Lives in Cricket No 48 - Maurice Leyland

was Lancashire’s Tom Higson who, clearly not holding a grudge against the family, was later on the Test selection committee that called up Maurice for England’s infamous tour of 1932-33 to Australia. * Edmund ‘Ted’ Leyland was born in Bilton, near Harrogate, in 1877 and was the youngest son of Edward Leyland, a stonemason, and his wife Hannah. Cricket seems always to have been a part of Ted’s life. From his earliest childhood his mum’s brother Ralph (Suttill), a fine servant of Harrogate Cricket Club, boarded at their home inNewPark and he was undoubtedly a huge influence on the children. Fred, nine years Ted’s senior, also played at Harrogate and though neither his sister Eliza or her husband Albert Potter played themselves their son Wilf, Maurice’s cousin, worked as assistant groundsman to Ted at Edgbaston during the 1930s and became a regular club and ground player with Warwickshire. In 1932 Wilf was to play his one and only first class match. It was against Derbyshire, at Derby, and while it has to be said that his impact on the game was not crucial it was nevertheless memorable - for all the wrong reasons. Batting at eleven, in both innings, he managed to collect ‘a pair’ - being twice caught off the bowling of slow left-armer TomArmstrong who fully exploited a wet wicket to finish with eight for 49 in the match. Armstrong’s claim to fame was that in 22 years as a professional with Derbyshire he managed to appear in only 58 first class games. Potter, a leg break bowler, had a little more success with the ball in the first innings of this match when he caught and bowled England allrounder Stan Worthington for 15, finishing with one for 19 off eight overs. But, his second innings stint yielded none for 12 off four. Although he never managed to emulate Maurice as a first-class player he did make his presence felt in his spell on the Edgbaston ground staff and remained in the Birmingham area after leaving Warwickshire. He died on March 4, 1994, just two months short of his 84th birthday. The family cricket interest was passed on through Wilf as his son David, having been spotted by former Warwickshire and A family affair 34