Famous Cricketers No 65 - Len Hutton

SEASON’S AVERAGES Batting and Fielding M I NO Runs HS Ave 100 50 Ct Test matches 3 6 1 480 196 96.00 2 1 3 Players 1 2 0 87 86 43.50 - 1 2 Championship 26 40 4 2167 280* 60.19 9 6 31 Other Yorkshire matches 3 4 1 149 102 49.66 1 - 3 Season 33 52 6 2883 280* 62.67 12 8 39 Career 177 271 33 11658 364 48.98 36 44 135 Bowling O M R W BB Ave 5i 10m Test matches 7 0 45 1 1-45 45.00 - - Championship 188.1 30 681 37 5-58 18.40 2 - Other Yorkshire matches 25.6 8 96 6 3-62 16.00 - - Season (8-ball) 220.7 38 822 44 5-58 18.68 2 - Career (6-ball) 847.5 173 } 3513 129 6-76 27.23 4 1 (8-ball) 244.7 39 1939 to 1944 - The War Years In mid-September, just over a fortnight after that famous match with Sussex at Hove, Len married Miss Dorothy Dennis, sister of former Yorkshire cricketer, Frank Dennis, near Scarborough. Even though the war had just begun, his status as a national celebrity was such that the leading newsreel cameras were there to record the event for posterity. In 1940 he volunteered for army service and before long he became a sergeant-instructor in the Army Physical Training Corps. Unlike during the First World War, when it was considered unpatriotic to be playing sport whilst thousands of men were at the front, it was now deemed to be good for the population’s morale to be relaxing whenever possible by playing or watching games. Consequently, league cricket continued in Yorkshire and Hutton played twice for Pudsey St. Lawrence, scoring a century on one occasion, and in several charity matches. In 1941, whilst in commando training for what could have been “selection” for the ill-fated raid on Dieppe the following summer, he suffered a horrific injury when slipping on the mat performing a fly-spring. He fractured the left forearm and dislocated the ulna at the base of the wrist. Although this was a dreadful accident which could have jeopardised his career, one must be grateful that he was thereby spared the disastrous events across the Channel. He was placed in the care of Mr. Reginald Broomhead, a Leeds surgeon, for the next two-and-a-half years. In gratitude, Yorkshire made him a Life Member, as he saved his career. In midsummer he was returned to his unit, scoring a century in a match at Sheffield. He also played in several more service matches. Although he enjoyed reasonable success in these, his innings were always followed by great pain in the arm. It was obvious that he needed more attention to the injury, attention which meant that he did not play again for twenty months. In 1942 he went through a very difficult period with bone grafts from first his right leg and then his left leg to his arm. His demobilisation was followed by weeks of massage and therapy with always at the back of his mind the fear that he may never play again. After all the treatment his left arm was shortened by two inches; if he were ever to play again, he would have to re-model his technique. As we all know, he did play again, with wonderful results, but he said that he was never free from pain in his arm and legs, especially on the hard grounds overseas. He was granted a 50 per cent disability pension, so serious were his wounds. The one bright spot in this year of depression was the birth of his son, Richard, in September. Although unfit for active service, he still “did his bit” by taking on a civilian administrative job in the Royal Engineers. In the same year, 1943, he gradually eased himself back into cricket by taking on the 25