Maurice Leyland
Encyclopedia
Maurice Leyland christened 'Morris Leyland', was an English cricket
er who played 41 Test matches between 1928 and 1938 and proved himself one of the best left-handers of his generation.
He made 2,764 runs for England at 46.06 with 9 hundreds and 10 fifties, with a highest score of 187. Seven of those nine hundreds came against Australia, against whom he scored 1,705 runs at an average of 56.84. He also took 6 wickets with a best of 3 for 91. In 686 first-class games overall he compiled 33,660 runs at 40.50 with a highest score of 263 in 1936 against Essex
at Hull. He made 80 centuries and 154 fifties. 26,191 of them were for Yorkshire County Cricket Club, for whom his average was 41.05. He took 466 first-class wickets at an average of 29.31 with a best of 8 for 63. He was a Wisden Cricketer of the Year
in 1929 but is remembered just as much for his dry wit as the remorseless weight of his figures.
"Nervous? Of course I'm nervous. There you are, out in t' middle an' there's 30,000 people all knowin' better what to do than you do." He was frank about the physical courage required to face fast bowlers in the days before helmets. "Nobody likes 'em, but some of us don't let on."
, Yorkshire
, England
. He came from a cricketing family. His father Ted was a well-respected club cricketer in the tough northern leagues and had become a noted groundsman. Maurice first played for Moorside C.C. in Lancashire at the age of 12, where his father was both the groundsman and playing professional and at 14 he played in hard school of Lancashire League cricket. After the end of the Great War he left the Army and dedicated himself to professional cricket. From 1918 to 1920 he was engaged as the professional at Harrogate C.C. at St. George's Road, he played in Yorkshire Council matches and made his debut for the Yorkshire 2nd XI.
His county debut came against Essex at Southend in 1920, before he had ever spectated at a first-class game. He soon became a fixture and remained so until the outbreak of the Second World War. He reappeared after the end of hostilities, playing his last match for Yorkshire against the MCC
in the Scarborough Festival
of 1946 and in a handful of other games in the following two years for miscellaneous representative sides. He scored 62 centuries for Yorkshire.
Leyland won his coveted county cap in 1922 and passed 1,000 runs in a season for the first time in the following year. He went on to complete his thousand runs in every season from then until the outbreak of war, seventeen consecutive seasons in all. He scored 2,000 runs in a season three times. In 1932 he scored 1,013 runs in August alone. In partnership with the great Herbert Sutcliffe
he once smashed 102 off six overs shared by Ken Farnes
, Nichols and O'Connor at Scarborough against Essex. His highest aggregate for Yorkshire was 2,196 in 1933, when he scored 2,317 in all first-class games at an average of 50.36.
's 1928-29 Ashes tour of Australia but had to wait until the 5th Test of the series at Melbourne to play. He wasted no time in establishing himself, scoring a hundred (137) and an unbeaten 53, and was an automatic selection from then on for a decade. He was a free-scoring player by inclination but proved his determination time after time by rescuing England after a poor start. His stroke play was based on an immaculate defence and implacable will. Bowlers had to labour hard to take his wicket. Never was this better displayed than at Brisbane in 1936-37, when Leyland rescued England from a parlous 20 for 3 to post 126 against the likes of Bill O'Reilly
and set up a final crushing victory by 322 runs. He did not always best the fiery Australian leggie however. He once described a typically hostile O'Reilly over thus: "First he bowled me an off-break, then he bowled me a leg-break; then his googly, then a bumper, then one that went with his arm . . . ."
"But that's only five, Maurice. What about the last one?"
"Oh, that," said Maurice with a smile, "That was a straight 'un and it bowled me."
He lost his place in the Test team at the start of 1938 as a new generation, headed by Len Hutton
, Denis Compton
and Bill Edrich
were given their chance. He returned for the Oval match where his magnificent 187 will always be overshadowed by Hutton's record innings of 364. Leyland added 382 for the second wicket with Hutton, England scored 903 for seven declared and beat Australia by an innings and 579. At the time it was the record partnership for any wicket by an England pair.
Leyland had consoled Hutton when the youngster was run out for a duck in his debut game with "Never mind, lad, you've started at bottom." When Hutton's mammoth vigil ended at last Leyland led the race to the bar and demanded two bottles of champagne. "Why two bottles, Maurice?" "One for thee, Len, and one for me."
when the pair thrashed Middlesex
for 346 in four and a half hours at Sheffield in 1932. He held, with Herbert Sutcliffe the record for Yorkshire's third wicket, 323 against Glamorgan
at Huddersfield in 1928 and, with Emmott Robinson
, the record for Yorkshire's sixth wicket, 276 against the luckless Welshmen at Swansea in 1926.
