This post, the first of two related posts I shall be producing today, was prompted by a piece I saw via social media about just who was the greatest of all county championship batters. I was not satisfied with the methodology used in that piece, so decided to do my own version.
SETTING SOME BASIC CRITERIA
The first requirement is obviously to have a great record over a long period of time. Secondly, the County Championship was only put on an official footing in 1890, so we are looking at careers after that year only. Thirdly, cricket is a team game, so runs that contribute to championships count for more than other runs.
ELIMINATING POTENTIAL CANDIDATES
Although he had an outstanding season in 1895 and a very good one in 1896 WG Grace’s greatest days were done by the time there was actually a county championship, so he is not eligible.
Geoffrey Boycott twice averaged over 100 for an English season, but both these tall scoring years have a massive asterisk against them – on each Yorkshire fared worse in those seasons than they had done the year before when Boycott was less prolific – a nine place drop from 4th to 13th in the first of them, and a smaller drop from 4th to 7th in the second.
Jack Hobbs had an outstanding record, but Surrey didn’t win many championships during his playing career.
Walter Hammond never won a county championship for all his great record with the bat, and his poor captaincy was partly to blame for that.
Phil Mead of Hampshire likewise never helped his side to win a championship, though he holds the records for most runs and most centuries for a single first class team.
MY NOMINEE
Herbert Sutcliffe had his entry into first class cricket delayed by one world war and his first class career terminated by the outbreak of the other. In the 20 years he did play he was a consistent, huge run scorer, more often than not top of the Yorkshire batting averages, although as I have pointed out elsewhere his test record was better than his overall first class record, and his Ashes record was better still. In keeping with this ‘big occasion’ temperament, nine of his championship centuries came at the expense of bitter rivals Lancashire. Also, if we turn to the element of contributing to championship success, Yorkshire were champions in 1919, won four successive titles in the 1920s, and won the championship a further seven times in the course of the 1930s, giving Sutcliffe a playing role in the winning of 12 county championships. I end this section with one example of Sutcliffe scoring runs that altered the outcome of the match. The match in question was against Kent, whose bowling was dominated at that time by leg spinner Tich Freeman. In the final innings of a low scoring affair Yorkshire needed 192 on a pitch that had not previously allowed a total that high. Yorkshire won by two wickets, and 110 of those 192 came from the bat of Herbert Sutcliffe, with the only other innings of significance coming from skipper Sellers (34 not out at the death).
OTHER GREATS
Leonard Hutton, who shared some of Sutcliffe’s triumphs in the 1930s and was the best English batter of the immediate post-war era was probably the closest rival to Sutcliffe, though Peter May scores well when it comes to helping his side win titles. Most overseas players would not qualify due to not playing enough, although three who did were Roy Marshall and Barry Richards (both Hampshire) and Mike Hussey (several counties in the recent past). Most of the best present-day English batters would be unlikely to qualify because international commitments restrict them to only a few championship appearances in any given season.
PHOTOGRAPHS
Even with two blog posts to cater for I have a big photo gallery (please note I will out for most of tomorrow, on a West Norfolk Autism Group outing to Pensthorpe, where I expect to get some particularly impressive photos).
A look at the best England men’s cricketers of the immediate post war era and a large photo gallery.
I continue my look at the England men’s cricket team through the ages with a look at the immediate postwar era. I have chosen 1962 as the endpoint because the 1963 season was notable on two grounds: it was the first season in which players were not divided between amateurs and professionals (or “Gentlemen” and “Players”) and it also saw the first staging of the first professional limited overs tournament, the Gillette Cup, and from these beginnings limited overs cricket, and subsequently very limited overs cricket in the form of T20 would come to play an ever increasing role in professional cricket.
