Famous Cricketers No 45 - Hedley Verity

143. ENGLAND v INDIA, Madras, February 10, 11, 12, 13 (England won by 202 runs) lbw b Mushtaq Ali 42 335 23.5 10 49 7 Dilawar Hussain c C.J.Barnett 145 C.K.Nayudu b V.M.Merchant b Yuvraj of Patiala b S.Nazir Ali c A.Mitchell C.S.Nayudu c M.S.Nichols L.Amar Singh c C.J.Barnett did not bat - 261-7d 27.2 6 104 4 S.Wazir Ali c A.Mitchell 249 1 V.M.Merchant c and b C.S.Nayudu st H.Elliott Mushtaq Ali c A.Mitchell 144. M.C.C. v India and Ceylon XI, Colombo, February 22, 23, 24 (M.C.C. won by 8 runs) c V.C.Schokman b E.Kelaart15 155 12 1 38 3 W.R.Brindley lbw 104 2 N.S.Joseph c M.S.Nichols E.Kelaart lbw st V.C.Schokman b E.Kelaart 5 78 9 2 23 3 S.Wazir Ali lbw 121 S.S.Jayawickreme c B.H.Valentine N.S.Joseph c M.S.Nichols 145. M.C.C. v Indian XI, Bombay, March 4, 5, 6 (Match drawn) b L.Amar Singh 4 224 19 5 58 0 238 lbw b G.Richards 11 215 9 2 26 0 112-4 SEASON’S AVERAGES Batting and Fielding M I NO Runs HS Ave 100 50 Ct Tests 3 3 1 121 55* 60.50 - - 2 Other matches 11 15 3 263 91* 21.91 - - 6 Tour 14 18 4 384 91* 27.42 - - 8 Career 145 150 29 2196 91* 18.14 - - 94 Bowling O M R W BB Ave 5i 10m Tests 157.5 61 387 23 7/49 16.82 1 1 Other matches 329.3 118 793 55 7/37 14.41 4 1 Tour 487.2 179 1180 78 7/37 15.12 5 2 Career (6-ball) 4515.3 1580 } 10129 727 10/10 13.93 64 21 (8-ball) 190.2 65 1934 It is indicative of Verity’s greatness that 1934 was his poorest full domestic season in terms of wickets taken (150) and average (17.63). His number of wickets in the County Championship dropped from 153 in 1933 to 79, whilst the average increased from 11.93 to 15.31; moreover his season’s figures of five wickets in an innings and ten in a match were reduced from 18 and 8 respectively in 1933 to 8 and 2 in 1934. Wisden records that “Verity did not always bowl with that deadliness which characterised so much of his work in 1933”. It is noteworthy that Yorkshire had their poorest season since 1911 by ‘only’ finishing 5th equal and in losing as many as seven matches. The Tests against Australia caused Leyland to miss thirteen games, Sutcliffe and Verity twelve and Bowes eleven. The tour to India in the previous winter had also probably taken its toll and Wisden noticed its effects on several of the players in the 1934 season who were suffering from exhaustion after the continuous travelling and excessive heat on the sub-continent. As has been noted Verity bowled over 100 overs more than any other bowler on the trip. However during the season he achieved his most memorable performance, that of taking 15 wickets in the Lord’s Test against Australia. The visitors only just failed to save the follow-on after heavy rain on the Sunday had produced a pitch entirely to Verity’s liking and on the Monday he took 14 wickets in the day for 80 runs, six of the wickets coming in the last hour, to give England a victory by an innings and 38 runs. It remains their most recent Test victory at Lord’s against Australia. With figures of 7-61 and 8-43 (15-104 in the match) he emulated the achievement of his great Yorkshire and England predecessor, Wilfred Rhodes, who had taken 7-56 and 8-68 26