with a score of 207-1.

This game and all the other warm up games in Perth, Adelaide, Canberra and Newcastle did not seem to prepare England very well for the upcoming first test in Brisbane, with yet another predictable home victory. Michael Slater set the tone for the series with a four off the first ball from De Freitas and went on to score 176. Together with a century from Mark Waugh this enabled Australia to total 426. In a game very similar to the one that finished today McDermott bowled England out cheaply in the first innings and Shane Warne's bowling destroyed them in the second with 8-71.

Two seasons without Cumberland cricket.

Posted by Tony Hutton

Thinking back the other day I realised that two cricket seasons have passed me by without seeing Cumberland county cricket club in action. Of course this is largely due to the covid epidemic, but also in part to the recent reorganisation of what was Minor Counties cricket, so treasured by many of us from the older generation. The new National Counties set up in it's place, which has been prodded and poked by the already dysfunctional English Cricket Board, has reduced the number of three day games by such an extent that you can hardly find any to watch anyway. In addition last season the name of the club was changed to Cumbria county cricket club, the administrative county which took in Westmorland and parts of Lancashire and the West Riding of Yorkshire many years ago.

I go back a long way with Cumberland, having seen their very first Minor Counties game, as a teenage spectator, against Yorkshire seconds at Edenside, Carlisle, way back in 1955. After that, exile in the Midlands for twenty years and work commitments meant that I did not see them again, apart from one game against Warwickshire seconds at Edgbaston, until about forty years later. Then one of the benefits of enforced early retirement made it possible to join the club as a member, which I have remained ever since. 

Edenside, Carlisle.

Probably the most memorable game here was the 2015 championship decider against Oxfordshire. Cumberland won in quick time on day two of a scheduled four day game by bowling the visitors out for 85 and 89 and then requiring only five to win, doing so by ten wickets. Toby Bulcock, the left arm spinner now with Staffordshire, was one of the top performers along with paceman Richard Gleeson, who soon afterwards joined Northamptonshire.

The proud picture banner of our blog site at Sedbergh School is of course one of the Cumberland grounds, now sadly taken over by Lancashire county cricket and 'discovered' by the cricketing media, which means bigger crowds and a lack of the peaceful atmosphere to which I have been accustomed for so many years. Here is one of the alternative views of the ground of which I have many.

Sedbergh School cricket ground.

The last time I saw Cumberland play was in July 2019 at the Netherfield cricket ground in Kendal, when rain on the last day robbed the home side of victory over Cambridgeshire. I have seen many games on this attractive ground over the years and believe it was 1999 when Cumberland beat Dorset to win the league title in a thrilling encounter. Steve O'Shaughnessy, once of Lancashire and now a first class umpire, scored a century in the first innings and in a run chase on day three Ashley Metcalfe, formerly with Yorkshire, won the match with another century.

However the top scorer in this high scoring game was a young twenty year old, Andrew Sexton of Dorset, who made 196 in Dorset's second innings. He made only a handful of appearances for Hampshire, but sadly then disappeared from the first class game. He did not play for Dorset again and seemed content to play league cricket for the rest of his career.

Cricket at Netherfield, Kendal.

Some of my earliest memories of Cumberland cricket were at the wonderful Keswick cricket club. However the problem there always seemed to be the weather with rain, and lots of it, a regular feature. There certainly were some fine days and some good cricket. I remember well a visit from Durham county cricket, I think for a benefit match when the unknown opening bat for the county, who made quite a few runs, turned out to be the club physio. David Boon and a young Paul Collingwood also played.

Fitz Park, Keswick.

Over the years I have managed to celebrate some of my notable birthdays by watching Cumberland cricket. The first attempt for my 65th ended in failure as the scheduled 38 county knock out game with the Yorkshire Cricket Board at Millom was called off after overnight night, despite a fine day. So a picnic lunch on the beach at nearby Silecroft was the order of the day.

Millom cricket club on an earlier occasion, when play actually took place.

