This is one of a number of films made by Yorkshire and England cricketer Ray Illingworth deposited with the Yorkshire Film Archive.  Most of the films are of family holidays, mainly in Spain, or at home; this seems to be the only one with any cricketing footage and is the earliest of the films, the last being in 1979.   Ray Illingworth was first capped for Yorkshire in 1955, aged 19, and made his Test début in 1958.  In fact Illingworth played for Yorkshire on two separate periods in his...

This is one of a number of films made by Yorkshire and England cricketer Ray Illingworth deposited with the Yorkshire Film Archive.  Most of the films are of family holidays, mainly in Spain, or at home; this seems to be the only one with any cricketing footage and is the earliest of the films, the last being in 1979.

 

Ray Illingworth was first capped for Yorkshire in 1955, aged 19, and made his Test début in 1958.  In fact Illingworth played for Yorkshire on two separate periods in his career: up until 1968, when he went to Leicestershire, and again when he came back as manager in 1982.  Although Illingworth didn’t captain Yorkshire in his first spell, he was highly instrumental in helping them to win the County Championship on seven occasions, and for three years in a row, 1966, ’67 and ’68.  This was a team filled with great talent, and strong characters, including Boycott, Close and Trueman.  Then, after disputes with the Yorkshire committee over the lack of a contract, Illingworth moved on to become captain of Leicestershire in 1969. In an interview for ‘The Corridor of Uncertainty: the voice of Yorkshire cricket fans’, having been voted to enter the Yorkshire Hall of Fame, Illingworth said that, “I think that the Yorkshire Committee were very badly run for a very long time.”   In his Forward to Andrew Collomosse’s book Magnificent Seven, Illingworth states that the move to Leicestershire did him a favour as he doubled his money and it led to his England captaincy.

 

Illingworth never managed to gain a regular place in the England team until the series against India in 1967. He was offered the captaincy of England in 1969, after Colin Cowdrey broke a tendon, and had great success, starting with a record breaking 27 Test Matches without defeat between 1968 and 1971, including  becoming only the third England captain to regain the Ashes in Australia (and without losing a match) – helped by great performances by Geoffrey Boycott and John Edrich, and the fiery bowling of John Snow.  England then retained the Ashes at home in 1972 and Illingworth had further series wins over New Zealand and Pakistan.  Illingworth is regarded as being one of the most astute captains England has had, in particular with his field placements and knowing when best to change the bowling.  He was also noted as a motivator, receiving great loyalty from his players.   But Illingworth was also a real all-rounder: not only an exceptional bowler of spin, with a right-arm off-break – taking 122 wickets at a miserly 1.91 runs per over in his 61 Tests – but also a dogged batsmen, often finishing not out (and including two Test centuries).   Although he lost his last Test series to the West Indies, they were a formidable team, and this doesn’t detract too much from his record.   He was awarded the CBE in 1973, and is one of only nine cricketers in the history of the game to have got over 25,000 runs and taken over 2,000 wickets.

 

Illingworth later returned to Yorkshire in 1978 to become team manager, during which time he had a well-publicised dispute with Geoffrey Boycott, which Illingworth has subsequently downplayed.  He also returned to captain Yorkshire in 1982 at the age of 50, still keeping himself fit, leading them to the Sunday League title the next season.  In 1994 he was made chairman of selectors of England and had three awkward years in the post.  Yet despite these latter difficulties, in his player profile for cricinfo, John Thicknesse claims that Illingworth has “a droll sense of humour and a fund of reminiscences [that] made him one of the best-liked players of his time.”

 

This film shows Illingworth’s team-mates Close, Trueman, a wounded Hampshire, Wilson, Binks and Nicholson chatting on the dressing room balcony during the 1964 Roses match at Old Trafford.  The entry in Wikipedia for Old Trafford notes that the position of the old Pavilion, “sat parallel to the wickets, rather than behind them, presenting the members with one of the worst viewing angles possible.”  The Pavilion was built in 1895, the year before that of the Pavilion at the North Marine Road Ground in Scarborough, both typical of many classic cricket pavilions built around that time.  But whereas the latter has survived intact, the one at Old Trafford – which had been hit by a bomb in 1940, and was deemed unsafe – has recently been largely replaced, whilst retaining the front façade.  A new modern £12 million building called 'The Point', including a conference centre, is taking on many of its functions.  Some have mourned the end of a time when family and club members could freely mingle with the players, something that isn’t possible in the revamped Old Trafford.

