Ray Illingworth


Raymond Illingworth CBE was an English cricketer, cricket commentator and administrator. He is one of only nine players to have taken 2,000 wickets and made 20,000 runs in first-class cricket. He played for Yorkshire, Leicestershire and England and was a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1960.

Early years

Illingworth was born in Pudsey, West Riding of Yorkshire on 8 June 1932. As a teenager he played at Farsley Cricket Club.
As a teenager he had assisted his local club ground, Bradford League Club for domestic club matches by preparing grounds. His father was a cabinet-maker and joiner. His father also worked shifts at a munitions factory during the World War II. His father then returned to the business of cabinet making and Ray often helped his father with repairs, upholstery and French polishing.
He left school at the age of 14 and started playing for Farsley Cricket Club main XI shortly after the end of World War II in 1945. He turned out for Farsley First XI at the age of 13. He was known for his knock of an unbeaten 148 in a Priestley Cup final which was contested as part of Bradford Premier League. He was called up for national service at the age of 18 when he was on the verge of potentially being selected to county cricket level. He also went on to ply his trade playing for the RAF and for the Combined Services during the time when he was on national service.

Playing style

Illingworth was a keen student of the game. He had a realistic approach, and "only liked to gamble on certainties."
As a bowler, he was not a sharp spinner of the ball, relying on accuracy and subtle variations of flight, but his arm ball was particularly effective, many of his victims being caught at slip, playing for spin that was not there. In county cricket, he took 2072 wickets. He bowled 408 balls without reward in three Tests against New Zealand in 1973 but conceded only 1.91 runs an over in his Test career.
His middle-order batting was based around stern defence; a fifth of his innings, mostly at number 6 or 7 in the order, finished not out. He scored 24,134 first-class runs in all, with a best of 162, at an average of 28.06. Against the Rest of the World in 1970, Illingworth topped the England averages with 476 runs and six half-centuries.

Captaincy style

The Yorkshireman was 'tough, combative, grudging, shrewd, and an instinctive reader of the game', and an experienced, no-nonsense captain who expected his team to play like professionals. David Gower wrote 'no matter how highly Ray might regard you as a player he would not have you in his team, come hell or high water, unless he was utterly convinced that you could do the job he had allocated to you'. He managed 'difficult' players like Geoff Boycott and John Snow well, and they responded with their best Test form. 'Most of all, because he insisted on his "own side", he was able to get the best out of his players, both mentally and physically. He built up a tremendous team spirit which stood us in good stead on numerous occasions', and they tended to close ranks and treat the opposition, umpires, press and public as the enemy, an attitude that became prevalent amongst Test teams in the 1970s.
Illingworth captained England in 31 Test matches, winning 12, losing 5 and drawing 14.

Record

Player

Illingworth played 787 first-class matches over nearly 33 years.

County level

Illingworth made his first-class debut at 19, was capped in 1955 and became a stalwart of the Yorkshire team thereafter. In 1957, he completed a seasonal "double", with more than 1,000 runs and 100 wickets, a feat he repeated five times over the next seven years. As captain his experience and knowledge of the game were widely believed to have helped Yorkshire to their County Championship victories in 1966, 1967 and 1968. In 1968 he joined Leicestershire after a contract dispute with Yorkshire, and was made captain.