THE XI IN BATTING ORDER
*Leonard Hutton (right handed opening batter, captain). In 1938 at Trent Bridge Walter Hammond became the first officially appointed England captain to have played cricket as a professional. In the very first England XI he led out on to the field was the man who would become the first to be appointed official England captain while still playing as a professional, Leonard Hutton. Hutton was comfortably England’s best batter of the immediate postwar years (the only remotely credible challenger, Denis Compton, actually wrote in one of hs books that Hutton was the greater batter of the two). What makes Hutton’s performances between 1946 and 1955, which stand among the greatest of anyone in the game’s history in any case, even more extraordinary is that as well as having lost six years of cricketing development to the war he had suffered a training accident which left him with one arm shorter than the other.
Cyril Washbrook (right handed opening batter). The best of Hutton’s various opening partners. In 1956 after Hutton had retired, Washbrook, then a 41 year old selector, was chosen for the third test of the series against Australia and scored a crucial 98, paving the way for further successful recalls for David Sheppard (4th test, century from number three) then Bishop of Woolwich and Compton (5th test, having had his right kneecap surgically removed and fought his way back to fitness, 94).
Colin Cowdrey (right handed batter, ace slip fielder, occasional leg spinner). The first cricketer to earn 100 test caps and by the end of his career scorer of 22 test centuries, at the time a joint England record with Hammond.
Denis Compton (right handed batter, occasional left arm wrist spinner). Even with a long term knee injury, ultimately necessitating the removal of the kneecap he achieved some outstanding performances for England, including a century in each innings at Adelaide in the 1946-7 Ashes, four centuries against the visiting South Africans in 1947, two against Bradman’s 1948 Invincibles and a 278 against Pakistan at Trent Bridge in 1954.
Peter May (right handed batter). In test cricket’s slowest scoring decade this naturally aggressive batter averaged 46.77, including a 285 not out that effectively terminated Sonny Ramadhin as an effective bowling force (Ramadhin ended up toiling through 98 overs in that innings, as West Indies, having led by 288 on first innings ended up clinging on for a draw with seven wickets down in their second innings).
Trevor Bailey (right handed batter, right arm fast medium bowler). A genuine all rounder.
+Godfrey Evans (wicket keeper, right handed batter). One of the greatest keepers of all time and a good enough batter to have scored two test centuries.
Jim Laker (off spinner, right handed lower order batter). 193 wickets at 21 a piece in 46 test appearances. In 1956 he claimed 46 wickets in the Ashes series at 9.6 a piece, including the best match haul in first class history, 19-90 at Old Trafford (9-37 in the first innings, 10-53 second time round).
Johnny Wardle (left arm orthodox spinner, left arm wrist spinner, left handed lower order batter). 102 test wickets at 20.39. He was often passed over in favour of Tony Lock, and his career came to a premature end after he expressed forceful opinions about Yorkshire’s choice of captain in 1958. His robust late order hitting was also of value to England more than once.
Fred Trueman (right arm fast bowler, right handed lower order batter). The first bowler of any type to claim as many as 300 test scalps, 307 in 67 matches.
Brian Statham (right arm fast bowler, right handed lower order batter). 252 test scalps at 24 a piece, most of them bowling from the less favourable end as either Trueman or Frank Tyson (in the 1954-5 Ashes) had first choice of which end to bowl from.
This XI has a powerful top five, a genuine all rounder at six, a legendary keeper, two of the greatest spinners of all time and two great fast bowlers who were moreover a regular combination at test level.
HONOURABLE MENTIONS
I start this section with two name checks as the players concerned deserve more than a standard honourable mention:
BILL EDRICH
A fine right handed batter and a useful right arm fast medium bowler. However I could only accommodate him in one of two ways: play him as an opener in place of Washbrook, or class him as an all rounder and give him Bailey’s slot, and neither of those seemed right to me.
ALEC BEDSER
For the first few years after the war he carried England’s bowling almost single handed, and at the time of his retirement he was test cricket’s leading wicket taker with 236 scalps. However I wanted two spinners, and considered the claims of the fast bowlers Trueman and Statham to be unanswerable, so I could not accommodate him.
