The present Yorkshire County Cricket Membership was shaped in 1863 and, as befits probably the most profitable county within the historical past of the Championship, has had many extra phrases written about it than every other. So far as the historical past of the membership is worried I’ll subsequently solely be mentioning a number of the books accessible.
The membership itself has produced three substantial volumes dedicated to its and a predecessor membership’s historical past. These cowl the years 1833-1903, 1903-1923 and 1924-1949 and had been written by Reverend RS Holmes, AW Pullin (‘Previous Ebor’) and Jim Kilburn respectively. I do know not why additional volumes within the sequence weren’t issued, though little doubt the proliferation of different titles from a wide range of publishers is a big a part of the rationale.
For these within the wider context of the cubs historical past there have been three latest books by Jeremy Lonsdale, A Recreation Taken Critically, A Recreation Sustained and A Recreation Divided which add rather more to these early books. On a purely cricketing theme there may be EL Roberts celebration of the county’s then 22 Championships, printed in 1947.
For newer histories there have been two printed in 1989. One is the Yorkshire quantity within the Helm sequence, written by Anthony Woodhouse, the competitors described itself as The Official Historical past of Yorkshire CCC, and was written by Derek Hodgson. That e book was reprised in 2009, once more written by Hodgson however this time sponsored by Carnegie. Three years later David Warner and David Hopps printed The Sweetest Rose, a celebration of the membership’s one hundred and fiftieth anniversary.
A extra focused e book of historical past is Stuart Rayner’s 2018 printed The Struggle of the White Roses, coping with the membership’s inside political upheavals between 1968 and 1986. On a extra upbeat tone Andrew Collomosse’s 2010 printed Magnificent Seven examines the county’s seven title wins within the Sixties. As I say there are others, however maybe now could be the time to maneuver on to the gamers.
George Freeman first appeared for Yorkshire in 1865. A advantageous spherical arm quick bowler his temporary First Class profession was all however over by the point Check cricket started and that we all know as a lot about him as we do is thanks largely to one in all Irving Rosenwater’s meticulously researched monographs, George Freeman: Poetry in Movement, that was produced in 1995.
The profession of Freeman’s up to date Tom Emmett started a yr later. Emmett, like Freeman was primarily a quick spherical arm bowler, in his case a left armer. Emmett’s profession lasted lengthy sufficient for him to play in seven Exams. His biography was a very long time in coming, Jeremy Lonsdale’s Tom Emmett: The Spirit of Yorkshire Cricket showing within the ACS Lives in Cricket sequence in 2018.
A decade after Emmett’s profession started Edmund Carter made the primary of his fourteen First Class appearances for Yorkshire. Later to be ordained Carter made his better contribution as an administrator however it was nonetheless a slight shock to see him turn into one other of the ACS Lives in Cricket in 2018. Reverend ES Carter: A Yorkshire Cricketing Cleric was written by Anthony Bradbury.
Essentially the most vital contribution that Carter made to Yorkshire cricket was to introduce Lord Hawke to the county. Captain for greater than 1 / 4 of a century and thereafter a strong determine in Yorkshire and England cricket for the remainder of his days Hawke has, maybe, not been topic to as a lot consideration as he ought to have been from biographers. There may be nonetheless one biography, Lord Hawke by James P Coldham that was printed in 1990 to go along with Hawke’s autobiography, Recollections and Reminiscences, that had been printed in 1924.
George ‘Shoey’ Harrison was a gap bowler who performed for Yorkshire between 1883 and 1892.Harrison has a very good document, though he was by no means capped by England, however he’s the topic of a privately printed biography that was written by JW Northing, From Final to Lord’s, that appeared in 1935.
