by Chris Waters
Just as Verity’s 10 for 10 sounds flawless, as though fashioned by heavenly not human hand, so the man himself seems too good to be true. Verity emerges from history with a halo; it’s as if his analysis reflected his character. Accounts of Verity’s gallantry as a soldier and goodness as a person suggest someone who should be beatified before being installed in the ICC Hall of Fame. Although the aching poignancy of his death might have softened perceptions, enshrouding his story in a saintly white, it seems Verity was genuinely that rarity of rarities: a man of whom no one had a bad word to say. “I don’t think I have ever played with as fine a sport and as fine a gentleman as he,” wrote Herbert Sutcliffe, while the Gloucestershire and England batsman Charles Barnett, one of Verity’s best friends, said, “Hedley was especially a man whom men liked and respected. He seemed to bring the best out of others by his own personal example.” The great George Hirst put it like this: “Anyone who came into contact with Hedley had but one thought: he may be a good bowler, but he is certainly a fine man.”
Verity was no saint but he was a Christian. He attended church throughout his life and occasionally spoke at sportsmen’s services. At one service in Skipton in 1931, he outlined his creed to the congregation: “Christianity is the only force, the only thing that can change the hearts of men. If you wish to help this old world to become a better place, your place is in the Christian church. There is a great deal of Christianity outside the church, but the church is carrying the flag.” According to Colonel Shaw, Verity was “a fine example of the real Christian”. Colonel Shaw added: “He was a man of clean living and clean speaking, charitable and quick to help others. He was a man’s man, strong and full of courage.”
Hedley Verity was virtuous and valiant, qualities that shaped the saintly image, but he had a frolicsome, fun-loving side. He was never virtuous to the point of vapidity and possessed a spirited sense of humour. Douglas Verity said: “Dad was serious on the pitch but off the field he was very jolly. He was a great practical joker and he’d creep up behind people and drop tins and things, making them leap out of their shoes. Dad was great at taking people off and quick to recognise their little quirks. Len Hutton said he used to make him laugh all the time with his shrewd observations of people.” Verity’s wit could be Yorkshire-dry. It was cut from the cloth of the county dressing room. “Dad once teased Charlie Barnett,” said Douglas. “One day he said, ‘Will you be coming to Australia with us, Charlie?’ ‘Why do you say that, Hedley?’ said Charlie. ‘What about so-and-so, and so-and-so? They’re doing well, so why would the selectors pick me?’ Dad said, ‘No, I can get them out in five overs and it takes me seven to get you, so they’ll pick you.’” According to Douglas, the ribbing was followed by warm high-pitched laughter. “Dad always seemed to be laughing or singing; I can never remember him downcast or sad.”
Douglas was 10 when his father died. Hedley Verity senior died not long afterwards, while Hedley’s wife, Kathleen, never recovered. The Veritys married in 1929; their parents had pushed them out in their prams when Kathleen’s family lived in Headingley. The Metcalfes also moved out to Rawdon, where Kathleen and Hedley were reunited. Five foot nine, with curly dark hair, Kathleen was Hedley’s tower of strength, devoted to him and their two children. “Mother never got over father’s death; it hit her incredibly hard,” said Douglas. “Perhaps because we never had a funeral, I don’t think she ever accepted he’d gone.” Kathleen raised Douglas as best she could and his elder brother, Wilfred. She played an active part in the Rawdon British Legion – she was Branch standard-bearer of the women’s section – but her health declined after Hedley’s death and she died of cancer in 1956, aged 52. Nineteen years later, Wilfred died in tragic circumstances while walking with his seven-year-old son, also called Hedley, near their home in Otley, West Yorkshire. A cattle trailer towed by a Land Rover broke free, careered on to a footpath, crashed into young Hedley and crushed his father against a parked van. Wilfred, 43, a photographer and member of the local angling club, died of multiple brain injuries, while Hedley sustained a fractured skull but fully recovered.
Verity’s eldest son, Wilfred, who was tragically killed by a runaway cattle trailer.
