Lives in Cricket No 48 - Maurice Leyland

A family affair 35 England spinner Eric Hollies playing club cricket, joined the county as a youngster and he too played for the club and ground side. Conscription into the RAOC, at the age of 18, interrupted David’s career as a spin bowler and he never returned to the game seriously. David was left with a few fond memories of his time at Edgbaston, however. “I was at the club in 1953 when Lindsay Hassett brought his Australian touring team there for a game against the county,” he recalled. “They needed people to bowl at them and I got involved. It was a big thrill to be up against people like Hassett and Keith Miller but I was a bit in awe of them. Still, there was a possibility of me making the grade as a county player myself, in fact Middlesex made me an offer, but I was persuaded not to go and I’ve never regretted it.” There was one other cricketing cousin in Maurice’s family; the Bilton Ladies player Edith Ellis was the daughter of Ted’s sister Annie, but great uncle Ralph was the real star before Ted came on the scene. Harrogate CC records show that he made 2,355 runs for the club in nine seasons from 1880 to 1888 although his time at St George’s Road is perhaps best remembered for a game that he didn’t even play in. In September 1885 Ralph was invited to umpire a game between the team that had toured Australia the previous winter, under Alfred Shaw, and an England eleven led by Dr WG Grace. Shaw’s side batted first and Ralph Suttill had the distinction of signalling a six off the first ball of the great Doctor’s second spell, hit by Yorkshire’s George Ulyett, but there was little of controversial note in the game. WG did collect 51 of his side’s first 53 runs, before being caught and bowled by Nottinghamshire bowler William Attewell, but the game was, unfortunately, badly hit by rain and it ended in a draw. The occasion was never forgotten by Ralph, however, and the last published photograph of him, at the age of 89, showed him holding the ball used in that match. His total playing time with Harrogate CC, including non-first team appearances, was 15 years but cricket was only ever a recreational pursuit fitting in with his working life, first as a stonemason and then with Harrogate Corporation. At his time of retirement in 1930 Ralph