TEAM WORK COUNTS

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Volume 81, Issue 49, 20 November 1937, Page 16

TEAM WORK COUNTS

YORKSHIRE'S CRICKET ASSET nVE TIMES IN THE LEAD " ' "" " VALUE OF TKE RANK AND FH.E. The value of team play which has been responable for Yorxshire winning the english county cricket championship on rive occasions in the past seven years is pointed out by Mr. J. M. Kilourn of tne Yorkshire Post. "Whatever else^ may be said of Yorkshire's cricket it must at least be accounted fasch.ating; there are complaints of duil hacting, of minds knowmg no higher flight than points and pe-centages, of humourless insistence upon results aboye all else, but Yorksnire cricket seen in this light has been ' only half viewed," says the writer. "You would scarcely call Dickens uull because of the essential detail that must be absorbed before the fuli majesty of the story can be revealed. Yorkshire's cricxet in any given half-hour may appear painfully laboured, but Yorkshire s purpose at the end of the third day is usually plain enough for all who care to look. Such principles may or may not be acceptable to the world at large, but at least they are principles and as such worthy of attention. On these grounds, 1 sometimes wonder if Yorkshire's cricket is not more adequately represented by its lesser iights. Your ' Sutcliffes and Leylands and Veritys, and Ly this time Hutton must go with them too, are rather more than Yorkshiremen playihg Yorkshire cricket. They have gone above and beyond local bounds and represent Yorkshire, so to speak, by accident. As hammond and Bradman and Trumper anu, Grace and .all the truly • great belong , to all cricket rather tlian to their particular localities, so Sutcliffe . and Leyland and Verity and Hutton are universal figures. *. - In Yorkshire's colours no doubt they can be' found playing Yorkshire cricket, but' they have always soraething more within them and • they Would be equally appropriate in any setting. Essence of Play. The essence of Yorkshire's cricket is perhaps best represented in the Mitchells, the Turners, the Woods and the Smaileses of the game. It is not theirs to be blazoned across the daily headlines, not theirs to stand -high in national averages or evolve endless discUssion whenever their names are mentioned. It is their task, and their delight, to pass the days of the summer in patient service, 50 runs scored here, two or three wickets taken there, catches created and held, and ground fielding tirelessly accomplished. When the great ones are in form, the more modest sink into the background, but when need arises the quiet, ready spirits are rareiy found wanting. Every successful cricket team needs its highlights, batsmen and bowierS of outstanding ability, but there must also b,e the solid back-cloth against which the briiliance'can glitter. It is, I fancy, in this solidity that Yorkshire cricket has its greatest asset and no more than justice is done when a little attention is dravVn to it. Autumn and Spring Blcndcd. Perhaps of all the major features of this Yorkshire . season, nothing has been more remarkable than the work of Sutcliffe and Huttoii. Autumn and spring so wonderfully blended that blossom and fruit have been indistinguishable. As there have been times When Sutcliffe's brilliance has had all the charm of youthful enthusiasm, so occasionaljy has Hutton's cairn maturIty suggested a lifetime of experience behind him. Hutton never appeared a raw cricketer even at the age of 17; Sutcliffe never looked upon the ball with a jaded and reminiscent eye even as his crities announced his cricket dotage. The batting of these two, beautiful, creative, competent, lias provided by no means the least fascination of a fascinating season, and as I write now the picture of thrilling partnerships in the Scarborough festival comes flooding upon me to say that not yet must we lose these, heroes, not yet can we afford to separate the warrior of a tliousand battles from the knight'with all his ' ournaments before him. Watch Yorkshire's cricket in the light of individuals or in the nature of a team, as you please; in either case reward is sure. There is beauty blended with utility in batting; thero is perseverance, length and strength (though sometimes an undoubted lack of penetration) in the bowling and there is skill and cunning in the field. Watch Yorkshire's cricket, not idly, but with keen eyes and an understanding heart and its qualities will be revealed; -seek the meaning in the .mbves, envisage the problqms as the players see them and you will find your satisfaction undeniable.