Lives in Cricket No 48 - Maurice Leyland

Against the rest 114 runs in what was a frustrating season with injuries. New Zealand were visiting this country but those injuries, and a failure to find his best form at the right time, sawMaurice denied the opportunity to play against them in Tests. He kicked off the season steadily enough, with 62 and 69 for Yorkshire in the MCC game, but made only 31 and five for the North versus South and 25 and 28 for the MCC’s winter touring side to Australia versus The Rest in the Test Trials at the end of May. Though he did hit a season’s best 167 at the beginning of June against Worcestershire at Stourbridge, putting on 233 for the third wicket with Len Hutton, he was then limited to only three innings prior to the start of the historic first home Test against New Zealand, at Lord’s, on June 26. Ironically he hit an unbeaten 118 against Leicestershire in the three day game immediately before that first Test but it was too late to secure his inclusion in the England side and with another enforced absence from the game in the two weeks building up to the second Test he missed out yet again. Nottinghamshire’s Joe Hardstaff hit two centuries and two fifties to secure one of the England middle order places andWally Hammond showed little sign of his talent waning. So, when it came to the third Test the selectors, with some justification, overlooked the 37-year-old Maurice - just coming back after breaking a finger - to look at Lancashire’s Cyril Washbrook and Middlesex prodigy Denis Compton - aged 22 and 19 respectively. Though he did come back for the last two weeks of the season to make a crucial contribution towards yet another Yorkshire County Championship, 77 against Surrey at the Oval and 101 against Sussex at Eastbourne, Maurice must have wondered if his Test career had come to an end. But, as the record books show only too clearly, there was one last swipe to be had at Australia..