He hit hundreds against every first-class county except - oddly - Somerset, so often Yorkshire's whipping boys between the wars. His highest score was 263 against Essex at Hull in 1936 and his highest aggregate for Yorkshire was 2,196 in 1933, when he also reached his highest first-class aggregate, 2,317, average 50.36.
His slow left arm orthodox spin would have received more exposure at any other county but first Wilfred Rhodes
and Roy Kilner
and then the immaculate Hedley Verity
dominated the White Rose spin attack. According to pace bowler Bill Bowes
, Maurice claimed that he invented the 'chinaman' which spins into, instead of away from, the right-hander. Usually called upon only to break a stand which Rhodes or Verity had for once been unable to break, Leyland frequently mixed up wrist spun 'wrong uns' to tempt or deceive the established batsman to destruction. "Put on Maurice to bowl some of those Chinese things." Roy Kilner explained, "It's foreign stuff and you can't call it anything else."
Leyland was gifted in every facet of the game, an all round fielder who was particularly adept in the deep during an era when ground fielding was less practised than it is today. He was fast over the ground, had good hands and a fast, flat throw.
, Brian Close
and Ray Illingworth
who would restore Yorkshire's domination of county cricket in the 1960s.
Anecdotes about him abound to this day in cricketing circles. Perhaps the most famous Leyland story recalls a match in which, yet again, Leyland found himself holding the fort as wickets fell about him. Fifteen minutes before the close England, with seven wickets down, were still 300 behind, and the ninth man in, seemingly oblivious of the desperate situation, hit his first ball into the covers and began to scamper an unwise single. Leyland waved his eager partner back with the words "Wait your hurry, Mr. Robins. We shan't get 'em all tonight."
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
er who played 41 Test matches between 1928 and 1938 and proved himself one of the best left-handers of his generation.
He made 2,764 runs for England at 46.06 with 9 hundreds and 10 fifties, with a highest score of 187. Seven of those nine hundreds came against Australia, against whom he scored 1,705 runs at an average of 56.84. He also took 6 wickets with a best of 3 for 91. In 686 first-class games overall he compiled 33,660 runs at 40.50 with a highest score of 263 in 1936 against Essex
Essex County Cricket Club
Essex County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh national cricket structure, representing the historic county of Essex. Its limited overs team is called the Essex Eagles, their team colours this season are blue.The club plays most of its home games...
at Hull. He made 80 centuries and 154 fifties. 26,191 of them were for Yorkshire County Cricket Club, for whom his average was 41.05. He took 466 first-class wickets at an average of 29.31 with a best of 8 for 63. He was a Wisden Cricketer of the Year
Wisden Cricketers of the Year
The Wisden Cricketers of the Year are cricketers selected for the honour by the annual publication Wisden Cricketers' Almanack, based primarily on their "influence on the previous English season"...
in 1929 but is remembered just as much for his dry wit as the remorseless weight of his figures.
"Nervous? Of course I'm nervous. There you are, out in t' middle an' there's 30,000 people all knowin' better what to do than you do." He was frank about the physical courage required to face fast bowlers in the days before helmets. "Nobody likes 'em, but some of us don't let on."
Early years and success for Yorkshire
Leyland was born in New Park, HarrogateHarrogate
Harrogate is a spa town in North Yorkshire, England. The town is a tourist destination and its visitor attractions include its spa waters, RHS Harlow Carr gardens, and Betty's Tea Rooms. From the town one can explore the nearby Yorkshire Dales national park. Harrogate originated in the 17th...
, Yorkshire
Yorkshire
Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. He came from a cricketing family. His father Ted was a well-respected club cricketer in the tough northern leagues and had become a noted groundsman. Maurice first played for Moorside C.C. in Lancashire at the age of 12, where his father was both the groundsman and playing professional and at 14 he played in hard school of Lancashire League cricket. After the end of the Great War he left the Army and dedicated himself to professional cricket. From 1918 to 1920 he was engaged as the professional at Harrogate C.C. at St. George's Road, he played in Yorkshire Council matches and made his debut for the Yorkshire 2nd XI.
His county debut came against Essex at Southend in 1920, before he had ever spectated at a first-class game. He soon became a fixture and remained so until the outbreak of the Second World War. He reappeared after the end of hostilities, playing his last match for Yorkshire against the MCC
Marylebone Cricket Club
Marylebone Cricket Club is a cricket club in London founded in 1787. Its influence and longevity now witness it as a private members' club dedicated to the development of cricket. It owns, and is based at, Lord's Cricket Ground in St John's Wood, London NW8. MCC was formerly the governing body of...
in the Scarborough Festival
Scarborough Festival
The Scarborough Festival is an end of season series of cricket matches featuring Yorkshire County Cricket Club which has been held in Scarborough, on the east coast of Yorkshire, since 1876. The ground, at North Marine Road, sees large crowds of holiday makers watching a mixture of first class...
of 1946 and in a handful of other games in the following two years for miscellaneous representative sides. He scored 62 centuries for Yorkshire.