OTHER HONOURABLE MENTIONS
Although Ken Barrington and Ted Dexter both played for England during this period I considered them to belong more properly to the next. No other keeper of this period was close to Evans with the gloves, though the more determined members of the “look at the batting first” school of thought might opt for James M Parks (his father James H Parks, a batting all rounder, also played for Sussex and England), a quality batter, but several classes below Evans with the gloves.
The brilliant but meteoric Frank Tyson might have had a fast bowling slot. Tony Lock’s bowling action for most of his England career was to put politely of dubious legality, and he could bowl only finger spin, whereas Wardle could also bowl wrist spin. Leg spinner Doug Wright could be devastating on his day (he claimed a record seven first class hat tricks), but when things weren’t going his way he was often very expensive. I end this section with one of cricket’s ultimate ‘might have beens’: Maurice Tremlett of Somerset (father of Tim, grandfather of Chris) who had a dream first class debut, claiming eight wickets in the match and then playing a splendid cameo innings to see his side over the line by one wicket against the team who would be that season’s champions, Middlesex. Unfortunately he fell victim to well meaning coaches who tried to turn a fast-medium who liked to give the ball a wallop into a genuine fast bowler and succeeded in destroying his confidence and interest in bowling, and within a few years he was playing for Somerset as an exciting middle order batter who was occasionally used as a partnership breaker with the ball.
PHOTOGRAPHS
My usual sign off…
These eight pictures come from a ‘just a cuppa’ morning for autistic adults at King’s Lynn library .
My latest variation on the ‘all time XI’ theme looks at bizarre dismissals. There is also a correction in my usual ‘reverse tabloid’ fashion and some thoughts about laws of the game that are connected to my theme.
INTRODUCTION
It is time for another variation on the ‘All Time XI‘ theme. Today we have an XI who have all suffered bizarre dismissals. I will follow this up with a look at some of the more unusual ways of getting out and at a few other aspects of the laws. However, before I get into the body of the post I have one other duty to perform…
A CORRECTION
In my previous post when I introduced the ‘Signed Off In Style XI‘ I made an error with significant consequences. Alec Stewart did not score a century in his final test match – the innings I was thinking had been played earlier. He did finish in front of his own home crowd, and with a tally of runs to match the digital form of his birth date, but his score in that final innings was a mere 38. This being the case, especially bearing in mind the shortage of left handed batters in the XI, his slot should have gone to Alastair Cook, rather than the Essex man having to make do with a special honourable mention. My apologies to Sir Alastair as the one who suffered from a rare lapse of memory on my part. Note that I have followed my usual ‘reverse tabloid’ policy when it comes to making a correction!
THE ‘BIZARRE DISMISSALS’ XI
Sir Leonard Hutton – the Yorkshire opener, the first professional ever to captain his country in a home test, was also the first to be given out ‘obstructing the field’ in a test match. It happened against South Africa, and we shall be meeting the obstructed fielder a little later on.
Gilbert Parkhouse – the Welshman was playing for England in New Zealand when he suffered the rare fate of being out twice to the same ball. The deliver, from a left arm spinner named Burtt hit his pad, and the umpire raised his finger instantly to give him out. However, the ball had been trickling backwards from the pad, and ultimately rolled into the stumps and dislodged a bail. The laws of cricket have this sort of thing covered, with an order of precedence for modes of dismissal, and Parkhouse was officially recorded as B Burtt, bowled outranking LBW in the pecking order. In the modern era this could actually have been made even worse, because the batter might have signalled for a review while that ball was trickling backwards! My own inclination in such a situation, for all that the review request would technically be null and void due to the subsequent dismissal would be to count it as a review burned off – no one who is that comprehensively out has any business reviewing, do they Mr Watson?
Andrew Ducat – the Surrey stalwart, who was also an international footballer, was playing for England in the 1921 Ashes when a ball from Ted McDonald broke his bat, sending a splinter therefrom cannoning into his stumps, while at the same moment Jack Gregory at slip pouched the catch. In this case, ‘caught’ outranks ‘hit wicket’, so the entry on the scorecard was C Gregory B McDonald.
