Hedley Verity

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Hedley VerityFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Hedley Verity

Personal information

Full name Hedley Verity

Born 18 May 1905

Headingley, West Riding of Yorkshire,United

Kingdom 

Died 31 July 1943 (aged 38)

Caserta, Campania, Italy 

Batting style Right-handed

Bowling style Slow left arm orthodox 

International information

National sideEngland 

Test debut(cap 262)  29 July 1931 v  New Zealand 

Last Test 27 June 1939 v West Indies 

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Domestic team information

Years Team

1930 – 1939 Yorkshire

Career statistics

Competition Test First-class

Matches 40 378

Runs scored 669 5,603

Batting average 20.90 18.07

100s/50s 0/3 1/13

Top score 66 not out  101

Balls bowled 11,173 84,219

Wickets 144 1,956

Bowling average 24.37 14.905 wickets

in innings 5 164

10 wickets in

match2 54

Best bowling 8/43 10/10

Catches/stumpings  30/ –  269/ –  

Source: ESPNCricinfo.com, 1 September 2009

Hedley Verity (18 May 1905  – 31 July 1943) was a professional cricketer  who played

for  Yorkshireand 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 144 wickets in 40 Tests at an average

of 24.37. Named as one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year  in 1932, he is regarded as one of the

most effective slow left-arm bowlers to have played cricket. Never someone who spun the ball

sharply, he achieved success through the accuracy of his bowling. On pitches which made batting

difficult, particularly ones affected by rain, he could be almost impossible to bat against.

Verity was born in Leeds and, from an early age, wished to play cricket for Yorkshire. After 

establishing a good reputation in local cricket, he signed a contract as a professional cricketer 

playing in the Lancashire League. His first season was not a success but, after moving clubs, he

began to make a name for himself. Initially a medium-paced bowler , he switched to bowling spin in

an attempt to secure a place in the Yorkshire team. When Wilfred Rhodes, the incumbent Yorkshire

left-arm spinner, announced his retirement, Verity had a successful trial in the team in 1930, and led

the national bowling averages. In 1931, his first full season, he achieved the rare feat of taking all 10

wickets in an innings, against Warwickshire County Cricket Club; the following year, he again took all

10 wickets, against Nottinghamshire, while conceding just 10 runs. The latter bowling figures remain,

as of 2013, a record in first-class cricket for the fewest runs conceded while taking all 10 wickets. He

established himself as part of a strong bowling unit, which assisted Yorkshire to the  County

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Championship seven times in his ten seasons with the club. In that time, Verity was never lower than

fifth in the bowling averages and took over 150 wickets in every year except his first.

In 1931, he was chosen to play for England for the first time and rose to prominence during a tour to

 Australia in 1932 –

33. Afterwards, he played regularly for England and achieved the bestperformance of his career when he took 15 wickets against Australia in a Test match at Lord's

Cricket Ground in 1934. However, critics claimed he was ineffective on good batting pitches, and he

was occasionally left out of the England team over the following years. Even so, he had one of the

best records of any bowler against Donald Bradman, generally regarded as the greatest batsman in

the history of cricket. Verity continued to play for Yorkshire and England until 1939, when the

outbreak of the Second World War ended his career.

Verity joined the Green Howards in 1939, and after training was posted overseas

to India, Persia andEgypt, achieving the rank of  captain. During the  Allied invasion of Sicily in 1943,Verity was severely wounded and captured by the Germans. Taken to the Italian mainland, he died

in Caserta from his injuries and was buried there.

Contents

[hide] 

  1 Early years 

  2 League professional 

  3 County cricketer  

o  3.1 First-class debut 

o  3.2 Test debut 

o  3.3 World record 

  4 International cricketer  

o  4.1 Bodyline tour  

o  4.2 Series against West Indies 

o  4.3 Tour of India 

o  4.4 Series against Australia in 1934 

o  4.5 Career in the mid-1930s 

o  4.6 Second tour to Australia 

o  4.7 Ashes series of 1938 

o  4.8 Tour to South Africa and final season 

  5 Style and technique 

  6 Military service 

o  6.1 Training with the Green Howards 

o  6.2 Death 

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  7 Personal life 

  8 Notes 

  9 References 

  10 Bibliography 

Early years[edit] 

Verity was born in Headingley, an area of  Leeds, on 18 May 1905. He was the eldest child of Hedley

Verity, who worked for a local coal company, and Edith Elwick, a  Sunday school teacher. Verity also

had two sisters, Grace and Edith.[1]

 The family moved to  Armley, then to the more rural location

of  Rawdon.[2]

From an early age, Verity watched Yorkshire play County Cricket matches at Leeds,

Bradford and, during family holidays, Scarborough.[3]

 Later, at Yeadon and Guiseley Secondary

School, Verity played school cricket, bowling left-arm medium-paced deliveries;[3]

 he maintained this

style until 1929 and was capable of bowling both inswingers and outswingers.[4] Verity left school

aged 14 to work for his father, who had established a coal business in Guiseley,[5]

and played cricket

for Rawdon's second team.[6]

 Success on the field persuaded Verity to seek a career in professional

cricket and a place in the Yorkshire team.[7]

 While working for his father, he devoted increasing

amounts of time to cricket practice.[8]

In 1921, Verity made his debut for Rawdon in league cricket; some of his subsequent performances

attracted the notice of the local press, and he took 29 wickets at an average of 13.80 that

season.[4]

 The following season, he was spotted by Yorkshire coach George Hirst and former 

England spinner Bobby Peel, who were talent scouting for Yorkshire,[4] and given a trial in the cricket

nets at Headingley cricket ground. Peel realised Verity was an intelligent bowler who had excellent

control of where he pitched the ball, but believed he was not fast enough to be effective for 

Yorkshire.[9]

 Meanwhile, critics in Rawdon began to see increased potential in his batting, which

improved steadily; by 1924, the Yorkshire Evening Post  described Verity as "one of the most

promising cricketers in the Leeds district".[10]

Verity moved to play for Horsforth Hall Park in 1924, where his batting became more productive than

his bowling.[11]

 By 1926, when he scored a total of 488 runs and took 62 wickets to win the Yorkshire

Council League prize for best junior bowler, his all-round potential secured a second trial at

Yorkshire. Receiving coaching from Hirst, Verity played several matches for the Yorkshire Colts. He

was given little bowling to do, suggesting that he was chosen more for his batting at this stage, and

was near the bottom of the team's bowling averages.[12][13]

 Yorkshire did not allocate him to a local

club, their practice towards promising cricketers at the time. Hirst was nevertheless impressed by

Verity[14]

 and recommended him to  Accrington Cricket Club, a team in theLancashire League looking

for a professional cricketer. After a trial, Verity signed a contract in September 1926 .[15]

League professional