Leyland won his coveted county cap in 1922 and passed 1,000 runs in a season for the first time in the following year. He went on to complete his thousand runs in every season from then until the outbreak of war, seventeen consecutive seasons in all. He scored 2,000 runs in a season three times. In 1932 he scored 1,013 runs in August alone. In partnership with the great Herbert Sutcliffe
Herbert Sutcliffe
Herbert Sutcliffe was an English professional cricketer who represented Yorkshire and England as an opening batsman. Apart from one match in 1945, his first-class career spanned the period between the two World Wars...
he once smashed 102 off six overs shared by Ken Farnes
Ken Farnes
Kenneth Farnes was an English cricketer. He played in 15 Tests from 1934 to 1939.Farnes was born in Leytonstone, Essex, and was educated at the Royal Liberty School in Gidea Park. He made his first-class debut for Essex in 1930, aged only 19. He took 5-36 in his second county match against Kent...
, Nichols and O'Connor at Scarborough against Essex. His highest aggregate for Yorkshire was 2,196 in 1933, when he scored 2,317 in all first-class games at an average of 50.36.
Ten years at the top of Test cricket
Leyland began his Test career with a duck against the West Indies at the Oval in 1928, a game England won by an innings. He was picked for Percy ChapmanPercy Chapman
Arthur Percy Frank Chapman was an English cricketer who captained England to a then English-record-equalling seven consecutive Test match wins, a record that was not surpassed until Michael Vaughan's team won eight in a row in 2004...
's 1928-29 Ashes tour of Australia but had to wait until the 5th Test of the series at Melbourne to play. He wasted no time in establishing himself, scoring a hundred (137) and an unbeaten 53, and was an automatic selection from then on for a decade. He was a free-scoring player by inclination but proved his determination time after time by rescuing England after a poor start. His stroke play was based on an immaculate defence and implacable will. Bowlers had to labour hard to take his wicket. Never was this better displayed than at Brisbane in 1936-37, when Leyland rescued England from a parlous 20 for 3 to post 126 against the likes of Bill O'Reilly
Bill O'Reilly (cricketer)
William Joseph "Bill" O'Reilly , often known as Tiger O'Reilly, was an Australian cricketer, rated as one of the greatest bowlers in the history of the game. Following his retirement from playing, he became a well-respected cricket writer and broadcaster.O'Reilly was one of the best spin bowlers to...
and set up a final crushing victory by 322 runs. He did not always best the fiery Australian leggie however. He once described a typically hostile O'Reilly over thus: "First he bowled me an off-break, then he bowled me a leg-break; then his googly, then a bumper, then one that went with his arm . . . ."
"But that's only five, Maurice. What about the last one?"
"Oh, that," said Maurice with a smile, "That was a straight 'un and it bowled me."
He lost his place in the Test team at the start of 1938 as a new generation, headed by Len Hutton
Len Hutton
Sir Leonard "Len" Hutton was an English Test cricketer, who played for Yorkshire County Cricket Club and England in the years around the Second World War as an opening batsman. He was described by Wisden Cricketer's Almanack as one of the greatest batsmen in the history of cricket...
, Denis Compton
Denis Compton
Denis Charles Scott Compton CBE was an English cricketer who played in 78 Test matches, and a footballer...
and Bill Edrich
Bill Edrich
William John "Bill" Edrich DFC was a distinguished cricketer who played for Middlesex, MCC, Norfolk and England.Edrich's three brothers, Brian, Eric and Geoff, and also his cousin, John, all played first-class cricket...
were given their chance. He returned for the Oval match where his magnificent 187 will always be overshadowed by Hutton's record innings of 364. Leyland added 382 for the second wicket with Hutton, England scored 903 for seven declared and beat Australia by an innings and 579. At the time it was the record partnership for any wicket by an England pair.
Leyland had consoled Hutton when the youngster was run out for a duck in his debut game with "Never mind, lad, you've started at bottom." When Hutton's mammoth vigil ended at last Leyland led the race to the bar and demanded two bottles of champagne. "Why two bottles, Maurice?" "One for thee, Len, and one for me."