The childhood memories of Douglas Verity cast precious light on his father’s character. Mindful of the time he spent playing cricket, his father embraced family life whenever he was back in the bosom of loved ones. “What he did, looking back, was to try to fill our days with excitement and as many different things as he could because it was so rare he was with us,” said Douglas. “He was always interesting, always entertaining, and there was never a dull minute when he was around.” There was a vibrant quality to Verity the parent, a joyfulness and joie de vivre. “He’d come into the house and, if there was a bowl of fruit nearby, there’d be a very accurate stream of fruit going through the air at you and you’d be trying to catch pears and apples and bananas,” said Douglas. “One of the things I remember vividly is that he used to have this curved, jewelled dagger that was given to him by the Nawab of Pataudi. Dad used to put it between his teeth and chase my brother around the house with it.” Verity sometimes took Douglas and Wilfred for walks on the moors, combining exercise with education. He deliberately took them to featureless parts, away from the car, and made them find their own way back. “He taught us to know where north was from the green side of a rock or tree,” said Douglas. “There was always a purpose behind what he did.” Another story took similar lines … “When I was about five,” said Douglas, “I had to go to kindergarten and it was a mile-and-a-half across three major roads. My mother was holding my hand, ready to go, and Dad said, ‘Where are you going, Kathy?’ ‘I’m taking Douglas to school.’ ‘Has he been before?’ ‘Yes, he’s been twice.’ ‘Then he must go on his own.’ He was independent, you see, and he wanted us to be too.” One of Douglas’s favourite memories was of his father taking him into the England dressing room during the 1938 Ashes Test at Headingley. His father got him to show his forward defensive shot to the players, prompting the comment that the five-year-old was the better batsman. “When the match began, I was apparently more interested in playing with a toy than watching the cricket,” said Douglas. “The only thing I remember about the game was suddenly hearing this loud cheer go up. ‘What was that for?’ I asked my mother. ‘Oh,’ she said, ‘your Dad’s just got Fingleton out.’”
Douglas’s last contact with his father was when he and his brother received a letter in the war. The contents sounded as much personal credo as parental command and simply stressed: “Always remember to do what’s right, and to fight for what’s right if necessary.”
Douglas was no mean cricketer himself, shining as an opening batsman in the Bradford League before a knee injury wrecked a promising career. He was also a fine golfer and became professional at Pwllheli Golf Club in North Wales, where many benefited from his kindly manner and coaching expertise. Rock climbing was another great love and Douglas for many years was deputy leader of the mountain rescue team in Snowdonia. One of his best friends was the English climber Joe Brown, while he also knew Sir Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing, along with others involved in the 1953 British expedition that conquered Mount Everest. The Everest team used Pen-y-Gwryd Hotel, at Nant Gwynant at the foot of Snowdon, as a training base, and Douglas managed the hotel when he first moved from Yorkshire in 1961. It was there, too, that he met his beloved wife, Ann, with whom he had two children, Charlie and Jamie. Both continued the cricketing tradition: Jamie played several matches for Wales while Charlie represented Caernarvonshire. Douglas thus had a father who played cricket for England and a son who played cricket for Wales.
Last year, 2013, marked the 70th anniversary of his father’s death, a tragedy that continues to touch and inspire. Sadly, it was an anniversary that Douglas did not live to witness. On 24 August 2012, after a long and courageous battle with cancer, he died at the age of 79. Only a short time earlier, I’d interviewed him for this project and was inspired by his enormous support a
nd encouragement; it was his dying wish that this book should be written.
Today, the name of Hedley Verity lives on. The exhibition of memorabilia at Headingley in 2005, which marked the 100th anniversary of his birth, was a huge success, as was a similar event at Hove in 2009, which marked the 70th anniversary of his last match for Yorkshire. The guest list included families of those who took part in the game, including that of Jim Parks, while Douglas gave a moving talk on his father’s life. Also in 2009, a blue plaque was unveiled at Verity’s birthplace, while, in 2010, J. D. Wetherspoon opened The Hedley Verity pub in Leeds city centre. The bar, which features photographs of Verity and cricketing contemporaries, is somewhat ironically entitled given that Verity hardly imbibed; “Dad would have thought that hilarious,” felt Douglas.
Verity’s son, Douglas, and the former Yorkshire and England all-rounder Brian Close celebrate the unveiling of a blue plaque to mark Verity’s birthplace near the ground where he took 10 for 10.
The last resting place of Captain Hedley Verity.
