Famous Cricketers No 45 - Hedley Verity

Hedley Verity (1905-1943) Early Days Hedley Verity was born on 18th May 1905 at Welton Grove, Headingley, the eldest of the three children of Hedley Verity and Edith Elwick, who were married in July 1903. Hedley had always wanted to be a Yorkshire cricketer, his ambition fired by the exploits of his heroes George Hirst and Wilfred Rhodes. His father, a prosperous coal merchant and keen club cricketer, had wanted him to gain accountancy and secretarial qualifications but relented when he realised his son’s talent and determination. Hedley’s exploits in club cricket for Rawdon and Horsforth Hall Park attracted the attention of the Yorkshire press and thus that of the Yorkshire coach, the aforementioned George Hirst. He played several games for the county colts in which he had more success with the bat than with the ball, but Hirst realised that his bowling had the potential of a county cricketer and recommended him to Accrington in the Lancashire League as their professional in 1927, an appointment which he did not find too congenial as some of the players were rather sceptical of his youth and inexperience. In spite of limited success, however, he was offered a better contract for the 1928 season, but declined it in favour of Middleton in the Central Lancashire League who offered him less money, but promised to release him if ever the call from Yorkshire should come. Up until this time he had been a left-arm medium-pace swing bowler, but realising that the career of the great Wilfred Rhodes was coming to an end he converted, with the club’s blessing, to the style which made him one of the world’s greatest bowlers, slow to medium left-arm spin. In the meantime in 1928, as Rhodes had done before him, he failed a trial with Warwickshire, something which they must have recalled with horror as three years later he took all 10 for 36 against them at Headingley! In 1930 the call came from Yorkshire in Rhodes’ last season and was spectacularly answered as playing in twelve matches he took 64 wickets at 12.42 and headed the national first-class bowling averages. From then until the outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939 his career was one of almost unbroken success as he proved himself to be a more than worthy member of the great succession of Yorkshire slow left-arm bowlers following on from Peate, Peel and Rhodes. He married Kathleen Metcalfe in 1926. There were two sons of the marriage, Wilfred, named after Wilfred Rhodes, born on September 26th 1930 and Douglas, named after Douglas Jardine, born on June 4th 1933. 6