Famous Cricketers No 65 - Len Hutton

dual role of professional and captain with his old club, Pudsey St. Lawrence, for whom he started with a “duck”! He was not happy, however, as captain as when the club went through a lean spell, he clashed with the President whose ego was raised by trying to dictate to such a great cricketer. The upshot was that he resigned the captaincy in disgust, but carried on playing. As would be expected, he performed admirably with bat and ball with his club finishing as Priestley Cup winners after defeating Brighouse in the final. In 1944 he played several matches for his club, finishing the season top of the League batting averages, but also managed to play in matches at a higher level. He played twice at Lord’s for England against The Rest of the World and England against Australia. In these games his form was very reassuring. In the first one he scored 34 when his “elegant and brilliant stroke-play” drew admiration from The Times. His 84 against the Australians earned similar plaudits, giving further proof that his rehabilitation was well on course. On September 3rd, the fifth anniversary of the beginning of the War, was played the Hedley Verity Memorial match at Roundhay Park, Leeds, a match which would have been very emotional for Hutton given the closeness of his friendship with the great bowler. The match was ruined by rain, but not before Hutton had scored 82 in his usual immaculate style, a fitting tribute from one great cricketer to another. 1945 Although a full programme of first-class cricket could not be contemplated with the European war not ending until May and the war in the Far East continuing until August, there was enough to whet the appetite for the full resumption in 1946. The Australian Services side, led by the genial Lindsay Hassett, future Test captain and leading batsman, played a full series of “Tests” against an England team led by Wally Hammond. Although there were only Hassett and Keith Miller who were to become members of the post-war Australian side and England had several current or future Test players, the series of five games was very closely fought and ended two- all with one draw. Amazingly, even though there were three matches played at Lord’s, England could not win any of these unofficial Tests either and at the end of the century the 1934 Test remained the only one in which England defeated Australia, official or unofficial. Len Hutton played in all of these games and began his famous opening partnership with Cyril Washbrook. An ominous event took place in the Bramall Lane “Test” when Keith Miller, thought of then primarily as a batsman who bowled a bit, revealed a surprising degree of pace and struck Hutton on the vulnerable left forearm. There were several anxious moments before it became plain that there was nothing serious, but this was the forerunner to several bruising encounters in the 1940s and 1950s. His highest score of the summer came at Scarborough against the New Zealanders with his 188 when the distinguished Yorkshire writer, J.M.Kilburn, said, “… his strokes represented batsmanship of his own standard and there is none higher.” In addition to these first-class matches, there were inevitably several of only two days which did not count as first-class, but never the less involved top-class players. In a friendly for Yorkshire against the Australian Services at Bradford his 82 out of a total of 156 was described as perfect batsmanship on a difficult wicket. In a friendly later in the month between the same sides at Bramall Lane he scored 111, the same score as Keith Miller for the opposition. As Wisden says: “Like Miller, his [Hutton’s] display was unblemished, and it is a pity that two such magnificent innings did not count as first-class.” His 76 against Derbyshire contained thirteen boundaries with him “scoring well all round the wicket. Clearly, the injury to his arm had not meant the end of his career at the top level and he would be ready to resume his place at the top of the order, adjustments to technique having been made, when county and Test cricket made their return in 1946. As well as the cricket outlined above, he also played in several matches for Pudsey St. Lawrence continuing as their professional. In what seems incredible narrow-mindedness and parochialism, there was resentment from some of the committee men at his taking time off to play in the “Victory” 26