The proud name of Hedley Verity, however, is most prominently and poignantly displayed at Caserta, where he is one of more than 700 servicemen buried in the town’s military cemetery. In 2008, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission approached Douglas to ask if he would like a new headstone and inscription above the grave. Beneath his father’s name and date of death, he decided on the following tribute: “Gentle Man of Action … Not Forgotten.” “Gentle Man of Action” was the title of an article that appeared in The Cricketer in 2001.
Douglas never visited his father’s grave. He feared it would have been too upsetting. There was talk of his going in the 1990s as part of an official party from Yorkshire County Cricket Club, but he pulled out. “The more I thought about it, the more I knew I couldn’t face it.”
In September 1954, a delegation did make the pilgrimage to Verity’s resting place. Its members were en route to Australia for an Ashes series England won 3-1 – their first triumph Down Under since Verity toured in 1932–33. Those paying their respects were the England captain Len Hutton, his Yorkshire team-mates Bob Appleyard and Vic Wilson, the former Yorkshire pace bowler Abe Waddington, the Middlesex batsman Bill Edrich, the Surrey twins Alec and Eric Bedser plus several journalists, including Jim Kilburn and Bill Bowes. At dawn, the Orsova docked in the Bay of Naples and, by mid-morning, the men on a mission of tribute had taken two taxis to the tree-lined cemetery. Slowly, respectfully, they made their way through the low-cut lawns and pristine paths, shaded by the watching hills, as they sought the grave of the man who took 10 for 10. Kilburn captured the moment:
Brief search along the soldierly ranks of marble headstones brought us to Hedley Verity’s grave. Among the flowers already growing there Len Hutton placed a spray of white roses fastened together with a Yorkshire tie. He said nothing. Nothing needed to be said. We who knew Hedley remembered sharply. We took photographs, we left sign of our pilgrimage in the visitors’ book and, as the burning sun of Italy climbed into the noontide sky, we turned away from the garden of quiet to the dust and glare of the road to Naples.
Appendices
The 10 for 10 Scorecard
First Innings – Bowes 31–9–55–1; Rhodes 28–8–49–1; Verity 41–13–64–2; Macaulay 24–10–34–2; Leyland 8.2–3–14–4. Second Innings – Bowes 5–0–19–0; Macaulay 23–9–34–0; Verity 19.4–16–10–10.
First Innings – Larwood 22–4–73–5; Voce 22–2–52–2; S. J. Staples 7–2–8–0; A. Staples 11–3–20–1. Second Innings – Larwood 3–0–14–0; Voce 10–0–43–0; S. J. Staples 18.4–5–37–0; A. Staples 6–1–25–0; Harris 3-0-12-0.
Umpires: H. G. Baldwin and W. Reeves.
The 10 for 10 Cast
The Yorkshire Side
Percy Holmes
Full name: Percy Holmes
Born: 25 November 1886, Oakes, Huddersfield
Died: 3 September 1971, Marsh, Huddersfield
Role: Right-hand batsman, occasional right-arm medium-pace bowler
First-class playing career: 1913–1935
Test record: Matches 7, Innings 14, Not outs 1, Runs 357, Average 27.46, Highest score 88, 50s 4; Catches 3
First-class record: Matches 555, Innings 810, Not outs 84, Runs 30,573, Average 42.11, Highest score 315*, 100s 67, 50s 141; Wickets 2, Average 92.50, Best bowling 1-5; Catches 342
What happened next: Holmes missed the latter stages of the 1932 season with a knee injury that effectively ended his career. He managed only one more summer for Yorkshire with little success and returned to the Huddersfield mills where he’d worked as a youngster. Holmes played league cricket for Ebbw Vale and Swansea in the Welsh League before the war and had one season as a first-class umpire in 1947. He spent 11 summers as cricket coach at Scarborough College, where he was greatly respected by staff and students.
