Browsing through the insanity of the cricinfo comments
section the other day (I needed a laugh) I came across an unusually balanced
post that raised an interesting question: if you had a time machine and could
go back to witness one event in cricketing history then what would it be? The
first tied test, perhaps, with Joe Solomon’s spectacular direct hit, or maybe Bradman’s three hundred and nine in a day at
Headingley. Archie Jackson’s sublime debut century might be another contender
or, of course, Headingley 1981. As I sat and thought about this, having
rejected the excruciating day I once spent at Lord’s watching Graeme Smith and
Gary Kirsten bat, it came to me: the Lord’s test of 1934, Verity’s match.
Hedley Verity had a career unlike just about any other
cricketer in history. In spite of his obvious ability he didn’t make his first
class debut until the age of twenty-five, held back by a combination of the
seemingly eternal Wilfred Rhodes and the innate conservatism of the cricket administrators
of the day. When his time came, however, he made an impact almost like no
other: bowling left arm orthodox at a pace usually described as slow medium, so
more Derek Underwood than Bishen Bedi, he played for less than a decade, yet by
the time the second world war ended his career and, later, his life, he had
taken 1,956 first class wickets at the paltry average of 14.87. In his forty
tests, which included the Bodyline series, he took 144 wickets at 24.37 and
averaged 20.9 with the bat, which is a bit like finding out that Rudolf Nureyev
could sing a bit too.
His astonishing performances almost seem the stuff of
fiction. In 1931 he took 10-36 against Warwickshire at Headingley and the
following year, on the same ground against Notts, he recorded the most
outrageous bowling figures in first class history: 19.4-16-10-10, and he
chucked in a hat trick for good measure. The year after that he took seventeen
wickets in a day against Essex at Leyton, something that has only been achieved
three times in history. It is fitting that he marked his final afternoon on a
first class field by taking 7-9 in just six overs as Yorkshire rushed to
victory over Sussex at Hove before war was declared. Such was his accuracy that
even on good pitches, of which there were a great many in the 1930s, he was rarely
clobbered, although an exception was at Scarborough in 1935 where the South
African Jock Cameron hit him for thirty in an over, prompting wicket keeper
Arthur Wood to comment ‘You’ve got him in two minds Hedley, he doesn’t know
whether to hit you for four or six’.
Unsurprisingly, he was less devastating in test cricket, although
his record was still impressive, but the 1934 Lord’s test stands out as a truly
remarkable piece of bowling. It’s true that the conditions were in his favour,
for he was deadly on a wet wicket, but even so this was a magnificent
Australian batting line-up and they had no answers. As an aside, it was also
England’s only win in a Lord’s Ashes test in the twentieth century.
The two teams came to Lord’s off the back of a comfortable
win for Australia at Trent Bridge. Bradman, who was to suffer from serious ill
health that summer, made a negligible combination but Clarrie Grimmett and,
especially Bill O’Reilly were too good for England’s batsmen. On a pitch on
which the Australian wrist spinners made hay, Verity was tidy but
unpenetrative, taking just two wickets. To give an idea of how different Ashes
tours were in the 1930s, Australia played ten first class matches before the
first test, including fixtures with both Oxford and Cambridge Universities, and
they played twice more before the second test, against Northamptonshire and
then against the Gentlemen of England at Lord’s. Northants just about hung on
for a draw with nine wickets down but the Gentlemen were well beaten, Stan
McCabe making a rapid hundred and Hans Ebeling, who would later be the brains
behind the Centenary Test, opening both the bowling and the batting.
As with all the tests in the series, play started on the
Friday with a rest day scheduled for the Sunday. Bob Wyatt, captaining England,
won the toss and chose to bat in good conditions, but after a solid start from
Sutcliffe and Walters there was a minor collapse and it looked as though the
innings may be slipping away. At 99-3, 130-4 and 182-5 Australia must have
fancied their chances, but Les Ames, the only wicket-keeper in history to make
a hundred first class hundreds, and Maurice Leyland had carried the score to
293-5 by stumps, Leyland finishing the day ninety-five not out.
He reached his hundred on the second morning but didn’t
last much longer, being bowled for a hundred and nine, but Ames, with ‘powerful
driving being the outstanding feature’ according to Wisden, carried on to his
hundred, adding fifty with Verity who, in his first contribution to the match,
made a valuable twenty-nine to help England to a total of 440. With the pitch
still playing well Australia must have fancied their chances of making a big
score, and Woodfull and Brown put together an opening partnership of sixty-eight
before Bowes bowled Woodfull. Bradman then contributed a quick fire thirty six ‘making
many of his strokes without restraint’ before Verity caught and bowled him,
England’s last success of the day.
On Saturday evening, then, the game looked well poised
with Australia on 192-2 and Brown past his hundred, but on the rest day it
rained, soaking the uncovered pitch and creating conditions perfect for Verity.
Monday morning dawned dark and dreary and play was held up for a time for bad
light, but once the game got underway Bowes removed Brown and then Verity went
to work. Chipperfield and Oldfield resisted but the rest of the batting fell
away and Australia were all out for 282 at half-past two, Verity having taken
6-37 in the day for innings figures of 7-61.
Under the regulations of the time Australia had to
follow-on on a pitch that was now starting to misbehave fairly seriously.
Woodfull made a courageous forty-two and McCabe, Bradman, Darling and
Chipperfield all got into double figures, but once Woodfull was the fourth out
with the score on ninety-four the innings fell to pieces. Verity, supported by
superb close catching, took the last six wickets to fall as Australia were
bowled out for 118. Verity had taken 8-43 in the innings, 14-80 in the day and 15-104 in the
match. Of such things are legends made.
Sadly, this story doesn’t have a happy ending. By 1943 he
had become a Captain in the Green Howards and on July 19th he was
seriously injured leading his men in an attack on German positions in Sicily.
On July 31st he died in the Italian hospital at Caserta in spite of
the best efforts of medical staff to save him. News of his death reached
England on September 1st, four years to the day after his spell of
7-9 at Hove. He is buried in the
military cemetery and members of the 1954-55 England squad visited the grave on
their way to Australia.
Verity’s last order to his
men before being hit was ‘Keep going’ and in his Wisden obituary, RC
Robertson-Glasgow said of this that ‘his last reported words... were but a text
on his short and splendid life’. Truly, we may never see his like again.
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