Lives in Cricket No 48 - Maurice Leyland

136 Many happy returns Hull were the leading Yorkshire League side at this time and any game against them was going to be a tough one. Chadwick remembers Maurice captaining the side and, having put himself on to bowl, suffering heavily at the hands of the Hull batsmen. With the score already well past the 200 mark - and the ball flying to all parts of the ground - there was a little disquiet in the ranks. Nobody wanted to be the one to question Maurice but, eventually, one of his oldest friends in the side, Jack Laycock, was designated to raise the issue. Tentatively he approached his skipper, who seemed wholly unperturbed by events, and asked him if, perhaps, it might not be a good idea if he took himself out of the attack for the remaining overs. “Nah,” said Maurice, “They haven’t got enough runs yet!” He always liked a challenge and Chadwick recalls him going on to make a hundred that day. It was a wonderfully sporting philosophy but even the most generous of critics would find these principles impractical in the tough world of league cricket in Yorkshire and Maurice, though continuing to entertain and charm the Harrogate public, was not to find a place among the more successful captains at St George’s Road. But, he remained a good influence on the younger players around him and his word still carried a lot of weight amongst the more senior members of the club whatever the results. Chadwick has particular reason to be glad of that for it was Maurice who first suggested persevering with him as an opening batsman. “There were plenty of people who felt it was unfair on me, and not in the best interests of the team, to be sending a 15-year-old out to open the innings,” recalled Chadwick: But, while I had been batting around four, Maurice felt there was something in my temperament that made me ideally suited to open the innings. He was on his own in that view but he insisted and, apart from my games with Yorkshire, I never batted anywhere else after that. At that time Harrogate were a poor side and it was Maurice, again, who felt they would be better off giving younger players a chance and so l found myself in the side on a regular basis. Chadwick went on to become the most prominent run maker the