Lives in Cricket No 52 - Schooled in Cricket (2nd edition)

176 growing up and perhaps went too far in trying to protect Miles from the rigours of life. He certainly thought it would be especially dangerous for Miles (more than most) to fall into bad habits such as the use of alcohol as Miles faced enough demons already. Miles was a coach himself and was helpful to Johnny at the school and was still there helping Stephen at the time immediately after his father’s death until his own. Rodney Cass Johnny appears never to have formally taught wicketkeeping and certainly not in the case of Rodney Cass – but he would certainly make comments and describe the great keeping of Stephenson at Somerset for example. Cass liked to stand up to the bowling in the Yorkshire tradition and it was for this reason that when he went to Essex, the legendary England all-rounder Trevor Bailey told him: “I’d rather have you keeping to me than Brian Taylor.” However the Essex selectors thought differently – as Taylor was also a specialist batsman – and Cass moved on eventually to Worcestershire where he succeeded another Yorkshireman, Roy Booth as the county’s keeper. His move forced him to miss a whole season, 1968, while he fulfilled the then rules about residential qualification. Though not a specialist, he was a useful batsman, averaging 20 in the first-class game. He played eleven seasons of first-class cricket including matches for Tasmania and he played for Yorkshire seconds (while making the grade) and Shropshire (after his first-class career). Don Wilson Donald Wilson or ‘Mad Jack’ as his Yorkshire team mates were to nickname him was a top quality first class left arm spin bowler who, except for one season when – after injury – he couldn’t get his place back due to the success of Keith Gilhouley, was virtually never out of the Yorkshire side in their period of glory from 1959 to 1968 and for a few years afterwards. He played six times on tour for England and A few of his proteges