Sluggish left arm bowlers Bobby Peel and Ted Peate had been contemporaries, and are two of the lads featured in Alan Hill’s 1983 printed A Chain of Spin Wizards, a e book that additionally offers with their illustrious successors within the Yorkshire aspect. Peel can also be the topic of a few different publications from Gerry Wolstenholme and Irving Rosenwater. Wolstenholme’s Mine Host on the Mitre concentrates the occasions of 1905 when Peel took a pub in Blackpool and spent the summer time taking part in for the city’s membership. Rosenwater’s An Unjust Slur on Bobby Peel discredits the, previous to that, oft quoted concept that Peel had been sacked by Yorkshire in 1897 for urinating on the sector.
The Yorkshire wicketkeeper between 1888 and 1909 was David Hunter. In his retirement yr a slim e book, The Reminiscences of David Hunter was printed, and the most effective a part of a century later Purple Rose Books republished the e book with a brand new introduction by Gerry Wolstenholme.
Politics in addition to cricket performed a serious half within the lifetime of Sir Stanley Jackson, England’s Ashes profitable captain of 1905 who topped each batting and bowling averages for the sequence. He was the topic of a biography by Percy Cross Standing as way back as 1907. The Hon FS Jackson by its nature dealt primarily together with his cricket. A later biography, FS Jackson, by James P Coldham from 1989 informed his whole life story.
Two of probably the most well-known of all Yorkshire cricketers are George Hirst and Wilfred Rhodes. Their names have all the time been linked and Hirst and Rhodes are the topic of a double biography by AA Thomson in 1959. A relatively slimmer quantity bearing the 2 names had appeared in 1937 from WH Humphrey. Individually Sidney Rogerson produced a biography of Rhodes in 1960 and a definitive biography from Patrick Ferriday Wilfred Rhodes: The Triumphal Arch was one of many highlights of 2021. As for Hirst he was the topic of a monograph from Patrick Neal in 2006, and the identical yr Hirst’s well-known summer time of the ‘double double’ was handled by Stephen Chalke in A Summer time of A lot.
There weren’t to many amateurs, captains aside, who had been adequate to play for Yorkshire, however one who was all rounder Rockley Wilson, who toured Australia in 1920/21. A biography of Wilson by Martin Howe appeared within the ACS Lives in Cricket sequence. Rocky Wilson: Exceptional Cricketer, Singular Man was printed in 2008. A quick assortment of Wilson’s personal writings, The Better of Rockley, was put collectively by Patrick MacLure in 1998.
Not content material with two all-rounders of the standard of Hirst and Rhodes the Yorkshire aspect within the years earlier than the Nice Struggle had three extra, Main Sales space, Alonzo Drake and Roy Kilner. The primary pair had been advantageous gamers and Sales space was capped by England however, sadly, the Nice Struggle introduced down the curtain on the careers of each. Sales space misplaced his life on the Western Entrance in 1916, and sick well being claimed Drake in 1919. Their lives had been chronicled by Mick Pope in 1995 in Tragic White Roses.
Pope additionally, in 1980, wrote a biography of Kilner, The Laughing Cricketer of Wombwell. Kilner lived relatively longer than Sales space and Drake, resumed his profession after the battle and have become an England participant however, within the winter of 1927/28, while in India teaching, he contracted enteric fever and died in April 1928, 100,000 folks attending his funeral procession being testomony to his immense reputation. Kilner, with brother Norman and uncle Irving Washington additionally options in Cricketers of Wombwell, a small e book printed in 1965 by the city’s cricket society.
One other Yorkshire cricketing couplet is Holmes and Sutcliffe, the well-known opening partnership of the inter battle years. Percy Holmes made his bow in 1913, and Herbert Sutcliffe in 1919. As with Hirst and Rhodes AA Thomson produced a double biography, Holmes and Sutcliffe: The Run Stealers, in 1970 and, in 2007, Stephen Chalke wrote a small e book coping with the pairs document opening partnership, 5 5 5. That’s it so far as Holmes is worried however Sutcliffe produced an autobiography, For England and Yorkshire, in 1935. Later, in 1991, Alan Hill wrote Herbert Sutcliffe: Cricket Maestro and in 2003 a Rosenwater monograph examined intimately the chance within the late Nineteen Twenties, by no means realised, of Sutcliffe turning into Yorkshire captain.