Herbert Sutcliffe
Full name: Herbert Sutcliffe
Born: 24 November 1894, Summerbridge, Harrogate
Died: 22 January 1978, Cross Hills, Yorkshire
Role: Right-hand batsman, occasional right-arm medium-pace bowler
First-class playing career: 1919–1945
Test record: Matches 54, Innings 84, Not outs 9, Runs 4,555, Average 60.73, Highest score 194, 100s 16, 50s 23; Catches 23
First-class record: Matches 754, Innings 1,098, Not outs 124, Runs 50,670, Average 52.02, Highest score 313, 100s 151, 50s 229; Wickets 14, Average 40.21, Best bowling 3-15; Catches 474
What happened next: Sutcliffe achieved the best Test average by an England batsman – 60.73, a figure bettered only by Don Bradman (99.94), Graeme Pollock (60.97) and George Headley (60.83). He is one of only seven men to have scored more than 50,000 first-class runs, while no one has beaten his tally of 38,558 runs and 112 first-class centuries for Yorkshire. After retirement, Sutcliffe ran a sports’ goods business and held a managerial position with a paper manufacturer. He was a Test selector from 1959 to 1961 and a prominent member of the Yorkshire committee.
Arthur Mitchell
Full name: Arthur Mitchell
Born: 13 September 1902, Baildon Gren, Yorkshire
Died: 25 December 1976, Bradford, Yorkshire
Role: Right-hand batsman, occasional right-arm slow bowler
First-class playing career: 1922–1947
Test record: Matches 6, Innings 10, Not outs 0, Runs 298, Average 29.80, Highest score 72, 50s 2; Catches 9
First-class record: Matches 426, Innings 593, Not outs 72, Runs 19,523, Average 37.47, Highest score 189, 100s 44, 50s 99; Wickets 7, Average 46.71, Best bowling 3-49; Catches 439
What happened next: Mitchell’s best season came in 1933, when he scored 2,300 runs at 58.97 to earn a place on the winter tour to India. In 1935, he was famously summoned from his rose garden to face South Africa at Headingley when Maurice Leyland fell ill on the morning of the match. Mitchell allegedly told Brian Sellers, who’d driven to his house to pick him up, “Oh, all right then, just let me tidy m’sen up a bit.” Between 1945 and 1971, Mitchell coached a generation of young Yorkshire cricketers in no-nonsense fashion.
Maurice Leyland
Full name: Maurice Leyland
Born: 20 July 1900, New Park, Harrogate
Died: 1 January 1967, Scotton Banks, Harrogate
Role: Left-hand batsman, left-arm spin bowler
First-class playing career: 1920–1948
Test record: Matches 41, Innings 65, Not outs 5, Runs 2,764, Average 46.06, Highest score 187, 100s 9, 50s 10; Wickets 6, Average 97.50, Best bowling 3-91; Catches 13
First-class record: Matches 686, Innings 932, Not outs 101, Runs 33,660, Average 40.50, Highest score 263, 100s 80, 50s 156; Wickets 466, Average 29.31, Best bowling 8-63, 5wi 11, 10wm 1; Catches 246
What happened next: Leyland was England’s leading run-scorer in the 1934 Ashes with 478 at 68.28. He hit three centuries during a series in which only Australia’s Don Bradman and Bill Ponsford had a better average. In Leyland’s last Test, against Australia
at The Oval in 1938, he recorded his highest score of 187 – an innings overshadowed by the then world record 364 of Len Hutton, with whom he shared a second-wicket stand of 382. From 1951 to 1963, Leyland coached Yorkshire’s youngsters, to whom he was good cop to Arthur Mitchell’s bad cop.
Wilf Barber
Full name: Wilfred Barber
Born: 18 April 1901, Cleckheaton, Yorkshire
Died: 10 September 1968, Bradford, Yorkshire
Role: Right-hand batsman, occasional right-arm fast-medium bowler
First-class playing career: 1926–1947
Test record: Matches 2, Innings 4, Not outs 0, Runs 83, Average 20.75, Highest score 44; Wickets 1, Average 0.00, Best bowling 1-0; Catches 1
First-class record: Matches 373, Innings 526, Not outs 49, Runs 16,402, Average 34.38, Highest score 255, 100s 29, 50s 78; Wickets 16, Average 26.18, Best bowling 2-1; Catches 183
What happened next: Barber blossomed after his breakthrough 1932 season, becoming one of Yorkshire’s most consistent batsmen. His best return came in 1935, when he scored 2,147 runs at 42.09, including a career-best 255 against Surrey at Sheffield. Also that year, Barber made both his two Test appearances in the home series with South Africa, while he was part of a non-Test playing MCC squad that toured Australia and New Zealand that winter. After hanging up his whites, Barber coached cricket at the North Riding Education Authority and Ashville College, Harrogate.