Martin Donnelly – the elegant Kiwi left hander, who created a unique treble by scoring centuries at Lord’s in the Varsity Match, for the Gentlemen against the Players and in a test match, was once bowled by a delivery that broke his wicket from behind. The ball, from Jack Young, hit his boot, looped over the stumps and then spun back to hit them from behind!
Henry Charlwood – running misjudgements don’t get much more horrendous than this one. He came back for a sharp second, and was comfortably run out – and what makes this a true classic, at the same time the bowler’s end umpire was signalling ‘one short’! Sometimes, especially if they were partnering Geoffrey Boycott and it was his call, run out victims deserve sympathy, but when you have failed to make your ground at either end of the pitch I feel that you can have little cause for complaint.
*Steve Waugh – the tough Aussie who regarded allowing himself to be dismissed in any way as an offence nevertheless joined the select ranks of those to have been given out ‘handled ball’ in a test match.
+Russell Endean – a few years after being the fielder obstructed by Hutton the South African entered the record books as the first person in test match history to be out ‘handled ball’. Endean also holds a rather more impressive record – most runs ever scored by one batter in a pre-lunch session of a first class match – 197, albeit in an extended session. His best test innings was 162 against Australia.
James Southerton – the Surrey and Sussex slow bowler who was test cricket’s oldest ever debutant ended in an innings in a very curious way. He offered up a very straightforward catch, and headed for the pavilion without even waiting to see it taken. It was actually dropped, but the message did not reach Southerton, and he left the ground, to be recorded in the scorebook as ‘retired thinking he was caught’!
James Grundy – best known as a right arm fast bowler, he only occasionally had his moments with the bat, but he featured in two of the ‘unusual dismissals’ list in the copy of the Wisden Book of Cricket Records that I used to own – from memory ‘handled ball’ and ‘hit ball twice’. As far I as am aware, his surname not withstanding, this particular Grundy did not have a side line producing home brewed cider!
Haydon Smith – the Leicestershire right arm fast bowler and no11 batter’s unusual ‘dismissal’ was mentioned in my post about that county – he became one of a fairly select group of batters to have declined to accept a fielder’s word that they had NOT taken a catch!
Harold Heygate – the 35 year old had not been planning to bat in Sussex’s second innings v Somerset due to back trouble, but when the ninth Sussex wicket fell with the scores dead level he rose from his sickbed and hobbled out in his everyday clothes. Unfortunately for him he took far too long to get to the middle, and a Somerset appeal for ‘Timed Out’ was duly upheld, ending the match in a tie, and no small quantity of confusion. This was Heygate’s sixth appearance for Sussex, and unsurprisingly his last.
The presence of Heygate at no11, mandatory given the nature of the XI, means that the side is light on bowling options, but I am hoping that Grundy, Smith and Southerton with a little help from skipper Waugh can carry the workload. The batting is definitely strong (when fully fit it was his batting that got Heygate selected).
THE REALLY UNUSUAL
MODES OF DISMISSAL
I believe that under the latest revisions of the laws of cricket ‘handled ball’, ‘hit ball twice’ and ‘obstructing the field’ now all come under the same heading of ‘obstructing the field’, while ‘timed out’ remains. However, I am go to look briefly at all of them individually:
HANDLED BALL
Batters are forbidden from handling the ball unless specifically and explicitly invited to do so by members of the fielding side. In addition to Waugh and Endean, Graham Gooch is another frontline batter to fall foul of this in a test match. The caveat over being invited to handle by the fielding side covers the situation where a fielder entices the batter to pick it up and then appeals (there is a Grace family story regarding the dismissal of Nottinghamshire’s Charles Wright which was apparently achieved in precisely such a manner). However, I think that in the last test match of the South Africa series (simultaneously only a few months and an epoch ago) England erred when Francois ‘Faf’ Du Plessis repeatedly and obviously deliberately handled the thing with sweaty batting gloves – rather than bother with official complaints about his conduct they should have simply appealed and sent him on his way – and ticked off anyone who dared to complain on South Africa’s behalf for being mischief makers. As it happened Du Plessis’ cheating (yes, that is what it was and I will not apologize for saying so) did not prevent his side from going down to a heavy defeat and the series going to England.
