Ray Illingworth: One of England’s finest captains

Ray Illingworth of Yorkshire (and later Leicestershire) was one of England’s finest Test captains.

Ray Illingworth, born June 8, 1932, was one of England’s finest all-rounders and captains. Abhishek Mukherjee looks at the Yorkshireman who brought the Ashes back home and refused to let it go.

There have been few like Raymond Illingworth. Usually remembered for regaining the Ashes on Australian soil and retaining it thereafter, it is seldom remembered that ‘Illy’ was a formidable all-rounder who played 61 Tests and 787 First-Class matches with impressive records. His First-Class career lasted for 32 years, and he played on till the age of 51.

He was an accurate off-break bowler who wore down oppositions often as a partner-in-crime to the more destructive Derek Underwood, with whom he also shared his birthday (though Illingworth was 13 years older). Though Underwood had a significantly better average and strike rate, Illingworth’s economy rate of 1.91 is the best for a bowler who has bowled in 100 innings or more.

In Tests, Illingworth had picked up 122 wickets at 31.20 with 3 five-fors. His defensive, no-nonsense, Yorkshire-school style of batting earned him 1,836 runs at 23.24 with 2 hundreds. In First-Class cricket, Illingworth had scored 24,134 runs at 28.06 with 22 hundreds, and had taken 2,072 wickets at 20.27 with 104 five-fors and 11 10-fors.

His defensive style meant that he remained not out in 19.9% of the First-Class innings he had batted in. He is the ninth, and till date the last, player to have scored 20,000 runs and taken 2,000 wickets at First-Class level. He was a good fielder with a safe pair of hands and a strong throwing arm.

It was his leadership, though, that makes Illingworth stand out in the history of English cricket. Taking up the captaincy of England at the age of 37, Illingworth had led England to 12 victories in 31 Tests and had lost only 5 (which meant that England remained unbeaten in 26 of the Tests). His win-loss ratio of 2.4 is next to only Mike Brearley and Len Hutton among all captains who have led England in 20 or more Tests.

During a stretch from 1968 to 1971, England had an undefeated streak of 27 Tests. The last 19 of them came under Illingworth, who eventually lost a Test against India at The Oval. The 27-Test record has been subsequently equalled by Clive Lloyd’s West Indians in a phase between 1981 and 1984 — but never beaten.

EW Swanton called Illingworth “tough, combative, grudging, shrewd, and an instinctive reader of the game”. Every word was true; Illingworth’s success as a captain has generally been attributed to several reasons:

– He was insistent, and had several issues with the selectors, but always had the team he wanted. David Gower wrote of him: “no matter how highly Ray [Illingworth] 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 showed excellent man-management skills in the way he led tough-to-handle players like Geoff Boycott and John Snow; he developed an excellent team spirit that brought the best out of men. In Snow’s own words, “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.”

– His bowling changes, especially under pressure, were very well-planned, and often turned out to be match-defining ones.

– He read batsmen very early, marked out his favourite scoring areas, and effectively bottled them up by placing fielders at those positions – giving away no easy run and eventually choking them up and making them throw away their wickets.

Illingworth also instilled a new psychology — somewhat similar to Douglas Jardine’s — in which he motivated his players to consider the opponents, the umpires, the press, and the spectators as the enemy. This brought out the combative nature of his team, which enabled them to win more Tests. In a way he was a trendsetter to the mindset of Ian Chappell’s Australian side.

He was famous for his combative, uncompromising nature. When he was bowled, “T’umpire must have given me t’wrong guard” was a common complaint. Once, when he was bowled by Allan Jones (who, to be fair to Illingworth, grunted while releasing the ball) attempting a horrible slog, he groaned at the dressing-room with the words “Bloody Jonah [Jones] and his grunting… I thought t’umpire had called no-ball.”
Early and middle years

Illingworth was born in Pudsey — the cradle of Yorkshire that had given the world John Tunnicliffe, Herbert Sutcliffe, and Len Hutton (often referred to as ‘the man from Pudsey’); in later years, Matthew Hoggard nurtured his talents in the same market town.

After playing several Second XI matches Illingworth made his First-Class debut against Hampshire at Headingley in 1951 as a batting all-rounder (he was still a medium-paced bowler), scoring 56 but not getting a bowl. He had to wait till 1955 to win his Yorkshire cap. Illingworth later said, “Getting your Yorkshire cap probably meant more to you at that time than getting your England cap.”

