Lives in Cricket No 47 - Brian Sellers

43 On the field If Yorkshire needed runs in a hurry, they could make them. In August 1946 at Leicester, Yorkshire made 249 for five on the first day, that even Kilburn called ‘uninspiring’. When Leicestershire just saved the follow-on, after rain, on the last morning Yorkshire scored 106 in 45 minutes (and 17 overs) so that Sellers could declare at lunch. Yorkshire did without the tea break, as the fielding side was allowed to, and the last Leicestershire pair hung on for 30 minutes. As for batting against Yorkshire, Bill Edrich recalled in 1950 how it felt in ‘the old days’: ‘There seem to be clutching hands all round you, and instead of pitting your wits against one man – the bowler – you are fighting the whole lot! Which is just as it should be.’ Several fielders might stand close to the bat, almost within hand-shaking distance of the batsman. As an example of how only the strongest-willed could resist, at Sheffield in June 1937 the champions Derbyshire were 105 for seven at lunch on the first day. According to the Bradford Telegraph and Argus , the visiting captain Robin Buckston later looked a ‘trifle foolish’ when Sellers went to silly mid off, ‘and Buckston fell straight into the trap of playing the ball tamely’ into Sellers’ hands off Verity. Such events, and the win by an innings, gave Yorkshire more than 15 points; it gave Derbyshire, and everyone else, a reminder. Sellers put it into words in January 1947 while he was reporting on the MCC in Australia: ‘I am always a believer in the policy that once you have got your opponent down, keep ’em down and don’t allow ’em to get up.’ Whether Yorkshire batted or bowled first, they sought a lead in runs and the initiative, so as to apply more pressure when bowling again. Yorkshire never relented, even when it looked like it. At Bristol in July 1937, Yorkshire led on first innings by 60, then made 235 in the first two hours of the third day to set Gloucestershire 334. J.G.Coates in the Bristol Evening World noted afterwards that Sellers late on put on The championship-winning Derbyshire team of 1936. Back row (l to r): Harry Elliott, Leslie Townsend, Bill Copson, H Parker (scorer), Alf Pope, Denis Smith, Charlie Elliott. Seated: Harry Storer, Stan Worthington, Arthur Richardson (captain), Tommy Mitchell, Albert Alderman.