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

49 Chapter Seven A close friendship develops The name of Miles Coope keeps cropping up in this story. Miles Coope was five years younger than Johnny, born in a slightly different part of the West Riding at Gildersome, south west of Leeds, and came from a different tradition of Christian non-conformity – Baptism. Yet the two men – who must have met in 1936 when both played in the Bradford League, and played together in the one match Johnny played for Yorkshire II XI in 1937 – were to become lifelong friends and allies in their activities. Their friendship must have been strong already by at least 1938 when I believe he was best man at Johnny’s wedding. Certainly, Johnny and Mary were to name their first child – born in 1940 – Miles after him. Miles Coope: he possessed 'one of the most delicate late cuts ever paraded in the West'.