Illingworth eased into the Yorkshire side that came second in 4 out of 5 Championship seasons from 1951 to 1955. After Surrey’s phenomenal run of 7 successive Championship wins ended, Yorkshire ended up winning it in 4 out of 5 (and 7 out of 10) Championship titles.

Illingworth scored 1,213 runs at 28.20 and took 106 wickets at 18.42 (including a spell of 9 for 42 —his career-best figures – against Worcestershire at New Road) – his first ‘double’ – in 1957. The very next season he was selected to play for England against New Zealand at Old Trafford. He was left stranded for 3 but picked up 3 for 59 in the Test; however, he was shelved for a year.

He kept on dominating the Championship, though: in 1959 he scored 1,726 runs at 46.64 with 5 hundreds, and picked up 110 wickets at 21.46 with 3 five-fors. This included 118 runs and 4 wickets from the 2 Tests he played against India. His performances were enough to make him a Wisden Cricketer of the Year.

Thereafter he turned up for England only sporadically, and did not really make a serious impact at international level. Till the 1967 season Illingworth had played 24 Tests, scoring 468 runs at 18.72 with a highest score of 50, and had taken 42 wickets at 35.45 with a best bowling of 4 for 34. Given his age of 35, it was evident that he was another example of a County champion who could not make it big at Test level.

In between came the famous Gillette Cup final of 1965, where Boycott shell-shocked Surrey by scoring his first hundred of the season — amassing an uncharacteristic 146 with 15 fours and 3 sixes before the era of field-restrictions. Yorkshire scored 317 for 4, and when Surrey attempted a chase, Illingworth bowled out a star-studded Surrey line-up for 142 with figures of 5 for 29.
The rise

It took him 9 years to take his first five-for — where he took a career-best 6 for 29 to rout the Indians for 110 at Headingley, and England won by an innings. He ended the series with 20 wickets from 3 Tests at an absurd 13.30, but failed with the bat.

Illingworth had finally found his groove. He bowled beautifully in the 1968 Ashes, picking up 13 wickets at 22.38 from the 3 Tests he played. Once again he came good in his home ground at Headingley: he sent down a marathon 51 overs, picking up 6 for 87. In the final Test at The Oval, when Underwood wrecked Australia with match figures of 9 for 139, Illingworth stuck to his role as the miserly foil, picking up 3 for 116 from 76 overs.

Finally, at the unlikely age of 36, Illingworth had appeared on the international arena. Next year, as a successor to Colin Cowdrey, the 42-year old Tom Graveney was expected to lead England. Graveney had been in very good form, and despite his age, it was obvious that he would get the nod. However, the selectors selected the 37-year old Illingworth as captain, leaving Graveney ‘more puzzled than angry’.

By this time Illingworth had fallen out with Yorkshire on payment issues, and shifted to Leicestershire.

Captain of England

Illingworth had a grand start to his career as captain. England won the first Test at Old Trafford by 10 wickets. Graveney had scored a brilliant 75, but was handed out a 3-year ban by the selectors for travelling to Luton to play his own benefit match on the rest day. He did not miss a single moment of the Test, but that was how the illustrious career came to an abrupt end.

West Indies bounced back in the next Test at Lord’s. They scored 380, and reduced England to 61 for 5. Illingworth came out after John Hampshire added 128 with Alan Knott, and then, with the score on 261 for 9, he added 83 with Snow for the last wicket — with Snow contributing only 9. Illingworth was last out for 113 — his maiden Test hundred — scored out of 155 during his stay at the wicket. He followed it up with 3 for 66, and remained unbeaten as England saved the Test. England won the final Test at The Oval, and Illingworth managed to win his maiden series as captain 2-0.

New Zealand toured England in the second half of the summer, and England won 2-0 again: Illingworth was slowly finding his groove as a Test cricketer as well — he scored 90 runs at 22.50 and picked up 10 wickets at 15.40.

After the England tour of South Africa was cancelled, a high-profile (possibly the strongest team ever) Rest of World XI visited England in 1970. Illingworth top-scored with 97 in the first innings and England squared the series in the second ‘Test’ at Trent Bridge. The tourists won the next 3 ‘Tests’ to clinch the series 4-1.

