Edrich was bowling – only a little man – but he was
quite quick. Bradman played these hook shots through
midwicket. It stuck in my mind because after watching
Bradman play, I went on to play that shot quite well.
“Bradman was an onside player in an offside era. He’d
get to 20 or 30 quickly, but what he did was to move
across and play to mid-on and through midwicket, and in
those days people set offside fi elds and bowled to them.
I remember Bradman and Morris went on and on and I
recall missed stumpings by Godfrey Evans. As a young
man, I was thinking ‘we need some wickets’.
“In 1970/71, I chatted to Bradman once or twice and he
criticised me quite a lot because there were discussions
about onside fi elds. I said ‘we’ll have six on the onside’,
because when we played South Australia at Adelaide,
they had Barry Richards and Greg Chappell, both on-side
bats. I was criticised in the press, but I said ‘you put
fi elders where they are hitting the ball to’.
“I didn’t have many dealings with Bradman, although I
played against him in February 1963 for MCC against a
Prime Minister’s XI. He came out of retirement and was
quickly out. Talking to one or two Aussies later in life, I
didn’t think they liked Bradman as a person, but they all
admired him as a batsman and run-getter.
“Back in 1948, I was playing for Farsley seconds and
Len Hutton was my hero. Len got 81 and 57 at Headingley
and I was infatuated with him. I’d watched him play for
Pudsey St Lawrence and he was so elegant even when he
wasn’t scoring. He was a lovely stylist and no doubt at
all, Len was the best bat I saw on all sorts of wickets.
“Actually, I got my fi rst bat from Len. The then Farsley
president, who was friends with him, told me to go up to
Len’s house in Pudsey because he had some bats. He lived
nearby and Len came out with three or four bats – all
new. He’d obviously got them for nothing and I think I
paid a fi ver for one, which was a lot in those days. So it
was just wonderful to get a new bat from him.
“Neil Harvey scored 112 at Leeds and he was only
- I played against Neil for Yorkshire in 1953, 1956
and 1961. He was quick on his feet, he’d get down
the wicket and Neil was an excellent fi elder: a
brilliant cover point. If you pinched a single
and you made a slight mistake, you’d be
pushed to get in.
“I also played against Ray Lindwall. He
bowled Len in the fi rst innings at Leeds. He
was deceptive because Ray had a low arm
action. When he bowled you a yorker, you
thought it was a length ball and he deceived
you because he had this low trajectory and
the ball kept coming at you like that.
“They reckoned that Lindwall bowled the
best yorker of them all, plus Ray could swing
it as well. Lindwall and Keith Miller were two
different bowlers. Keith was nasty when he
wanted to be. He had a high arm action and
got a lot of bounce from just short of a length.
The nearest to him I’d say was John Snow.
“I met Keith [58 and 12, 1 for 43 and 1 for 53
at Leeds] a lot when Yorkshire were winning
Championships in my era. He was working for
the Daily Express. I liked him a lot, and when I was
captain in Australia he wrote a decent piece about
me. I remember Keith writing that when it comes to
captaincy, Illingworth is nobody’s mug.”
Bird was just as thrilled to be at Headingley. After a
brief career with Yorkshire and Leicestershire, he would
become the most famous umpire in England, if not the
world, and would stand in 66 Tests, 69 ODIs and the fi rst
three World Cup fi nals.
“I was playing for Barnsley Boys and remember going
with Stan Pickles, who was in my form at school. We
played truant and caught the bus from Barnsley to Leeds
and then a tram from the city centre to Headingley.
They were queuing for miles and the atmosphere was
tremendous. We went through the old turnstiles and I
sat to the left of the Football Stand and wasn’t far from
behind the bowlers’ arm. We had our pop and sandwiches
and were excited.
“We got back the next day and the headmaster, Henry
Bird [no relation] sent for us. Where were you yesterday?
We said we’d been to the Test. ’Bird, cricket is all you think
about,’ he said. ‘Now bend over.’ And I got six of the best.
It was worth it because I’d seen so many great players.
“As for Bradman, I saw him play at Bramall Lane
in Sheffi eld in June of that year. He got 54 and 86. The
ground was full to capacity. I thought he was set for a
century but Johnny Wardle got him caught at cover point.
Bradman was awesome on a good pitch and got to 50 in
no time. There’s never been a player like him in the
history of the game.
“I once had lunch with Bradman in Adelaide. I
found him to be a gentleman. We had a long chat
about the Laws of the game. I felt embarrassed
to be in his company and he said, ‘I feel the
same to be in yours’.
“Bradman told me that Yorkshire were
the greatest club in the world. He
was made an honorary member, like
me, so to be alongside Sir Donald
Bradman doesn’t get much better
than that. To me Bradman, Lindwall,
Miller and Harvey were gods. When
I was in Sydney promoting one of my
books, Keith invited me and Michael
Parkinson to go to his place right up the
coast.
“We spent the whole day there. It was one of
the fi nest days of my life. We had lunch in the
yacht club and chatted. Keith’s knowledge on
cricket was out of this world and as a player he
was a great allrounder.
“At Headingley, Jack Crapp, the Gloucestershire
bat, played. He was already an umpire when I
came onto the list and I got to know him well. In
one of my fi rst games, we talked about Headingley
and he said he didn’t do much – 5 and 18 with the
bat, and he’d dropped Bradman at fi rst slip.
“I asked Jack for some advice on umpiring. Do
you know what he said? ‘Pack it up’. I’m glad I
didn’t because I’ve had a wonderful life.”England v
Australia, 4th
Test, Headingley,
Jul 22–27 1948England 496
(C Washbrook
143, JH Edrich 111,
L Hutton 81)
and 365 for 8 dec
(DCS Compton
66, Washbrook
65, Hutton 57)Australia 458
(RN Harvey 112,
SJE Loxton 93, R
Lindwall 77, KR
Miller 58)
and 404 for 3
(AR Morris 182,
DG Bradman
173*)Australia won
by 7 wkts.‘Bradman was an onside player
in an o side era. He criticised me
in 1970/71 because I had
six fi elders on the onside’
BELOW
Keith Miller ‘had
a high arm action
and extracted a lot
of bounce’ says
Ray Illingworththecricketer.com | THE INVINCIBLES | FEATURE