Vicissitudes of cricket in Yorkshire

Press, 26 April 1984, Page 3

Vicissitudes of cricket in Yorkshire

NZPA London Enough has happened in Yorkshire cricket in the last 12 months to fill a book, so trying to tell the story of the county’s 150-year history is a mammoth task.

But John Callaghan, cricket writer of the “Yorkshire Evening Post." has achieved it in “Yorkshire's Pride,” published yesterday. After being English cricket’s top dogs for so long, Yorkshire have suffered a dramatic slump in recent years and last season finished bottom of the county championship table for the first time. Then came the Boycott affair which resulted in the whole general committee being replaced by the most controversial person in the club’s history, Geoff Boycott, and his supporters, the self-styled “rebels.” Callaghan says: “During the days of the Depression, as real to Yorkshire cricket as the industrial disasters were to an earlier generation, it became the habit to look back with enchantment to happier times and many youngsters found themselves weighted down with the matching millstones of a glorious past and continually high public expectation.”

Whether this book adds to the weight of the millstone will only become clear after the new season starts on Saturday but to outsiders it is a fascinating read. Boycott, Herbert Sutcliffe and Len Hutton vie for the title “Yorkshire’s greatest batsman.” Hutton had the most natural talent but “Sutcliffe became a great player because, like Boycott, he did not ignore weaknesses and, by dealing with them, he transformed them into strengths.”

The two finest all-roun-ders were undoubtedly Wilfred Rhodes and George Hirst. Rhodes did the double of 1000 runs and 100 wickets 16 times between 1898 and 1930, while his team-mate Hirst achieved the feat 14 times in 31 years and in 1906 amazingly scored more than 2000 runs and took more than 200 wickets.

“Top bowler” is not so easy, but Bill Bowes, Hedley Verity and, of course, Fred Trueman all served the county with distinction.

The book is full of scoreboards and statistics, with one of the most interesting facts concerning the crowds rather than the players.

In 1921 total attendances climbed to 323,031 — in 1982 the figure was 24,233.