Five years later I was at Workington for another one day trophy game between Cumberland and Herefordshire when my son and grandson flew in unannounced from Dubai. I have been a member of both counties for many years and they gave me a game to remember when Cumberland chasing 207 to win put on 39 for the last wicket only to lose by one run. At dinner that night my three year old grandson announced to all and sundry 'my grandad is seventy years old today'.

The Ernest Valentine ground, Workington.

Ten years later I was back at Netherfield for another one day game between Cumberland and Norfolk to celebrate my 80th birthday. This time a high scoring affair with Norfolk making over 300 and Cumberland out for 263 with just one ball of their innings remaining. All happy days indeed.

I also have happy memories of Cumberland games at the two Barrow grounds, Furness cricket club and Barrow cricket club. Again early days' memories at Barrow, sitting with the late Keith Hornby on the grass bank alongside the pavilion, while the conversation flowed all day. This a regular feature of all Cumberland games, home and away, when the former secretary Gilbert Johnstone and long serving treasurer Eric Carter were always full of stories from the past and providing detailed information of the players now appearing.

Barrow-in-Furness cricket club, with the hospital buildings behind, 2005.

Gilbert Johnstone, in the green cap, looks to be on the receiving end at Furness C.C.

Hopefully old memories can be revived during the 2022 season, old haunts to be re-visited and old friendships renewed.

More Warwickshire memories

 Posted by Tony Hutton

Thanks to John Winn for his last two posts which perhaps take our minds off the unfortunate events concerning Yorkshire County Cricket club. Much more on that in due course no doubt when the dust settles on the current hiatus, if it ever does.

John's story on Jack Parsons certainly rekindled memories for me as, believe it or not, I actually saw him play. I think I have written before about a match I saw at Edgbaston way back in April 1951 between Warwickshire and an Old England XI. However I have so far been unable to find it on our archive. Anyway the Rev. Canon J.H. Parsons appeared in this game at the ripe old age of 60. He was often talked about in those days as a famous pre-war big hitter whose speciality was hoisting the ball over the old pavilion across the road into the region of Cannon Hill Park.

On this occasion he did not repeat the feat, but scored 15 before being bowled by a young whipper snapper called Jack Bannister, who of course much later wrote the history of Warwickshire which John referred to in his blog. Other former Warwickshire players in the Old England XI were R.E.S. (Bob) Wyatt still playing for Worcestershire at the time a few days before his 50th birthday and even older E.J. (Tiger) Smith the wicket keeper who became county coach, who was already 65.

Here is the team picture which John mentioned from 1914 which includes not only Parsons and Smith but one of the umpires from the 1951 game, the famous Warwickshire batsman W.G. Quaife, then aged 79. Sadly he died a few months after the game in 1951. Quaife had a remarkable career with Warwickshire making a century on debut in 1894 and another in his last game at the age of 56 in 1928. This final innings was by the oldest cricketer ever to score a championship century. During that time he accumulated over 36,000 runs and played seven times for England. A famous man indeed.

Some other notables in this well remembered game from seventy years ago include the other umpire Alex Skelding, opening bowlers Fred Root and Alf Gover, Errol Holmes of Surrey who captained the side, together with two Surrey team mates Laurie Fishlock and Donald Knight. The last named player will mean very little to most cricket followers of today, but not only did he score a century in the game in 1951 at the age of 57, but had played twice for England way back in 1921 some thirty years earlier.

For the record the game was played on a time basis, well before limited overs games came into fashion. Warwickshire made 214-6 declared in 60 overs, with a century from Jimmy Ord a batsman from Northumberland. In reply Old England made a valiant attempt at victory but finished just eight runs short with 8 wickets down in 55 overs. Another young pace bowler Ray Carter took two wickets in the first over of the innings and young Bannister did even better with 5-43. Knight's wonderful 112 came in 115 minutes with eighteen fours.

Warwickshire 1951 champions.

The practice match must have given Warwickshire some sort of impetus as they went on to win the County Championship that year for the first time in forty years.