Yorkshire record breaker
He took the record for Yorkshire's second wicket in partnership with Wilf BarberWilf Barber
Wilfred Barber, known as Wilf Barber , was a professional first-class cricketer who played for Yorkshire County Cricket Club from 1926 to 1947. He played two Test matches for England in 1935 against South Africa. An opening batsman with an excellent batting technique, Barber often batted in the...
when the pair thrashed Middlesex
Middlesex County Cricket Club
Middlesex County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Middlesex. It was announced in February 2009 that Middlesex changed their limited overs name from the Middlesex Crusaders, to the...
for 346 in four and a half hours at Sheffield in 1932. He held, with Herbert Sutcliffe the record for Yorkshire's third wicket, 323 against Glamorgan
Glamorgan County Cricket Club
Glamorgan County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh national cricket structure, representing the historic county of Glamorgan aka Glamorganshire . Glamorgan CCC is the only Welsh first-class cricket club. Glamorgan CCC have won the English County...
at Huddersfield in 1928 and, with Emmott Robinson
Emmott Robinson
Emmott Robinson was an English first-class cricketer, who played for Yorkshire County Cricket Club from 1919 to 1931. He was awarded his county cap in 1920. Robinson was a right-handed batsman who bowled right-arm fast-medium pace.-Life and career:Robinson was born in Keighley, Yorkshire, England...
, the record for Yorkshire's sixth wicket, 276 against the luckless Welshmen at Swansea in 1926.
He hit hundreds against every first-class county except - oddly - Somerset, so often Yorkshire's whipping boys between the wars. His highest score was 263 against Essex at Hull in 1936 and his highest aggregate for Yorkshire was 2,196 in 1933, when he also reached his highest first-class aggregate, 2,317, average 50.36.
His slow left arm orthodox spin would have received more exposure at any other county but first Wilfred Rhodes
Wilfred Rhodes
Wilfred Rhodes was an English professional cricketer who played 58 Test matches for England between 1899 and 1930. In Tests, Rhodes took 127 wickets in and scored 2,325 runs, becoming the first Englishman to complete the double of 1,000 runs and 100 wickets in Test matches...
and Roy Kilner
Roy Kilner
Roy Kilner was an English professional cricketer who played nine Test matches for England between 1924 and 1926. An all-rounder, he played for Yorkshire County Cricket Club between 1911 and 1927. In all first-class matches, he scored 14,707 runs at an average of 30.01 and took 1,003 wickets at an...
and then the immaculate Hedley Verity
Hedley Verity
Hedley Verity was a professional cricketer who played first-class cricket for Yorkshire and England between 1930 and 1939. A slow left arm orthodox bowler, he took 1,956 wickets in first-class cricket at an average of 14.90 and in 40 Tests he took 144 wickets at an average of 24.37...
dominated the White Rose spin attack. According to pace bowler Bill Bowes
Bill Bowes
Bill Bowes was one of the best bowlers of the interwar period and, for a time, the most important force behind Yorkshire's dominance of the County Championship...
, Maurice claimed that he invented the 'chinaman' which spins into, instead of away from, the right-hander. Usually called upon only to break a stand which Rhodes or Verity had for once been unable to break, Leyland frequently mixed up wrist spun 'wrong uns' to tempt or deceive the established batsman to destruction. "Put on Maurice to bowl some of those Chinese things." Roy Kilner explained, "It's foreign stuff and you can't call it anything else."
Leyland was gifted in every facet of the game, an all round fielder who was particularly adept in the deep during an era when ground fielding was less practised than it is today. He was fast over the ground, had good hands and a fast, flat throw.
Coaching
He was not lost to Yorkshire when his playing days were done. His experience at least did not go to waste as Yorkshire appointed him their head coach from 1951 until 1963 when mounting ill health forced his retirement. A squat, solid figure in later life, his flat cap slightly askew, he helped mould the young generation of Fred TruemanFred Trueman
Frederick Sewards Trueman OBE was an English cricketer, generally acknowledged as one of the greatest fast bowlers in history. A bowler of genuinely fast pace who was widely known as Fiery Fred, Trueman played first-class cricket for Yorkshire County Cricket Club from 1949 until he retired in 1968...
, Brian Close
Brian Close
Dennis Brian Close , usually known as Brian Close, is a former cricketer who is the youngest man ever to play Test cricket for England. He was picked for the Test team to play against New Zealand, in July 1949, when he was 18 years old. Close went on to play 22 Test matches for England,...
and Ray Illingworth
Ray Illingworth
Raymond Illingworth, CBE is a former English cricketer, cricket commentator and cricket administrator. He was one of only nine players to have taken 2,000 wickets and made 20,000 runs in First class cricket, and the last one to do so...
who would restore Yorkshire's domination of county cricket in the 1960s.
Anecdotes about him abound to this day in cricketing circles. Perhaps the most famous Leyland story recalls a match in which, yet again, Leyland found himself holding the fort as wickets fell about him. Fifteen minutes before the close England, with seven wickets down, were still 300 behind, and the ninth man in, seemingly oblivious of the desperate situation, hit his first ball into the covers and began to scamper an unwise single. Leyland waved his eager partner back with the words "Wait your hurry, Mr. Robins. We shan't get 'em all tonight."