The result flattered the visitors, though. In the third ‘Test’ at Edgbaston they chased down 141 from being 107 for 5; in the fourth ‘Test’ at Headingley they chased 226 from 183 for 8; and in the final ‘Test’ at The Oval, they chased 287 from 91 for 3.

Illingworth himself shone in the series, scoring 481 at 48.10 and picking up 17 wickets at 31.82. However, he was not content with the result — more so with the fact that their side had come close to a victory thrice and yet could not seal the ‘Tests’. This would go a long way to make him stronger, calmer, and more determined in crunch situations in future.

Winning the Ashes

The Ashes in Australia was always expected to be the acid Test for Illingworth’s career as captain. The Australian team, despite their recent 0-4 defeat in South Africa and the fallout between their captain Bill Lawry and the board, were a formidable opposition.

The Australians still held the record of not allowing any side to leave their shores without losing at least one Test in any series involving 3 or more Tests (they still hold the record for any series involving 4 or more Tests — but that one occasion). Illingworth would change that.

When Illingworth’s side arrived in Australia, they were generally called the “Dad’s Army” because of their average age, which was on the wrong side of 30. Neil Harvey simply dismissed them as ‘rubbish’. It did not help that they ended up losing their tour match against Victoria.

There were also issues with the manager David Clark. Clark, an ex-Kent captain, whom Illingworth called “an amiable, but somewhat ineffectual man”, had tried to dominate the proceedings. To begin with, after Snow had bowled 419 balls in the first Test at Gabba, he was rested for the tour match against Western Australia — but Clark insisted Snow bowl at the nets. After bowling a couple of overs, Snow walked away uttering the words “as far as my good conduct money was concerned he could swallow it”.

Illingworth had to intervene, but Clark criticised both captains after the cautiously played second Test (“I’d rather see four results”) — something that Illingworth got to know only from the press. Furious, Illingworth put his foot down, and took charge of the proceedings for the rest of the tour with complete support from his players. Cowdrey, the vice-captain — also from Kent— sided with Clark, and was ostracised by his teammates as a result. What boosted the support for Illingworth even more was the fact that he, unlike his predecessors, demanded better accommodation, travel arrangements, practice facilities, and higher allowances.

After the infamous John Snow incident in the last Test at Sydney, Clark insisted that Illingworth led his team back on the ground — something that Illingworth blatantly refused. He accused Clark of siding with the Australians instead of his countrymen, and threatened Clark that ‘all hell would break loose’ if anyone in the side did not receive his good conduct bonus.

The first Test at Gabba was drawn after a heroic performance by Snow. Illingworth had managed to handle the moody genius well, and he bowled for hours, picking up 8 for 162. As promised by the captain (“there is some suggestion that we might be an elderly fielding side, but we shall work really hard at our fielding and make sure it reaches a high standard”), the quality of fielding had also improved, the most spectacular incident occurring when Boycott threw down the stumps to run out Keith Stackpole out of his ground – only to be given not out. Illingworth led by example, taking an unbelievable catch at short-leg (he was almost 39 now). The Test petered out to a draw with England scoring 39 for 1 chasing 184.

The second Test was the inaugural Test at the WACA, and also the 250th encounter between the two countries. It was a display of attritional cricket with the scoring rate going seldom above 2 (per 6 balls) over five days of cricket. The third Test at MCG was washed out after Illingworth won the toss, and a replacement seventh Test was agreed upon at the same ground.

Play was actually possible late on the Day Four, but both captains decided that beginning the match would be farcical. They agreed on playing on the scheduled Day Five for what turned out to be the first ODI in history. Illingworth became a part of history along with Bill Lawry, and despite his 3 for 50, Australia chased down the required 191.

The fourth Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) turned things around. On a flat track Illingworth decided to attack, replacing Cowdrey with Underwood. He had also arranged for the rookie Bob Willis to be flown in to replace the injured tearaway Alan Ward. Willis made his debut in this Test.

Illingworth won the toss, and his batsmen made sure that they reached 332 being a batsman short. Snow bowled with hostile pace and bounce, and Underwood reaped rewards, giving England a crucial 96-run lead. Illingworth sent out his openers with the words “there are runs in that wicket but you have to be prepared to work for them”.