Test level

Illingworth made his Test début for England in 1958 but struggled on his first tour, in the West Indies in 1959–60, taking just four wickets in five Test matches. After failing to make an impact in four Tests against South Africa he found himself struggling for a place. A good series against India in 1967 established him in the team.
The selectors had long regarded Colin Cowdrey as England's natural cricket captain, but he ruptured an Achilles tendon early in the season and Illingworth was his replacement after only a month as county captain. Illingworth had been in and out of the national side for years, but had taken 20 wickets against India in 1967 and 13 more against Australia in 1968. He was originally chosen over his rivals like Brian Close as he was not a threat to Cowdrey's long-term captaincy due to his age and inability to establish a regular spot in the Test team. In the Second Test against the West Indies at Lord's in 1969, England collapsed to 61–5, but the new skipper made a forceful 113 out of the last 155 runs and became a hero. He defeated both the West Indies and New Zealand 2–0 and was confirmed as captain even when Cowdrey recovered.
Illingworth captained England for five seasons and this was a very successful period in English Cricket. Under Illingworth, England defeated the West Indies 2–0 in 1969, held a powerful Rest of the World side to 1-4 in 1970, won the Ashes in Australia in 1970–71, defeated Pakistan in 1971, somewhat surprisingly lost to India in 1971 but then regrouped and held on to the Ashes in a tight series in 1972 before eventually losing a series to a strong West Indies team in 1973.
Illingworth's captaincy can perhaps be considered responsible for the victories in several of those tighter contests. For example, at Headingley in 1969 the West Indies were 219 – 3 chasing 303 when Illingworth's inspired bowling change had Basil Butcher caught behind and wickets fell with just about every bowling change he made that afternoon. Similarly at Sydney in the 7th Test of the 1970–71 series it was Illingworth, deprived of his star batsman Geoff Boycott and his star bowler John Snow, who somehow pressurised the Australian batsmen into capitulation.
Those two matches will probably be remembered as Illingworth's finest moments as captain because they were the most famous. However it was for his brilliant tactics at Headingley in 1971 that he should receive most plaudits. With Pakistan needing only 231 to win - they were sailing toward victory with Sadiq Mohammad and Asif Iqbal in full command at 160–4. Alan Knott pulled off a miraculous stumping off Norman Gifford and again Illingworth's bowling changes just as they had two years earlier resulted in wickets – including the key wicket of Sadiq – c&b by Basil D'Oliveira.
The 1972 series was as good and tough an Ashes series as there has been. The seasoned pros of England in Boycott, Edrich, D'Oliveira, Illingworth himself, Underwood and Snow faced the upcoming young Australians who would dominate for the middle part of the decade. The series was drawn 2–2 but included tight games at Headingley and particularly the Oval, where the match lasted almost six days with Australia chasing 242 with only 5 wickets in hand.
In 1973 Illingworth's tenure as captain of England ended, and it was rather a sad one in that an easy victory over a budding New Zealand team was followed by a heavy defeat by a highly efficient West Indies side. England had to win at Lord's to level the three-Test series. West Indies had first use of a quick but perfectly even batting wicket and made 650 at a rapid scoring rate as England's bowling attack of Willis, Arnold, Greig, Underwood and Illingworth were humiliated by Kanhai, Sobers and Bernard Julien. When England batted they had no answer to Lance Gibbs and lost by an innings. Wisden fairly described it as "a sad end to the Illingworth era".

England's unbeaten run

When Illingworth became captain England had lost only one of their previous 14 Test matches, and none of their last 7. He continued this run to a record-breaking 27 Test Matches without defeat in 1968–71, or one defeat in 40 Tests in 1966–71. This record was not recognised at the time as the games against the Rest of the World XI were counted as Test matches and was subsequently equalled by Clive Lloyd's West Indies in 1981–84.
There was no tour in 1969–70 and no tourists in 1970 as the series with South Africa was cancelled due to the Basil d'Oliveira Affair and concerns over anti-apartheid demonstrations that had led to barbed wire at Lord's. Rather than send an unprepared team to Australia, a Rest of the World XI was formed primarily from overseas players in the County Championship, captained by Garfield Sobers, and including the South Africans Graeme Pollock, Mike Procter, Barry Richards and Eddie Barlow. They could not be regarded as a national Test team and the matches were given the status of 'unofficial Tests', but the runs scored and wickets taken were added to official Test statistics until it was decided by the I.C.C. that they should not count. England were defeated by a superior team, but this was not unexpected. The only surprise was that they managed to win one game and almost won two others against what was arguably the strongest Test team ever assembled.

Australia


Illingworth led England to a 2–0 Ashes victory in 1970–71, the only time a touring team has played a full Test series in Australia without defeat. The future Australian captain, Greg Chappell, later wrote:
Ray Illingworth's England side in 1970–71 were mentally the toughest English side I played against, and the experience of playing against them first up in my Test career reinforced what I had learnt in the backyard. Test cricket was not for the faint of heart. Illingworth subjected us to a mental intimidation by aggressive field placings, and physical intimidation by constant use of his pace attack, ably led by one of the best fast bowlers of my experience, John Snow. Winning to Illingworth was something he expected of himself and demanded of his team.