Lives in Cricket No 3 - George Duckworth

Australia as scorer and baggage master, under the F.R.Brown and E.D.R.Eagar, Jim Laker said ‘most of us came to the conclusion that Duckworth, nominally baggage-master and scorer, could without much trouble have run the whole tour, doing both managers’ jobs as well.’ There is a flavour here of Wilfred Rhodes’s triumphant indirect control of Yorkshire’s cricketing strategy. The class system was such that it could not be openly confessed that the sergeant-major was superior to the colonel when it came to vital military matters. It is clear that George Duckworth was, in effect, one of the most efficient cricket organisers the game has known. The trouble was that the powers-that-be were too shamefaced or asinine to admit it. Calling George Duckworth baggage master was akin to labelling the managing director of BP as commissionaire. Not that George himself complained; he was happy enough doing well what he enjoyed doing. Barrbara de Frez has vivid memories of those colourful times and of the close friendships her father enjoyed with Indian cricketers and administrators, notably, Anthony De Mello. He was also heavily involved with the Indians when they toured England. It is apparent that the Indian government were keen to back such prestigious tours, while George Duckworth himself obtained sponsorship for kit and equipment. The first set of blazers led to some excitement; the badges had to be redone close to the date for sailing because the designers had included an ‘r’ in Pakistan. The Indian authorities were eager enough to fund Bessie Duckworth, and also Leonie Ames, the wife of the Kent player, for part of one of these trips, a just reward for all her efforts in keeping home and farm together during her husband’s many absences. George Duckworth had explained to his Indian counterparts that his wife did not relish being left with agrarian responsibilities – and they were quick to respond. She enjoyed her sub-continental vacation, even if, from the viewpoint of the prototypical Lancashire housewife, some of the hygiene and other environmental conditions bothered her. Frank Worrell called her, not so much the Lady with the Lamp, as the Lady with the Keating Powder. The Duckworths were showered with gifts by their Indian friends, such was their appreciation of the crusading work that George was doing. A Hillman car from the Indian embassy, when cars were not The Legacy 56