124 Facts About Leonard Hutton

Leonard Hutton played as an opening batsman for Yorkshire County Cricket Club from 1934 to 1955 and for England in 79 Test matches between 1937 and 1955.

Leonard Hutton set a record in 1938 for the highest individual innings in a Test match in only his sixth Test appearance, scoring 364 runs against Australia, a milestone that stood for nearly 20 years.

Leonard Hutton remains statistically among the best batsmen to have played Test cricket.

Leonard Hutton captained the England Test team between 1952 and 1955, although his leadership was at times controversial.

Never comfortable in the role, Leonard Hutton felt that the former amateur players who administered and governed English cricket did not trust him.

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Leonard Hutton worked as a representative for an engineering firm until retiring from the job in 1984.

Leonard Hutton remained involved in cricket, and became president of Yorkshire County Cricket Club in 1990.

Leonard Hutton died a few months afterwards in September 1990, aged 74.

Leonard Hutton was born on 23 June 1916 in the Moravian community of Fulneck, Pudsey, the youngest of five children to Henry Leonard Hutton and his wife Lily.

Many of his family were local cricketers and Leonard Hutton soon became immersed in the sport, which he both played and read about with enthusiasm.

Leonard Hutton practised in the playground of Littlemoor Council School, which he attended from 1921 until 1930, and at Pudsey St Lawrence Cricket Club, which he joined as a junior.

Leonard Hutton was sufficiently encouraged to decide to attempt a career in professional cricket, but at the prompting of his parents decided to learn a trade as well.

Leonard Hutton made his first-class debut for Yorkshire in 1934, at the age of 17 the youngest Yorkshire player since Hirst, 45 years earlier.

Leonard Hutton played regularly for the rest of the season but to prevent his overexposure to Championship cricket, Yorkshire limited his appearances and returned him periodically to the second eleven.

In matches for the first team, Leonard Hutton shared large first-wicket partnerships with Wilf Barber and with Arthur Mitchell, before scoring his maiden first-class century in an innings of 196 against Worcestershire.

Leonard Hutton finished the season with a total of 863 runs at an average of 33.

Leonard Hutton's achievements brought limited recognition, owing to the high level of expectation surrounding him.

Leonard Hutton batted for three-and-a-half hours to score exactly 100 runs and shared a century opening partnership with Charlie Barnett.

Leonard Hutton's remaining two innings in the Test series yielded 14 and 12, giving him 127 runs at an average of 25.

Also in 1937, Leonard Hutton made his first appearance for the Players against the Gentlemen at Lord's.

Leonard Hutton recorded the best bowling performance of his career, six wickets for 76 against Leicestershire, altogether taking ten wickets in the match—the only time he achieved this.

In just over three hours, Leonard Hutton scored 100 from 221 deliveries on his Ashes debut, adding 219 with Charlie Barnett for the first wicket.

Leonard Hutton failed in the second Test, with two single figure scores in another drawn game.

Leonard Hutton was generally unsuccessful with the bat in the following weeks, during which the third Test was entirely rained off.

Leonard Hutton was unbeaten on 160 although Australia missed a chance to dismiss him, stumped, when he had scored 40.

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Leonard Hutton then shared substantial partnerships with Hammond and Joe Hardstaff junior, taking his personal score to 300 at the end of the second day, out of a total of 634 for five.

Leonard Hutton maintained caution throughout; Wisden commented that his dominance of the bowling had become slightly monotonous after two days, although it recognised his skill.

Leonard Hutton later described the acclamation he received as one of the worst things that happened to him, not least because expectations were unreasonably high every time he subsequently batted.

Leonard Hutton scored centuries in two early matches but in a match against Transvaal, a delivery from Eric Davies knocked him unconscious and forced him to miss the first Test.

Unsuccessful on his return in the second Test, Leonard Hutton scored a double century in the following tour match, but had another low score in the third Test, which England won.

Leonard Hutton began to dominate opening partnerships with Sutcliffe, in contrast to prior seasons when he was the junior partner.

Leonard Hutton's contributions helped Yorkshire to their third successive Championship.

Leonard Hutton scored 196 in the first Test, hitting his last 96 runs in 95 minutes; he and Denis Compton scored 248 runs together in 133 minutes.

