Lives in Cricket No 47 - Brian Sellers

54 Chapter Five Off the field All organized societies are cemented together, not merely by force and the threat of force, and by established patterns of institutional behaviour, but also by accepted ways of feeling and thinking and talking and looking at the world, by ideologies. James Burnham, The Managerial Revolution (1945) If the Yorkshire of Sellers, and before and after, had an ideology, it was of the county cap. It was more than a covering to keep your head warm and dry; when the club gave one to you, it was their sign that you belonged, because you were good enough to play regularly for them. You could, presumably, buy one, just as you could buy a Victoria Cross; but few could earn one. Fred Trueman buried his with his father. If caps were so precious, why did the club give them with so little ceremony? John Nash gave Sellers his, as if it were a miner’s lamp; a piece of kit. Thirty years later, John Hampshire felt ‘utterly deflated’ when asked to pick his out of a cardboard box. We can perhaps explain that because Yorkshire had a new captain, Brian Close, who had yet to make his mark. Sellers at least handed caps over; and, as he recalled it in old age, he included practical and long-term advice to the newly-arrived player: I always gave the lads their county caps in the dressing – except Alec Coxon and I gave him his on the field; I took my own off and gave it him. I always told the lads – remember – look ahead ten years from now. Don’t look down on anyone – whether they are threadbare or well dressed. Remember in ten years they’ll be the bread and butter of your benefit. Sellers was implying that the capped player would be there for enough years to make enough money to set himself up; left unsaid was what the player would have to do to stay in the team. As Coxon’s crowning was public, we have accounts of it, that needless to say disagree. They agree it happened at Bradford in May 1947, against Sussex. According to Yardley, Yorkshire were batting when Coxon joined Sellers in the middle (in other words, Yardley could not have been beside them). Sellers beckoned, and when Coxon went to him, Sellers took off his cap and offered it. Sellers said: ‘It’s yours; congratulations, Alec!’ and they shook hands. Johnny Wardle had Yorkshire fielding. Sellers had been off the field, at the committee meeting that decided on Coxon’s cap. When he came out he walked straight over to Alec and told him the glad news. Now it happened that there was no cap available on the Park Avenue ground and so eager to let the crowd know of Alec’s success Sellers took off