Lives in Cricket No 47 - Brian Sellers

113 The Sixties His words were frequently undiluted Anglo-Saxon, straight to the point and – as near as made absolutely no difference – the law of the club. One by one the victims were summoned into the presence, one by one they returned with long faces and a distinct trace of scorch-marks round the ears …. I was the last to be called in … Sellers was efficient and remorseless. I eventually found myself quaking in front of him, mesmerised by his gaze over the half-glasses that made him look like a Dickensian headmaster. I expected a volley, but Sellers simply said, ‘Now then, what’s the matter?’ It was clear from the question and his tone that Sellers knew I was suffering … I told him I couldn’t work it out myself ... Sellers was understanding personified. He suggested I was trying too hard and had become too tense, and told me to go out in every innings to the end of the season and concentrate on relaxing and taking my time. Take an hour to get used to the pitch and the bowlers and then just play naturally – and don’t worry if you get out. It wasn’t what I expected but it was certainly what I needed. Hutton, 30 years before, had gained from much the same advice. Three weeks later Boycott made his celebrated 146 in the Gillette Cup final at Lord’s, as Yorkshire won their first one-day trophy. Partly thanks to Sellers, county cricket had given up amateurism and accepted one-dayers. Sellers like other officials now had to urge his players to embrace it and so excel at it – and keep excelling. That may Yorkshire team, 1966, at Bradford Park Avenue: back (l to r): GL Alcock (masseur), Philip Sharpe, Doug Padgett, Don Wilson, Tony Nicholson, John Hampshire, Geoffrey Boycott. Front: Jimmy Binks, Fred Trueman, Brian Close (captain), Raymond Illingworth, Ken Taylor.