Boycott carved out an unbeaten 142 in close to 7 hours, and after fifties from Basil D’Oliveira and himself, Illingworth declared, asking the hosts to chase 416. Lawry stood strong, carrying his bat with 60, but Snow blew away the Australians for 116 with a menacing spell of 7 for 40. Richard Whittington wrote, “The Australian ‘Humpty Dumpty’ had fallen from the wall and, in our disgust at its fragility, we wondered how even all the king’s horse and all the king’s men, let alone Sir Donald Bradman, Sam Loxton and Neil Harvey [the three selectors], could put it together again.”

The Test being won, Illingworth went on the defensive. In Whittington’s words, “If you recall my would-be Sherlock Holmesian assessment of Professor Moriarty’s — sorry , Professor Illingworth’s — plan to recapture the Ashes, you will remember that it is in Sydney, in the Fourth Test, that this cricketing chess player is due to strike and then retire to the corner of his web and seal off reprisals.”

The fifth Test at MCG went as planned. Australia’s 493 was met with a meandering 392 and Illingworth wasted time and slowed down proceedings while fielding. Despite Lawry’s declaration, England did not go for the target of 271 in 4 hours, and finished with 161 without loss instead. In Whittington’s words, “Illingworth had moulded his men into a team. They had one mission uppermost in mind. High living, if it came at all, could come later.”

Illingworth won the toss at Adelaide Oval, and virtually batted Australia out of the Test by scoring 470. Things did not help when Illingworth did not enforce the follow-on despite a 235-run lead, Boycott scored another hundred, and Illingworth asked Australia to chase 469 in 9 hours. This one, too, led to a tame draw.

It all came down to the last Test at SCG. Boycott was out with an injury, but the more telling blow came when the selectors decided to axe Lawry and replace him with Ian Chappell. It seemed a positive move, but Lawry’s retention in the side would have given some solidity to the batting-order. Graham McKenzie was also not selected.

As things turned out, England were bowled out for 184 (the captain top-scored with 42). Australia obtained a crucial 80-run lead (in an innings marred by the throwing of cans and bottles, and a spectator called Trevor Guy manhandling Snow, which led to Illingworth leading his side off the field). England were then bowled out for 302, which meant that the hosts required 223 to win the Test.

To make things worse, Snow broke his fingers trying to catch Stackpole after he had bowled only 2 overs. Illingworth came to the forefront himself, and removed Ian Redpath and eventually the dangerous-looking Stackpole (who scored 67 out of 96). At stumps Australia were 123 for 5.

Illingworth later said: “With Greg Chappell and Rodney Marsh in, it only needed one of them to get a quick 30 or 40 and the game was gone. But we won it quite comfortably in the finish. I don’t think I ever had another feeling like that.” The captain removed Greg Chappell, and finished with 3 for 39 from 20 eight-ball overs. Australia were bowled out for 160, and The Ashes was won. It was only after the series that Illingworth allowed his ‘lads’ to celebrate.

Richie Benaud mentioned that Illingworth went home victorious “when nearly all the breaks have gone against him what with injuries, the itinerary, one thing or another.” Boycott and Snow, men difficult to handle by any captain, emerged as the highest scorer and top wicket-taker for England on the series. To round off things, England defeated New Zealand 1-0 on the second leg of the tour.

Later years

England went on to beat Pakistan 1-0 later that summer. England followed on but hung on grimly at Edgbaston, and the Test at Lord’s ended in a rain-affected draw. The decider was to be played at Headingley: Boycott scored another hundred, but Pakistan managed to acquire a 34-run lead. England set them 231, and at 160 for 4 (of which Illingworth took 3), Sadiq Mohammad and Asif Iqbal seemed like running away with the Test.

Illingworth changed his bowlers shrewdly, and dried up the runs completely by putting a stranglehold using his calculate field placements. He himself led from the forefront, and was supported by Norman Gifford and D’Oliveira, and both Sadiq and Asif were compelled to take risks and get out. Peter Lever then returned to polish off the tail, and England won the by 30 runs, winning the series.

India toured next, and after a tight match at Lord’s (India finished at 145 for 8 chasing 183) the teams headed for Old Trafford. Coming out at 116 for 5, Illingworth scored 107 — his second Test hundred – and took England to 386, adding 168 for the eighth wicket with Lever in the process. India saved the follow-on, and Illingworth delayed the declaration a bit, and the Test was drawn.

Things were going as planned in the third Test at The Oval: Illingworth had taken 5 for 70 to acquire a 71-run lead for England and things looked under control until Bhagwat Chandrasekhar bowled the spell of his life. He took 6 for 38 to rout England for 101, and despite the stranglehold, India chased down 174 in 101 overs for the loss of 6 wickets — not only winning their first Test on English soil, but also dishing out Illingworth his first Test defeat.