Maurice Leyland took his place within the Yorkshire aspect in 1920 and was a mainstay of the county and England batting for a few years. A biography from Mike Popplewell appeared within the ACS Lives in Cricket sequence in 2017, for as soon as the title merely being its topic’s identify. A up to date of Leyland was opening bowler and helpful decrease order batsman George Macaulay and in 2021 the Lives in Cricket gave us a wonderful biography George Macaulay: The Street to Sullom Voe.
Of the numerous Yorkshire cricketers who’ve led England the least recognized is undoubtedly wicketkeeper Rony Stanyforth. A profession soldier who finally rose to the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel Stanyforth led England in 4 Exams in South Africa in 1927/28 and his solely three video games for Yorkshire got here the next summer time. In 2012 Martin Howe privately printed an fascinating monograph, Ronald Thomas Stanyforth.
Quick bowler Invoice Bowes was a advantageous cricketer and an clever man who, after retiring from the sport, grew to become an achieved journalist/author. Bowes wrote a wonderful autobiography, Categorical Deliveries in 1949. Yorkshire’s different main bowler of the Nineteen Thirties was the exceptional Hedley Verity, the very best profile cricketing casualty of World Struggle Two. Verity is the topic of maybe the most effective of Alan Hill’s cricketing biographies, Hedley Verity: A Portrait of a Cricketer, a e book which initially appeared in 1986, with a brand new version in 2000. A extra modest biography by Sam Davis, Hedley Verity: Prince with a Piece of Leather-based, had been printed in 1952. Extra not too long ago 10 for 10 by Chris Waters, while not being fairly an autobiography, accommodates a lot background materials in addition to an account of Verity’s most exceptional evaluation
The person who led Yorkshire between 1933 and 1947, and who was closely concerned within the operating of the membership after that, was Brian Sellers. His biography was one other within the ACS Lives in Cricket sequence, Mark Rowe’s Brian Sellers: Yorkshire Tyrant, printed in 2017.
Subsequent up is the person who virtually deserves a bibliography on his personal, Sir Leonard Hutton, who made his Yorkshire debut in 1934. Through the years Hutton was to provide three autobiographies. The primary was Cricket is my Life in 1949 and that was adopted by Simply my Story, printed in 1956, the yr after he retired from the sport. A a lot better learn is his collaboration with Alex Bannister, Fifty Years in Cricket, that appeared in 1984.
There have additionally been a variety of biographies of Hutton. For the primary he featured in one other of AA Thomson’s double biographies, the 1963 printed Hutton and Washbrook. Subsequent, in 1980, was David Lemmon’s Len Hutton: A Pictorial Biography, which was adopted in 1988 by Gerald Howat’s Len Hutton: The Biography. In 1992, following Hutton’s passing two years beforehand, Donald Trelford’s Len Hutton Remembered completes the set.
Hutton was, in fact, England’s first skilled captain. One among his predecessors in that position was Norman Yardley, who was additionally Hutton’s skipper at Yorkshire after Sellers till he, like Hutton, retired on the finish of the 1955 summer time. Yardley printed an autobiography in 1950, Cricket Campaigns. He has additionally been the topic of a 2015 biography within the ACS Lives in Cricket sequence by Martin Howe, Norman Yardley: Yorkshire’s Gentleman Cricketer.
On the finish of the 1939 season a 19 yr outdated batsman, Willie Watson, made an undistinguished begin to his cricket profession. After the battle Watson represented England at each cricket and soccer and in 1956 his autobiography, Double Worldwide, was printed. He later moved to Leicestershire and in time emigrated to South Africa. A biography by Frank Garrick, Willie Watson, was printed in 2013, 9 years after Watson’s passing.
