Hed and shoulders above the rest

Hedley in action - one of Yorkshire's best ever bowlers

A Leeds Civic Trust blue plaque to commemorate Yorkshire & England cricketer, Hedley Verity, has been attached to his birthplace in Leeds.

The plaque, unveiled by Hedley's son, Douglas Verity, is at 4 Welton Grove, off Welton Road, Hyde Park.

Hedley was one of the greatest spin bowlers of all time, and widely respected within the sport.

He was well known as a man of integrity, and a bowler of skill, accuracy and intelligence.

The text on the blue plaque, one of 120 around Leeds, reads:

Hedley Verity : Yorkshire and England cricketer was born here. An outstanding slow left-arm bowler, he dismissed Bradman on ten occasions, and took 1,986 wickets, including 144 in 40 appearances for England (Average 14.87). Yorkshire won the County Championship in 7 of his 10 seasons from 1930 to 1939. 1905-1943.

Born on 18 May 1905 in Hyde Park, Verity was still very young when the family moved to Rawdon, where his father established a coal business. In his first match for Rawdon Cricket Club, substituting for a senior player, he scored 47 and took seven cheap wickets.

On leaving school he started work at his father's coal depot, but at 15 persuaded his parents to support him in his quest to play cricket for Yorkshire. Aged 16, his deeds for Rawdon began to gain fame in the local papers.

He bowled left-arm inswing at medium pace, and experimented with both pace and orthodox slow left-arm bowling. Later, he found his forte lay in a hybrid of quick left-arm spin.

He played for Horsforth Hall Park from 1924 to 1926, establishing a reputation as a quality all-rounder, and earning an invitation to the Yorkshire nets where he first met his mentor, the great George Hirst.

With the legendary Wilfred Rhodes still wheeling away for Yorkshire, there was no prospect of immediate advancement however and he went off to play for Accrington in the Lancashire League in 1927.

Yorkshire debut

In 1929 he happened to be at Headingley when a vacancy arose in the County Colts team and he grabbed this rare opportunity with relish, taking five wickets for seven runs. That season he took 100 wickets for Middleton in the Lancashire League and also scored a century.

1930 was Wilfred Rhodes' final season for Yorkshire, and finally the call came for Verity, playing in a friendly against Sussex three days after his 25th birthday.

He made his County Championship entrance ten days later against Leicestershire. Enjoying some helpful damp pitches, he finished top of the national bowling averages in his debut season and never looked back.

Comparisons with the "Colossus of Rhodes" were inevitable, but Verity was taller and quicker through the air, a style which annoyed purists as much as it flummoxed opposing batsmen.

Thanks to his countless hours of youthful practice he had an easy action and a tight control of length and flight, and was dangerous on bad or drying pitches. At the end of the season Rhodes retired, endorsing the succession with the comment, "He'll do" - high praise, coming from Rhodes.

International honours

The next season Verity claimed all 10 wickets in an innings against Warwickshire at Headingley, a feat none of his left-arm predecessors had achieved for Yorkshire. He was selected for two Tests against New Zealand in only his second season and was chosen by Wisden as one of the five cricketers of the year.

The following year he repeated the 10 wicket feat against Nottinghamshire for just ten runs, including a hat trick and 113 consecutive balls without conceding a run. The best first class figures ever.

He toured Australia under captain Douglas Jardine on the infamous 'Bodyline' tour of 1932/33. Although the tactic to pepper the Australian run machine was a success, Don Bradman still ranked slow left-armer, Verity as his most dangerous foe:

"I could never claim to have completely fathomed Hedley's strategy, for it was never static or mechanical." He dismissed 'The Don' eight times in 16 Tests - more than any other bowler. Verity topped the 'Bodyline' tour averages with 44 wickets at less than 16 apiece.

Despite the approbation awarded Jardine, because of his 'unsporting' tactics, Hedley thought he was the finest captain he had played for, naming his second son after him (his first had been named after Rhodes).

Career statistics

Many thought Verity had the ability to become a genuine all-rounder, but he chose to dedicate himself to his bowling. Though he never achieved 'the double' (100 wickets & 1000 runs in a county season) he took 216 wickets and scored 855 runs in 1936.

His final full Test series was the winter tour to South Africa in 1938/9. In all, Verity played in 40 Test Matches between 1931 and 1939 taking 144 wickets at 24.37.

During the same period, Yorkshire won seven County Championships, thanks in large part to the contrasting attack of Verity and fast bowler Bill Bowes.

That famous left-arm action

Len Hutton said, "They knew how they wanted their field and how to bowl to it when they got it. Bill would get 'one-two-three' out with the new ball and give us a start and Hedley would then take over if the conditions were right for him."

Fine test bowler though he was, it is his phenomenal county record which remains his lasting legacy of his talent. He took at least 150 wickets every year from 1931 to 1939, and over 200 between 1935 and 1937. In 378 first class matches he took 1956 wickets at the astonishing average of just 14.90.

In the army

Upon the outbreak of war in September 1939, Verity joined the Green Howards, and spent time in Northern Ireland, Madagascar, India, Persia, Palestine and Egypt before joining the Allied invasion of Sicily in July 1943.

Hedley in WWII with the Green Howards

By this time a captain, he was mortally wounded during the Eighth Army's advance on Catania, and was taken prisoner by the Germans. After being transferred to Italian hands, he died at Caserta a few days later as a result of his wounds. He was buried in a military cemetery there.

A memorial match was played at Roundhay Park in 1944, the proceeds going to endow a hospital bed bearing Verity's name at Leeds General Infirmary. On 27 March 2007 he became only the seventh cricketer to be elected into Yorkshire CCC's "Hall of Fame".