Lives in Cricket No 48 - Maurice Leyland

28 Back in the pavilion Hutton hardly had time to remove his pads before Maurice appeared with two bottles of champagne. “One for thee and one for me,” he explained. But Hutton was exhausted. In the dressing room he slumped on a bench and, stripped down to his pants, he just sat with his eyes closed - unable to summon the energy even to peel off his sweat-soaked socks and walk to the shower. Eventually he got himself showered and dressed but, no sooner he had done, then Maurice appeared again with a guest, “Someone wants to meet you Len,” said Maurice, and introduced him to the famous sporting cartoonist TomWebster. Hutton, who had just become the most famous cricketer in the world, looked up at Webster and said: “Could I possibly have your autograph?” He had clearly not changed much from the teenager who walked out to play his first innings for Yorkshire with a bat signed by Wilfred Rhodes and Jack Hobbs. The wagon wheel of Hutton’s 364; again, the pavilion end on the left