Lives in Cricket No 48 - Maurice Leyland

The match 30 of demoralised batsmen walking in and out again having made very little impact in between. Farnes took four for 63, including McCabe caught behind with a brilliant diving legside take by Wood, Bowes added another two, Verity took two for 15 and Maurice, though finishing with none for 19 off five overs after coming on first change, still had the last word. Fleetwood-Smith attempted an elaborate hoik and when the ball sailed in the air there was Maurice underneath it. England had won by an innings and 579 runs, yet another record, and Maurice, as he might well have anticipated, had completed the last act of his Test match career with England. Back home in Yorkshire Kilburn wrote: ‘When the players had left the field, crowds swarmed in front of the pavilion and made formal demand for the appearance of their heroes upon the balcony of honour. The occasion was traditional, the calls and cheers without the spontaneity of any depth of feeling. Everyone knew that England had been robbed of triumph and left with victory.’ Did Maurice, Leonard, Arthur, Bill and Hedley share his view? Couldn’t tell you, they were too busy celebrating with their England team-mates! * The Oval Test of 1938 was to be the last Ashes clash for eight years. For Terence CF Prittie such thoughts actually helped his survival for he found himself confined as a prisoner-of-war in Germany and used much of his time just writing down his cricketing recollections. In his book Mainly Middlesex , published in 1946, he allowed himself to digress and entered into a discussion of the best teams England and Australia could select from all the players who had represented their respective countries between 1919 and 1939. Prittie actually approached the middle order selection as a three man unit with Hammond winning his place ahead of Frank Woolley, Jack Hearne, Patsy Hendren, Maurice Leyland, Duleepsinhji, Nawab of Pataudi, Eddie Paynter, Joe Hardstaff and Denis Compton with Bob Wyatt, Percy Chapman, Wilfred Rhodes, Harry Makepeace, Philip Mead and Ernest Tyldesley