In 1945 Alec Coxon, a proper arm medium quick bowler and helpful decrease order batsman, first performed for Yorkshire. He remained with the county for 5 summers, and in that point was chosen as soon as for England, towards Don Bradman’s 1948 Australians. In 2012 Robert Owen’s Two Huddersfield Cricketers featured an account of Coxon’s life.
The next yr one of many nice characters of Yorkshire cricket started his profession, Johnny Wardle. His autobiography Comfortable Go Johnny, written by AA Thomson, appeared in 1957, the yr earlier than he was sacked by the county for criticising his captain, Ronnie Burnett. A biography by Alan Hill, Johnny Wardle: Cricket Magican, was printed in 1998.
Geoffrey Keighley led an enchanting life, and deserves to be remembered for extra than simply being a helpful beginner batsman who performed for Yorkshire regardless of having been born in France. There is a wonderful if little recognized biography of Keighley, A Exceptional Life, privately printed in Australia, the place he had settled a few years earlier than, by creator John Carter in 2005.
The season of 1949 noticed two youngsters make their Yorkshire debuts, Brian Shut and Fred Trueman, and certainly Shut received an England cap and stays the youngest of all England cricketers. From Shut there have been to be two autobiographies, Near Cricket in 1968 and I Don’t Bruise Simply in 1978. In time there was a biography from Alan Hill, Brian Shut: Cricket’s Lionheart in 2002 and as not too long ago as 2020 a cache of Shut’s correspondence was used to assemble an enchanting new e book, David Warner’s Simply A Few Traces …
As for Trueman he gave his identify to as many as 4 autobiographies. the primary two appeared throughout his profession, Quick Fury in 1961 and The Freddie Trueman Story in 1965. Ball Of Hearth adopted in 1976 and his remaining try on the style, and definitely the most effective, As It Was, appeared in 2004. As for biographies Fred: Portrait of a Quick Bowler appeared from the pen of John Arlott in 1973, Fred Then And Now in 1991 from Don Mosey and, lastly, Chris Waters’ Fred Trueman: The Authorised Biography in 2011.
The cricket profession of medium paced off spinner Bob Appleyard was a brief one, simply eight years from begin to end, however over that point he rook greater than 700 wickets at round 15 runs apiece, figures which demonstrated he was a really particular bowler certainly. He was additionally a particular man, and his biography No Coward Soul, written by Stephen Chalke and Derek Hodgson and printed in 2003 with a second version in 2008, is one the perfect cricketing biographies.
One other off spinner who started his Yorkshire profession within the early Fifties was Ray Illingworth, a person who went on to guide Leicestershire and England with distinction earlier than, on the age of fifty, lastly taking the reins at Yorkshire for 2 summers. Illingworth’s first autobiography was Spinner’s Wicket in 1969. That was adopted by Yorkshire and Again in 1980, The Tempestuous Years 1979-1983 in 1986 and, lastly, One Man Committee in 1996. Just one man has thus far tried a biography, Mike Stevenson, whose Illy appeared in 1978.
Ken Taylor performed for Yorkshire for 16 summers, the primary being 1953. He was a adequate batsman to be capped 3 times by England, and within the winter months he loved an equally lengthy profession in skilled soccer. In later life Taylor coached and used his inventive expertise to earn a residing and he was the topic of a e book by Stephen Chalke, Drawn to Sport, printed in 2006.
In 1957 Don Wilson was earmarked for the position of the subsequent nice Yorkshire left arm spinner. He by no means fairly managed that, however over the most effective a part of twenty years was an necessary member of the normally profitable Yorkshire aspect and while he by no means threatened to take Derek Underwood’s place within the England aspect he did win six caps. Later a revered coach Wilson’s autobiography, Mad Jack, was printed in 1992.
In 1961 the Yorkshire profession of John Hampshire started, and a yr later that of Sir Geoffrey Boycott. Very long time teammates the pair finally fell out and Hampshire left the county in acrimonious circumstances in 1981. His autobiography, appropriately titled Household Argument, appeared two years later.