HIT BALL TWICE
This one specifically allows for a double hit if it is inadvertent or if it is purely to protect one’s wicket. What is being guarded against is the unscrupulous batter who uses one hit to ‘control’ or ‘tee the ball up’ and then smacks it out of the park with a second hit. Although I do not know of any stories of this happening I presume that it has done, since legislation, especially in the context of cricket, is rarely based on hypothetical happenings.
OBSTRUCTING THE FIELD
This is quite simple – if the batter deliberately prevents a wicket from being taken by getting in the fielder’s way it is out. Most often it is used in relation to catches, where fielder’s can easily be baulked by unscrupulous batters, but it could also apply to run outs if the batter had obviously altered their course to prevent a throw-in from running them out. There is no recourse if the batter is fairly diving for their ground with no obstructive intent and the ball hits them or their bat and races away to the boundary, although it would be considered out of order for the batter to attempt extra runs if the ball did not reach the boundary.
TIMED OUT
A simple, and to my mind, underused one. The batter is allowed a maximum amount of time (used to be two minutes, is now three) from the fall of a wicket to be at their place in the middle. I would say that the incoming batter should pass the outgoing batter on the field of play. Maybe in extreme circumstances, such as if the bowler has just taken four wickets with successive balls and that has caused the new batter to be caught unprepared, leeway should be given, but in general I would be harsh on this one, recommending fielding sides to appeal as soon as that three minutes is up.
HOW LEGISLATION DEVELOPS
Basically what happens with cricket laws is that something happens that makes people sit up, and legislation is passed to counteract it. Sometimes it is sensible, and sometimes very much not. I am now going to look at one specific topic:
DECLARATIONS
Originally no declarations were permitted – the batting side had to go on till they were all out. Then Surrey and Nottinghamshire, the two best county sides of the day, were playing a match the Surrey were ahead in, but unlikely to be able to bring to a conclusion. At this point John Shuter, the Surrey captain (yes, a Shuter on one side and a Gunn on the other!) had his ‘Baldrick’ moment, and instructed his team to get themselves out, so that they had time to dismiss the opposition and win the match. Surrey won that match, and the concept of the declaration was introduced. Subsequently there have been various scandals involving contrived declarations, at least one ‘bookmaker induced’ declaration and the declaration that led to the banning of declarations in limited overs matches. Declarations can be splendid when properly used, but also can be a huge blot on the game. Especially annoying is the giving away of runs to get your opponents to declare – no, back yourself and your team to win properly. I have mentioned (here) my distaste for the County Championship’s bonus point system. Justin Langer once declared an innings on 50-8 so that his opponents did not get full bowling points, which is obviously not to be approved of. The lawmakers have now said that declarations must be made with the intent to move the game forward, a woolly piece of phrasing practically designed to generate arguments. I have a hypothetical case: the batting side have scored rapidly, but have just had a mini clatter of wickets, and with an hour of day 1 remaining they are 375-8, with no 9 the not out batter and no 10 due to come in – now to me the declaration sticks out like a sore thumb, since 50 minutes bowling at a team who have spent most of the day chasing leather may well net two or three wickets, while it is unlikely the such extra runs as the tail produce will make a great difference. However, because of the bonus point system I would be prepared to bet money that in the event of such a declaration the opposition skipper would complain, although the batting side have given up a bonus point by declaring, they have also prevented the fielding side from getting full bowling points. Would the powers the be in such a circumstance have the guts to tell the complaining skipper that he needs to grow up or words to that effect? I now move to a really controversial subtopic:
DECLARATIONS IN LIMITED OVERS CRICKET
These have been outlawed since Brian Rose as captain of Somerset used a declaration to deliberately throw a game, because under the rules governing that competition doing so guaranteed that Somerset would progress. Rose declared at Worcester after one over, with the score 1-0, and Worcestershire of course won by ten wickets in a ‘match’ that contained ten minutes of actual playing time. While Rose’s declaration deserved the condemnation it got, and measures would be needed in some situations such as: last round of group fixtures, side A have already qualified, and side B who A are playing need a win to be sure of qualifying. Side C, who side A fear more are the other potential qualifiers, so side A use a declaration to give side B the game and eliminate side C. However, especially in this country, there should be some scope for declarations: Side A are 300-2 after 40 of their allocated 50 overs, and they know that the weather is likely to intervene, and to constitute a match each side must have faced at least 20 overs. If Side A are prepared to back their bowlers to defend 300 in the full 50 overs should it come to that then they should be allowed to declare their innings closed in the attempt to ensure that in the event of the predicted bad weather coming a match can be got in. Such a declaration should actually be considered praiseworthy in the circumstances, since Side A could probably be fairly confident of reaching 400 if they batted for the remaining 10 overs of their innings.
