Lives in Cricket No 48 - Maurice Leyland

166 In Memoriam Hilarem condolence to arrive of the desk of Yorkshire secretary John Nash was one addressed ‘To the relatives of the late Maurice Leyland, c/o Yorkshire CCC, Yorkshire, England’, and the sender was none other than his uncle Dick in Brisbane, Australia. It was 34 years earlier that Maurice had been reunited with his mother’s half brother Dick Burgess, after bumping into his young cousins at the Brisbane Test on the Bodyline tour, and though the Burgesses had lost touch with their famous Yorkshire kinsman the 77-year-old adopted Queenslander was intent on getting a message through somehow. From Lord’s MCC Secretary Billy Griffith had sent a telegram he had received from the Australian Board of Control which read: ‘Chairman and members my Board deeply grieved to learn of passing Maurice Leyland. His talent and popularity endeared him to Australian cricket public and his name formed a link in chain of the great players in our Test encounters. Please convey our condolences to those bereaved. ALAN BARNES.’ John Wood, of Roses rivals Lancashire, wrote: ‘We were all terribly saddened to hear of the death of Maurice Leyland; a true Yorkshire character and a fine cricketer with a wonderful record for country and county. My Committee wish you to know that they deeply mourn his passing. ‘. Surrey’s Geoffrey Howard added his tribute, and it was one that would have been just as appropriate today, writing: ‘I have of course known that he has been ill for some years but his passing is a shock and removes a much-loved figure and one who stood for all that is best in the game. Would that we had more of his like today, I don’t think that we would be worrying very much about the structure of the Championship.’ Warwickshire Secretary Leslie Deakins, who had known the whole family, was understandably more expansive. My dear John, I have just heard the sad news … and would ask you to accept, on behalf of Yorkshire Cricket, the deep and sincere sympathy of all Warwickshire-men on the passing of one of the game’s finest players and richest characters. As you well know we saw more of Maurice than most, for Edgbaston was his second home for a long period before the Second World