The home Ashes was a tightly contested one. After England won at Old Trafford, Australia bounced back at Lord’s with Bob Massie’s famous debut. He bowled only sparingly this series, and played majorly as a batsman (that too batting in the lower half), but after the draw at Trent Bridge, he came into his elements at Headingley: he top-scored with a gutsy, match-deciding 57 in a low-scoring Test where he added 104 with Snow, and returned match figures of 40.1-16-64-4 to help Underwood secure the lead.

Australia won the last Test at The Oval and drew the series, but the Ashes was retained. Even at 40, Illingworth finished with 194 runs at 32.33 and 7 wickets at 28.14.

The final season

New Zealand toured England during the first leg of the 1973 season and almost chased down 479 at Trent Bridge, finally succumbing for 440. They also dominated the second Test at Lord’s, securing a 298-run lead in a draw. The English fast bowlers, however, led England to an innings victory at Headingley, winning the series.

Everybody expected England to resist West Indies in the series that followed later that summer. However, Rohan Kanhai’s men won the first Test by 158 runs at The Oval, and though England drew at Edgbaston, they were thrashed by an innings at Lord’s. Illingworth was sacked — somewhat unfairly, given that it was just one bad series — as England captain, and never played Test cricket again.

It was ironic that he was awarded the CBE in the same year.

Back to Championship Cricket

Illingworth returned to County Cricket, and led Leicestershire to the Championship Title in 1975. He led from the front that season, scoring 997 runs at 45.31 and picking up 51 wickets at 20.94. He also led them to 4 one-day tournament wins. He was instrumental in shaping the side and turning them into a formidable unit.

Barry Duddleston, the Leicestershire batsman, later recollected an incident on how Illingworth got the best out of his men. Duddleston was in terrible form, and when his captain wanted to meet him, the batsman was certain that he would get the sack. Illingworth told him instead “Look, you’re not batting so badly, you’re just short on confidence. I want you to make runs in this coming match so if you take my advice you’ll ask one of the local club sides for a game, make a hundred, say thank you very much and come back here full of confidence.” It worked.

He retired in 1978 and returned to Yorkshire as a manager. He managed Yorkshire for four years (and had differences with Boycott), and then, when the side was not performing well, he replaced Chris Old as the captain of Yorkshire at the age of 50. His came back with a one-day match against Derbyshire, and removed Barry Wood, John Hampshire, and John Wright — and that was that.

He eventually led Yorkshire to the Sunday League title in 1983, but they reached an all-time nadir that season in the Championship, finishing at the bottom of the table for the first time.

Post-retirement

Illingworth became an indispensable part of the British media after his retirement. He was savagely critical about the English side, especially since everything started going downhill in the late 1980s and the early 1990s — but relied more on logic and facts than on negative emotions to display his discontentment.

He was appointed the ‘Supremo’ — the One-Man Committee — of English cricket in 1994, and later doubled up as the Chairman of Selectors and the coach. He had several disputes with Michael Atherton, the captain on multiple occasions — both on the ball-tampering incident and team selection. For a man who went to any stretch to get his own men to play, Illingworth did the exact opposite when Atherton claimed for his rights.

He ran into arguments with multiple players other than Michael Atherton, the most famous fallout being the one with Devon Malcolm after a wayward spell against South Africa in 1995-96. Things got murky, and the relationship reached an all-time low as Atherton insisted on having Alec Stewart ahead of Illingworth’s preferred Jack Russell for the 1996 World Cup, the outcome of which ended Illingworth’s tenure.

He was later elected an honorary MCC member, and was the fourth cricketer to be inducted into Yorkshire’s Hall of Fame after Fred Trueman, Boycott, and Len Hutton.

(Abhishek Mukherjee is a cricket historian and Senior Cricket Writer at CricketCountry. He generally looks upon life as a journey involving two components – cricket and literature – though not as disjoint elements. A passionate follower of the history of the sport with an insatiable appetite for trivia and anecdotes, he has also a steady love affair with the incredible assortment of numbers that cricket has to offer. He also thinks he can bowl decent leg-breaks in street cricket, and blogs at http://ovshake.blogspot.in. He can be followed on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/ovshake42)

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