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When English cricket was quaint

Expert
14th January, 2015
7

One of the most fascinating interviews that has been my privilege to be involved in was in the early 70s with two legends of English cricket – Sir Leonard Hutton on my left, and Alec Bedser on my right at a V-shaped table.

It was live in the late days of black and white television at the Epping studios of Channel Seven, during the Rex Mossop Sunday morning “Sports Action: program.

Opening batsman Sir Leonard was one of Yorkshire’s favourite sons with the inimitable opening bowler Freddie Trueman,

The comment he made that nobody will ever play for Yorkshire unless they were born in the county, will stick in my memory forever.

“That has been the case since Yorkshire County Cricket Club was formed in 1863, and will be the case for as long as cricket is played,” Sir Leonard said with conviction in his rich Yorkshire brogue.

Bedser, who wasn’t knighted until 1996, when he was 78 years old, agreed, adding Yorkshire was the only club with that tradition.

Sir Leonard died in 1990, aged 74, with that tradition still rock solid.

In 1996 the Yorkshire committee of the day relaxed the tradition to include anyone who studied in Yorkshire was eligible to play cricket for the famous county.

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Michael Vaughan, born in Salford, Manchester, grabbed the chance and went on to captain England. The breaking of the 133-year-old tradition was so successful the committee wiped it out altogether.

That cleared the way for the county’s first overseas player – a 19-year-old Sachin Tendulkar.

Another comment Sir Leonard made was how nervous he felt in 1938 when he was honing on Don Bradman’s 334.

“Wally Hammond had broken the Don’s world record with 336 not out against New Zealand in 1933, but we didn’t regard Wally’s record as highly as the Don’s 334 against England in 1930.

“I was so nervous I was nearly sick, as breaking any records of Don Bradman’s was viewed as almost impossible, he was the greatest batsman who ever lived, or will ever live”.

Sir Leonard went on to score 364 against Australia at The Oval that stood as the world record for 20 years until Garfield Sobers broke it with 365 in 1958 for the West Indies against Pakistan at Kingston.

Alec Bedser was one of Surrey’s favourite sons, and he recalled what it was like playing for the county with the famous gasometer at The Oval.

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“There was still the professionals and the amateurs when I started in 1939, and we had separate dressing rooms, and went onto the field through separate gates”.

But it was worse than that. The pros were never allowed into the amateur areas unless invited.

“We won the County Championship for seven successive seasons from 1952 to 1958, but not once did we have a team meeting,” was Bedser’s astonishing revelation.

Worse still, the pros had to address their amateurteammate as “Sir”, or “Mr”. Failure to do so was punished in the pocket.

Bedser was a very docile man, but a very ferocious paceman, even though he was a tick above medium pace. His stats are superb – 51 Tests between 1946 and 1955 claiming 236 wickets at 24.89.

Sir Leonard was also very quiet until he got a bat in hand. In 79 Tests between 1937 and 1955 he scored 6971 runs at 56.67, despite being tagged dour at times.

But his eyes sparkled that Channel Seven day when he spoke of Yorkshire and Bradman, in that order.

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Having both Sir Leonard and Alec Bedser bouncing off one another long after they had retired made the 20-minute live interview very special.

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