Wilfred Rhodes
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| Wilfred Rhodes | ||||
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 England |
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| Personal information | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Wilfred Rhodes | |||
| Born | 29 October 1877 | |||
| Huddersfield, England | ||||
| Died | 8 July 1973 (aged 95) | |||
| Dorset, England | ||||
| Height | 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) | |||
| Role | All-rounder | |||
| Batting style | Right-handed | |||
| Bowling style | Slow left-arm orthodox | |||
| International information | ||||
| Test debut (cap 121) | 1 June 1899: v Australia | |||
| Last Test | 3 April 1930: v West Indies | |||
| Domestic team information | ||||
| Years | Team | |||
| 1898–1930 | Yorkshire | |||
| Career statistics | ||||
| Tests | FC | |||
| Matches | 58 | 1110 | ||
| Runs scored | 2325 | 39969 | ||
| Batting average | 30.19 | 30.81 | ||
| 100s/50s | 2/11 | 58/197 | ||
| Top score | 179 | 267* | ||
| Balls bowled | 8225 | 185742 | ||
| Wickets | 127 | 4204 | ||
| Bowling average | 26.96 | 16.72 | ||
| 5 wickets in innings | 6 | 287 | ||
| 10 wickets in match | 1 | 68 | ||
| Best bowling | 8/68 | 9/24 | ||
| Catches/stumpings | 60/– | 765/– | ||
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As of 17 August 2007 |
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Wilfred Rhodes (born October 29, 1877, North Moor, Kirkheaton, near Huddersfield, Yorkshire; died July 8, 1973, Branksome Park, Poole, Dorset) was one of the greatest cricketers of the twentieth century.[citation needed] Whilst his career evolved through a great many distinct stages, his record for Yorkshire and England is sufficient to place him as one of the very greatest all-round cricketers of all time.[citation needed] He batted right-handed but bowled left arm. He is one of only three cricketers to have batted in every position, from one to eleven, in his Test career.[citation needed]
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[edit] Early career
In 1897, Yorkshire suffered a severe blow when they could not discipline their champion left-arm spinner Bobby Peel and were forced to sack him. Rhodes, then a teenager, had shown great promise both as a right-handed batsman and a left-arm spin bowler, and Yorkshire took him into their eleven for the first match of 1898.
In his first season Rhodes took 154 wickets - the third highest aggregate after J.T. Hearne and Tom Richardson, and easily the most by any bowler in his debut season - and was named a Wisden Cricketer of the Year. Though he played a few good innings, his ability as a batsman was not yet "discovered" and he went in very late in the order. In 1899, Rhodes' spin, seen generally as being more vicious than Peel's, was deadly on the wet pitches of May and after the thunderstorms that occasionally punctuated the very hot and dry weather of the summer, and he was again among the leading wicket-takers. He played in his first Tests that year, (his first Test match, on June 3, was W.G. Grace's last) but with the skilful Australian batting, led by Victor Trumper, he met with little success.
It was in 1900, when Yorkshire won the first of three consecutive County Championships, that Rhodes' skill became apparent. The highlights of Rhodes' season came on the hard pitches in the middle of the season, when his skill against batsmen such as C.B. Fry and Gilbert Jessop led Yorkshire to victory. Yorkshire's batting strength and depth, even with some batsmen below their best, was sufficient to allow them to remain unbeaten. For the season, Rhodes took 261 wickets, and on occasions showed he had ability as a batsman, as in a victory over a strong Sussex batting side on an excellent wicket at Sheffield.[1] In 1901, Rhodes' ability, together with the unique "swerve" of George Hirst (also born in Kirkheaton), took Yorkshire to the most conclusive win in County Championship history. They were over forty percent ahead of second-placed Middlesex, and suffered only one defeat at the hands of Somerset after Rhodes and Schofield Haigh had given Yorkshire a substantial first innings lead after an early collapse. Rhodes took 251 wickets for just over 15 runs each and Hirst 183 for less than 17 each: an amazing feat in probably the most batsman-friendly summer before covered pitches. Against the MCC, Rhodes hit a maiden century, and his batting average was 26.
[edit] Developing into a consummate all-rounder
In 1902, Rhodes participated in a notable Test series against the touring Australians. Aided by a bad wicket,[citation needed] he took 7 for 17 in the first innings of the first Test, and helped Hirst win the last Test by one wicket after a century by Jessop. Rhodes ended the series with 22 wickets at 15 each. In 1903 Rhodes first showed the ability as a batsman that was noticed before he joined Yorkshire. On soft pitches in both matches with Nottinghamshire, Rhodes gave the best displays of his career so far, and as a makeshift opener, carried his bat against the MCC. In Australia with the MCC in 1903/04, Rhodes had a memorable tour. Aided by a record wet summer in Melbourne, he took 15 for 124 (despite eight dropped catches), and despite still going in last, added 130 with Tip Foster for the last wicket in Sydney. Between 1904 and 1906, though overshadowed by the achievements of Hirst, Rhodes continued to develop as a batsman and achieved the "double" in each of these years. He rapidly moved up the order for Yorkshire and scored a maiden double century against Somerset in 1905. When facing the Lancashire fast bowlers during 1905, his batting virtually decided the Championship.[citation needed] From 1906, with Yorkshire having problems in batting due to the loss of Stanley Jackson, Rhodes regularly opened the batting, and despite being no longer the bowler he was on the rock-hard wickets of southern England that summer, he remained deadly when pitches helped him despite trying to develop a higher flight.[citation needed]
Rhodes toured Australia in 1907/08, but it was a disappointing tour in often appallingly hot weather, especially as a bowler.[citation needed]
[edit] Opening the batting for England
After a moderate season in 1908, Rhodes enjoyed perhaps his greatest ever year in 1909.[citation needed] Combined with excellent bowling, Rhodes was only 67 runs short of being the leading run-getter of the season, his aggregate being 2094.[2] With England's batting in a crisis, Rhodes went in first wicket down in the last Test, made 66 and 54, and opened with Jack Hobbs on the winter's tour of South Africa, where he was only modestly successful against the googly bowlers. Despite a successful all-round performance against Surrey,[3] Rhodes' 1910 season was disappointing, but in 1911 he reached his highest aggregate as a batsman (2261).[2] Though his bowling failed so much that he did not take a wicket in the 1911/12 Test series in Australia, his partnerships with Hobbs were invariably successful both in this series and the 1912 Triangular Tournament. At Melbourne, Rhodes batted seven hours for a careful 179, whilst at Lord's and The Oval in 1912 the pair's skill on wet pitches helped establish England's superiority over Australia. Rhodes maintained his form until the war halted county cricket, with 118 wickets for 18 each.
