Yorkshire Day
Brian Sanderson celebrates by casting his eye back seven decades
The ACS’s latest publication, a lively history of cricket in Suffolk by Simon Sweetman, is now available for purchase on our website. Click here.
August 1—Yorkshire Day. Naturally my thoughts turn to the exploits of iconic Yorkshire cricketers. This week I purchased the scorecard for a match between the Combined Services and Australia in September 1953. (71 years ago! Were has the time gone?) Every cricket scorecard tells a story, and that is why I like collecting them. The ground was Hawker’s on Richmond Road—a sports facility for the Hawker Aircraft Factory. The match was scheduled for three days, but lasted just two, the Combined Services losing by an innings and 261 runs.
One member of the Combined side was Frederick Sewards Trueman, still in the RAF. He had first played for Yorkshire in 1949, and for England in 1952. The following season he was one of Wisden’s Cricketers of the Year. In August he had been helping to win the Ashes.
The Australians arrived in fine fettle: In the preceding match, against the South of England, they had totalled 564 in their first innings to win by an innings and 163 runs. Today, against the Combined Services, they won the toss and elected to bat.
After an early wicket, Keith Miller was in at three, and with the fall of two more, was joined by Jim de Courcy. Together they put on a stand of 377 at the astonishing rate of over 100 an hour, Miller hitting 262 not out and De Courcy 204. During one hectic spell they added 100 in just forty minutes.
De Courcy had averaged only 16.20 in the Ashes series; his Test career went no further. Today, however, he posted his career-highest score. He continued playing for New South Wales until January 1955.
Keith Miller is widely regarded Australia’s greatest all-rounder. He had been hailed from his youth as “the golden boy,” which gave rise to the nickname “Nugget.” Today, like De Courcy, he registered his highest first-class score, to be beaten three years later by his 281 not out against Leicestershire.
Trueman delivered fourteen overs without taking a wicket, and was bowled by Miller in the first innings for six, finishing six not out in the second innings. Not one of his happier outings. That winter he went to the West Indies under the captaincy of Len Hutton, which did not go well either: See the recent book by David Woodhouse, Who Only Cricket Know.
Tomorrow I’m headed to York to see Gloucestershire play Yorkshire. The forecast is hot, so I must remember to pack my sunscreen.
Brian Sanderson is an ACS member. He serves on the Yorkshire Cricket Archives Committee. If you would like to contribute to this newsletter, please either respond to the email in which you received it, or leave a comment below.