Lives in Cricket No 48 - Maurice Leyland

also guilty of the odd inaccuracy. Apparently he had arrived at the Oval during the Hutton-Leyland stand and decided a write a prose poem on Hutton’s technique by way of his contribution to his newspaper’s coverage of the game. However, his description of his subject as a bottle-shouldered left hander posed a problem for the sub-editor. In the end the early editions saw Hutton’s name substituted for Leyland and when a second version went in for the late final Hopfinger had changed the description from left-hander to right. Who was it who said, ‘you can’t believe everything you read’? Perhaps Bradman’s 300 in a day at Leeds eight years earlier had spoiled people forever. The fact is there isn’t a critic or spectator alive today who would not be singing the praises of a team that closed the day with their score on 347 for one even if the scoring rate was just under three an over. Batchelor’s description of Maurice’s innings, written ten years after the event, is also an example of how the memory can play tricks. A look at the Exchange Telegraph’s scoring chart on that innings shows that the “twitch round his rump” only actually secured 22 singles in his entire innings and his cover driving accounted for only another 24 runs. There was, admittedly, little evidence of the pull shot being employed successfully - no boundaries being hit in the mid-wicket area - but the 17 fours he did hit were to all other parts of the ground in equal distribution. But, you know what they say, never let the facts interfere with a good story! If there was some dissatisfaction with the England batting it was certainly not registered by any of the Yorkshire fans who had travelled down for the game. In fact it was reported that many of them had missed their train home because they had not wanted to leave the ground while their heroes were still at the crease. One man had promised his wife faithfully that he would be on the four o’clock train home but the temptation to see the twoYorkshiremen reach their centuries had proved too much. Without leaving the ground he sent a telegram which read, ‘Detained by Hutton and Leyland,’ confident that his wife, also a cricket enthusiast, would understand. While a cricket-loving wife is the envy of many men there The match 22