[edit] Success in domestic cricket, failure in Australia
With Yorkshire in desperate need of bowling in 1919 after the deaths of Major Booth and Alonzo Drake, Rhodes moved down the batting order to concentrate once more on bowling. He went on to average under 13 for the next five years and his average in 1923 was the lowest for any bowler between 1895 and 1957.[citation needed] At the same time, Rhodes had been hitting a thousand runs in a season for eighteen consecutive years. In his forties, Rhodes retained excellent accuracy, but it was always thought he had lost a lot of the spin of the period from 1898 to 1902.[citation needed]
In Australia in 1920/21 Rhodes' bowling was remarkably innocuous. He took only four wickets for 61 each in the Tests. His batting also showed severe faults against fast bowling during 1921, so that, despite his county record, he was left out of the Tests after the first.[citation needed]
[edit] Last days as a player
In 1925, Rhodes was required so little as a bowler that he took only 57 wickets, but, despite the decline of Yorkshire's other bowlers the following year, Rhodes headed the first-class averages with several strong performances, notably 14 for 77 against Somerset at Dewsbury and 7 for 116 against Lancashire on a pitch that defeated all other bowlers.[citation needed] With his batting continuing at its former level, Rhodes was recalled for the last Test at the Oval, and took six wickets for 79 runs and gave England the Ashes for the first time since 1912.[citation needed]
In 1927, a sign of Rhodes' age was seen with his aggregate of runs halving - he did not reach fifty in the Championship - and his bowling falling from an average of 13 to one of 20.[citation needed] However, his accuracy still made him deadly on helpful wickets despite loss of spin, and in 1928 Rhodes was once again Yorkshire's leading bowler. Early the following year, against Essex, Rhodes took 9 for 39 in an innings during which he took his 4000th first-class wicket. He also achieved figures of 35 overs, 29 maidens, 11 runs, no wickets at Trent Bridge in July that year - in a game left without a first innings result after three full days. In that game Rhodes showed a glimpse of his old skill as a batsman and helped Percy Holmes play the longest innings in County Championship history. That winter, Rhodes played in several matches in the West Indies and became the oldest Test player ever, being 52 years and 165 days at the end of the last match on April 12, 1930).[citation needed]
[edit] Retirement
In 1930, Rhodes played in the early matches with only moderate success either with bat or ball, and with Hedley Verity coming into the team in July and heading the first-class bowling averages, he was in and out of the Yorkshire side and announced he would retire at the end of the year. His last first-class match was for H.D.G. Leveson-Gower's XI against the Australians on 10-12 September 1930. He finished his career with an excellent performance of five for 95 against a strong batting side. After 1930, he became cricket coach at Harrow School until World War II.
He was blind by 1945, but continued to attend cricket matches regularly, claiming to be able to follow everything from the sounds.[citation needed] He died during a Test match (against New Zealand) being played at his favourite ground of Headingley.
[edit] Career summary
Rhodes was one of only four people (together with W.G. Grace, Frank Woolley and George Hirst) to score 30,000 runs and take 2,000 wickets in a career. He also took 765 catches, the seventh highest total ever. Only he and Hirst have scored 20,000 runs and taken 2,000 wickets in the County Championship.
He played in a total of 58 Test matches, taking 127 wickets. His stand of 323 with Jack Hobbs at Melbourne in 1911 is still the highest stand for England for the first wicket in an Ashes Test, and his stand of 130 with Tip Foster at Sydney in 1903/04 is still the highest for England for the last wicket in any Test match.
[edit] Achievements
- Most first-class matches (1110)
- Most County Championship matches (763)
- Highest aggregate of first-class wickets (4204)
- Most times 100 wickets in a season (23, including three over 200)
- Most times the double of 1000 runs and 100 wickets in a season (16 between 1903 and 1926) [2]
- Twelve County Championship winning teams for Yorkshire between 1898 and 1925
- First Englishman to achieve the "double" of 1000 runs and 100 wickets in Test cricket and second overall (after George Giffen); first person to achieve 2000 runs and 100 wickets in Test cricket
[edit] References
- ^ Cricket Archive scorecard
- ^ a b c Frindall, Bill (1986) The Wisden Book of Cricket Records, London: Queen Anne Press, ISBN 0-356-10736-1
- ^ Cricket Archive scorecard