A LINK AND SOME PHOTOGRAPHS
The Fulltoss blog have a new post up speculating about the 2021-2 Ashes tour, and I heartily recommend it. Now, another XI has been put through its paces, I have raised some related issues, and it remains only to apply my usual sign off (nb for those who are squeamish about such things there is a picture featuring one of our eight legged friends)…
A bug carwling across my book (Hammond’s “Cricket: My World”)
A hovering insect, quite easy to see but very diifcult to capture – I hope the two shots I have managed to get of it are good.
An eight legged little friend crawling over the back of my hand.
This is the fourth all-time XI post I have done (Surrey, Gloucestershire and Worcestershire were the first three). I have an ancestral connection to Yorkshire, and I lived in Barnsley for six years. As you would expect of the county that has by far the most outright championships (32 at the present time), there is a positive embarrassment of riches to choose from.
YORKSHIRE ALL TIME XI
Herbert Sutcliffe – a big occasion player, as witnessed by the progression of his averages (overall FC 52.02, overall test 60.73, Ashes 66.85), he also overlapped for a few years at first class level and rather longer at club level (both were raised in Pudsey) with the person I have chosen as the other opener. He could claim that both World Wars affected his career since the first prevented his entry into first class cricket until he was 24, and the second led to his retirement from the game (and his 1939 performances were not those of a man preparing to lay aside his bat for the last time, though resuming after a six season layoff when past the age of 50 was obviously not going to happen). He tallied over 50,000 first class runs in total with 149 centuries.
Leonard Hutton – a man who averaged 56.7 in test cricket and was also hugely productive in first class cricket, in spite of missing six of what would have been prime development years to World War II, from which he emerged with one arm shorter than the other due a training accident. In 1953 as captain he regained the Ashes which had been in Australian hands since Woodfull’s 1934 triumph, and eighteen months later he led England to victory down under.
David Denton – in the first decade of the 20th century only one Yorkshire cricketer gained England selection purely on the strength of batting skill, and that person was David Denton. He was known as ‘lucky’ Denton because he seemed to benefit from plenty of dropped chances but there are two counters to that, firstly there is Napoleon’s “give me a lucky general rather than a good one”, and secondly people noticed him benefitting from dropped chances for the very simple reason that he made it count when such occurred.
Maurice Leyland – a left handed bat and a bowler of ‘chinamen’, he scored heavily for both Yorkshire and England.
Joe Root – the current England test captain, and a bat of proven world class, though his off spin would not see much use in this team, and you will note that I have not named as captain of this team.
George Hirst – rated by his long time county captain Lord Hawke as the greatest of all county cricketers, he batted right handed and bowled left-arm pace. He achieved the season double of 1,000 runs and 100 wickets in first class matches 14 times, 10 of them in successive seasons. In each of 1904 and 1905 he had over 2,000 runs and 100 wickets, and in 1906 uniquely he had over 2,000 runs and 200 wickets. He was also noted for his fielding at mid-off.