 

As well as showing film from the Roses match, there follows Yorkshire in action against the Australian tourists at Bradford in 1964. Three of their four matches against the Aussies in that decade were played at Sheffield where, in 1968, Fred Trueman, captaining the side in the absence of Brian Close, led Yorkshire to victory by an innings and 69 runs.  It was an historic win, their first over an Australian touring side since 1902, at a famous old ground that sadly hosted first-class cricket for the last time in 1973 before devoting itself entirely to football.

 

Fred Trueman, of course, was one of the great characters of the game – here seen giving a typical Trueman gesture.  He was noted for keeping the crowd entertained while on the field, and his team mates when off it.  Michael Parkinson described him as the most charismatic cricketer of his time, and some might add of any other.  Max Davidson – who provides an enjoyable portrait of Trueman and his era – quotes Bill Bowes recalling Fred Trueman: “He talked in the field to anybody who would listen.  He talked in the dressing room to such an extent that his Yorkshire team-mates seldom answered back because this was encouragement . . . he could invariably be found in the dressing room of the opposing team . . . Fred’s unhappiest moments on the cricket field were when his skipper sent him down to the fine leg boundary, 20 yards in from the spectators, where he could find no one to talk to.”  In the 1990s, to his delight, Trueman discovered that he had Jewish ancestry from his maternal grandmother. 

 

In Andrew Collomosse’s book, Brian Bolus and Mike Cowan give accounts of their time at Yorkshire.  In 1962 the two players, who played at school together and were both capped for Yorkshire on the same day, were told they weren’t going to be retained.  Brian Bolus explains that he had had a poor season, and with young players like Geoffrey Boycott and John Hampshire emerging the decision wasn’t surprising.  Brian Bolus  moved on to Notts., gaining seven caps for England in the following two years, while Mike Cowan went to Rochdale in the Central Lancashire League (now working as an after dinner speaker).

 

At present the Yorkshire County side only plays first class cricket in Yorkshire at Scarborough and at Headingley.   But over the years they have played at twenty two grounds in Yorkshire in total, including: Abbeydale Park, Sheffield (1974-1996), Acklam Park, Middlesbrough (1956-1996), The Circle, Hull (1899-1990), Fartown, Huddersfield (1873-1982), Park Avenue, Bradford (1881-1996), St George's Park, Harrogate (1894-2000) and Bramall Lane, Sheffield (1855-1973).  Scarborough, which has had cricket since 1863, second only to Bramall Lane in Yorkshire, still hosts the world famous Cricket Festival each year.  But in fact 1962 was also the last time a Gentlemen v Players match was played at Scarborough, after amateur status was abolished in that year – it had been a part of the festival since 1948 (Lords had hosted it since 1806).  

 

The visit to Scarborough may have been at the time of the annual cricket festival there, with Illingworth taking one of his daughters for a donkey ride on the beach.  Andrew Collomosse asks: “How many of today’s leading players would be filmed doing that?”  Ray Illingworth was clearly comfortably off, but his income would have been far less than he might have earned as a top player playing now.  Like their footballing counterparts, although nowhere to the same degree, cricketers can earn much more today – with members of the England cricket team on a central contract system of between £250,000 to £400,000 a year  – and for similar reasons: sponsorship and television money.   After a fairly fallow period, ending with relegation in 2011, Yorkshire look to be back on the way up at the time of writing (May 2013), having gained promotion in 2012, and with Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow and Tim Bresnan all in strong contention for England places.  Bradford-born Adil Rashid is also coming into some good form.  Yorkshire have won more championships and produced more England players than any other county, but to have three (has there ever been four?) in the England team would take them back to their 1960s glory days; while Geoffrey Boycott is hoping to steer them to their 32nd County Championship title in their anniversary year.

 

(With special thanks to Andrew Collomosse for his contributions and many corrections)

 

References

 

Andrew Collomosse, Magnificent Seven: Yorkshire's Champions of the Championship Years, The Men, The Magic, The Memories, Great Northern Books, 2010.

Max Davidson, We’ll get ‘em in Sequins: manliness, Yorkshire Cricket and the century that changed everything, Wisden Sports Writing, 2012.

Steve Draper, Cricket Grounds of Yorkshire, Association of Cricket Statisticians & Historians, 1995.

David Warner, The Sweetest Rose: 150 Years of Yorkshire CCC, Great Northern Books, 2012.

Sam Firth, ‘Lancashire cricket has lost something precious at its Old Trafford home’

Andrew Glover, Remembering Yorkshire County Cricket Club's out grounds

Interview with Illingworth in 2006, ‘Illy - Getting Yorkshire Cap Was Greatest Moment’

Dave Liverman, A profile of Ray Illingworth, cricket archive

Simon Lambert, ‘How much do top cricketers earn?’