While Hampshire received simply half a dozen England caps Boycott set many information over his profession, and he has been the topic of many books. Two autobiographies are The Autobiography, printed in 1987, and The Hall of Certainty which adopted in 2014. Numerous different books bear Boycott’s identify together with a few tour accounts and all have autobiographical components.
There are a variety of books about Boycott by others, however I’ll point out simply two, neither of which had been to show standard with the person himself. These are Don Mosey’s 1985 Boycott, and a later e book from Leo McKinstrey, Boycs, printed in 2000.
A teammate of Hampshire and Boycott, and in addition briefly an England participant was off spinner Geoff Cope. His was not a simple life, both inside cricket or exterior the sport, and a usually wonderful biography from Stephen Chalke appeared in 2017, In Solar and in Shadow.
One of many sadder tales of Yorkshire cricketers is that of David Bairstow, who tragically took his personal life in 1998. There isn’t a autobiography as such, though within the nature of such books Barstow’s A Yorkshire Diary for 1984 accommodates autobiographical components. Taking issues out of order nevertheless there may be, unsurprisingly, a lot about Bairstow within the autobiography of son Jonny, A Clear Blue Sky, printed in 2017.
One other case of a tragic Yorkshire cricketer is that of Neil Lloyd. Lloyd by no means performed a primary crew sport however performed an beneath 19 Check and for the second eleven and was broadly tipped for top achievemnt on the time of his loss of life in 1982, when he has solely 17. Tony Woodhouse produced an appreciation of Lloyd that appeared the next yr.
Since 1980 the one Yorkshire gamers who’ve been the topic of biographical books are, Jonny Bairstow aside, Richard Blakey, Darren Gough, Matthew Hoggard and Michael Vaughan. Joe Root has given his identify to an account of the 2015 Ashes sequence, however not but an autobiography. Blakey’s e book bears the marginally uncomfortable title of Taking It From Behind, and appeared in 1999. Gough’s Dazzler: The Autobiography was printed in 2001, Vaughan’s Time To Declare in 2009 (there are a few diaries as nicely) and Hoggard’s Hoggy: Welcome To My World in 2010.
Along with the books listed within the previous paragraph there are numerous collections of biographical essays about Yorkshire cricketers, together with one which dates again to 1898, Previous Ebor’s Talks With Previous Yorkshire Cricketers. Extra not too long ago John Callaghan’s Yorkshire Cricket Greats was printed in 1990. One other such title is Hearth and Ashes, Duncan Hamilton’s 2009 e book that seemed on the 18 Yorkshireman then residing who had performed for England. One other themed choice is Mick Pope’s Headingley Ghosts, a 2013 printed assortment of these Yorkshire gamers whose lives had been touched by tragedy.
There may be, naturally, a Who’s Who of Yorkshire Cricket, written by Paul Dyson in 2018. I’ve not seen that one however do have a duplicate Yorkshire Cricketers 1839-1939, written by Peter Thomas and printed in 1973, which is definitely a wonderful e book of its kind. There may be as well as the compulsory Tempus 100 Greats e book, printed in 2001 and for which we once more have Mick Pope to thank.
On Championship summers there have been a few latest books. David Bond’s 2002 printed Simply Champion! celebrated the White Rose’s first title for 33 years, and simply over a decade later Joe Sayers’ Rose Tinted Summer time did the identical for the one hundred and fiftieth summer time in 2012, albeit one other title eluded Yorkshire that yr. Lastly on that type of theme is a e book that’s in any other case troublesome to classify. Half historical past, half biography and half season’s diary is Thomas Blow’s 2020 Honorary Tyke, a have a look at the yr when a younger Sachin Tendulkar added to his CV the truth that he had been Yorkshire’s first abroad participant.
Amidst all that may I determine two books on Yorkshire cricket that I wish to see written? In precise reality this is without doubt one of the simpler duties I’ve set myself. The 2 are an autobiography from Richard Hutton, and the story of the all-rounder who Neville Cardus invented, Emmott Robinson.