*Wilfred Rhodes– the other of the ‘Kirkheaton twins’, a right handed bat and slow left arm bowler with over 4,000 first class wickets and almost 40,000 first class runs in his career, the longest ever test career in time terms (31 and a half years between his first and last appearances) his astonishing career linked the era of Grace with that of Bradman. I have named as captain because although being a humble professional he never officially had the job I believe he would have been excellent at it- when asked about Percy Chapman as England captain Rhodes said “‘ee wor a good ‘un – he allus did what me an’ Jack telt him”.
Tom Emmett – a left arm pace bowler who took his wickets very economically and was a good enough wielder of the willow to have a first class hundred at a time when they were not easy to come by. He accounted for W G Grace 36 times (as well as Gloucs v Yorks, there were fixtures such as North v South, Gentlemen vs Players etc, so top cricketers came up against one another frequently) and was highly rated by ‘The Doctor’.
Fred Trueman – “T’finest bloody fast bowler that ever drew breath” at least in his own oft stated opinion, and it was close enough to true for the exaggeration to be pardonable. He was the first to take 300 test wickets, and in a 20 year first class career he bowled an average of 800 overs per year. He could also handle a bat and was a good fielder.
Schofield Haigh – a right arm quick medium/ off cutter bowler and lower order bat who sometimes made useful contributions. He often bowled devastatingly in tandem with Hirst and/or Rhodes.
+David Hunter – the only non-international in the XI, he made 1,200 dismissals as Yorkshire wicket keeper, and with the depth of the batting in this side I felt it right to go for the best wicket keeper irrespective of batting ability.
There are a stack of players who could have merited inclusion but for the limit of 11. Among the openers Louis Hall, Jack Brown and Percy Holmes (partner of Herbert Sutcliffe in 74 century opening stands, 69 of them for Yorkshire) could all have been considered, while Brian Close would have his advocates in the middle order, as would various others. Off spinning all rounders Ted Wainwright and Billy Bates could have had a place, and there are a number of slow left armers who could have been given the nod – any of Ted Peate, Bobby Peel, Hedley Verity, Johnny Wardle or Alonzo Drake. Among the faster bowlers for whom no space could be found were George Freeman, Emmett’s regular opening partner for a few years, who took his first-class wickets at less than 10 a piece, George Macaulay, Emmott Robinson, Darren Gough and Chris Silverwood, all of whom might have their advocates. Similarly I could have given the gloves to Arthur Dolphin, Arthur Wood (“always wor a good man for a crisis” when coming in at 770-6 at the Oval in 1938), Jimmy Binks, David Bairstow or Jonny Bairstow. One big name who I refuse to call unlucky to miss out is Geoffrey Boycott – I pick teams to win, not to draw, and Yorkshire’s record in the two seasons in which Boycs averaged over 100 is testimony to the problems his approach created in that regard. Undoubtedly he has the best career record of anyone I have neglected to pick for one of these teams, but too often his runs were not made in a winning cause. I try to balance my sides as well as possible, and in the one I chose I have five top of the range batters, two of the greatest all-rounders to ever play the game, three great and contrasting bowlers and a super gloveman. The bowling options include two different types of left arm pace (Emmett and Hirst), right arm pace (Trueman), right arm medium fast (Haigh), left arm spin (Rhodes), left arm wrist spin (Leyland) and at a push off spin in the person of Root and right arm leg spin courtesy of Hutton. Also, if I am going to err in selecting a side it will be in the direction of stronger bowling rather than stronger batting – you will note that both two actual overseas players I have picked in previous posts and the potential one that I mentioned in the Surrey post are all bowlers. There are examples of teams with less than stellar batting but excellent bowling being big winners – Yorkshire in several of their most outstanding periods, Surrey in the 1950s and a few others, but there are few examples of the converse. Sussex in the the first decade of the 20th century had a powerful batting line up, with Fry and Ranjitsinhji among the all time greats and Joe Vine are top drawer opening partner for Fry plus a few other useful contributors, but they never came close to being champions because they did not have the bowling to press home the advantage that batting should have given them.
PHOTOGRAPHS
The cars in the background are parked, not travelling anywhere.
aspiblog 