Leonard Hutton ended his season with a century against Sussex in Yorkshire's final match before the war; two days after its conclusion, the Second World War began.

At the beginning of the war, Leonard Hutton volunteered for the army and was recruited to the Army Physical Training Corps as a sergeant-instructor.

Leonard Hutton suffered a fractured left forearm and dislocated his ulna at the wrist.

Leonard Hutton was discharged from the army in the summer of 1942 and, after a period of recovery, began work as a civilian for the Royal Engineers, inspecting the condition of government-owned properties.

Leonard Hutton resumed professional cricket with Pudsey St Lawrence in 1943, briefly captaining the team before poor results and a disagreement with the committee led him to resign the captaincy.

Leonard Hutton played for Pudsey until 1945, batting successfully and helping the team to the Priestley Cup, but his relationship with the club remained strained and he did not play for them again after 1945.

Leonard Hutton scored 46 in the second match, but was struck painfully on his weak arm by a short ball from Keith Miller, whom he encountered for the first time.

Leonard Hutton was troubled by his injury; his wrists no longer rotated fully and he abandoned the hook shot.

Leonard Hutton began the tour well, scoring two early centuries, the latter of which was described by Wisden as the best English innings of the tour.

However, Leonard Hutton failed to reach a score of 50 runs in the first three Tests; in the first, he was out for a first ball duck, and in the second, a short ball from Keith Miller struck him on his injured arm.

Leonard Hutton's preferred tactic of ducking under the ball reinforced the impression that he was afraid.

Bill Bowes, covering the tour as a journalist, believed that Leonard Hutton was unable to master bowling faster than he had encountered for eight years, but acquitted himself reasonably well.

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Leonard Hutton's tonsils were removed before the start of the 1947 season but his poor health continued, forcing him to miss some games at the start of the season.

Leonard Hutton returned to form during the fourth Test, his first at Headingley, with a four-and-a-half-hour century on a difficult pitch for batting.

Leonard Hutton hit 344 runs in the Test series at an average of 44.

Subsequently, Leonard Hutton flew out to join the tour; Immediately after he arrived, having travelled for four days, Leonard Hutton played against British Guiana, scoring 138 and 62 not out, before appearing in the third Test.

Leonard Hutton came top of the first-class averages for the tourists, with 578 runs at an average of 64.

Leonard Hutton was selected for the first Test, but England were overwhelmed by the Australian fast bowlers and lost the match.

At Lord's in the second Test, lost by England, Leonard Hutton scored 20 and 13, but of more concern to critics was the manner in which he batted.

Leonard Hutton was nearly dismissed several times before he was out for 13, and returned to the pavilion to an uncomfortable silence from the crowd.

Bill O'Reilly, another former Australian player working as a journalist, said Leonard Hutton seemed to be struggling with concentration and was a shadow of his former self.

Observers had noticed Leonard Hutton backing away from the fast bowlers, which the English selectors saw as a poor example from a leading batsman.

Critics considered Leonard Hutton to be a better batsmen when he returned and that these innings repaired his damaged reputation.

England were bowled out for 52 runs in the first innings, of which Leonard Hutton scored 30 before being last out to an exceptional catch down the leg side from wicketkeeper Don Tallon.

Leonard Hutton scored 64, playing a similar defensive role to his first innings.

In more favourable bowling conditions in the third Test, Leonard Hutton scored 41 and 87, followed by 123 in the fourth game which settled England's second innings at a dangerous time.

Leonard Hutton scored a double century against Lancashire, only the second for a Yorkshire batsman in the fixture.

Leonard Hutton scored 101 in the first Test, and fifties in the second and third matches, before ending the series with an innings of 206 in the fourth Test, in which the second hundred runs took only 85 minutes.

Leonard Hutton played in three of the four Tests against West Indies.

Leonard Hutton batted well in the early games but the team struggled.

Leonard Hutton thrashed the fast bowlers majestically and played the turning or lifting ball with the ease of a master craftsman.

Leonard Hutton remained in the middle order for the second Test, which England lost by 28 runs, but resumed his role as opener for the rest of the tour and scored a century in the following state game.

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Leonard Hutton scored 62 in the third Test, but the Australian spinner Jack Iverson, who caused the touring batsmen huge problems all series, bowled Australia to victory.

Leonard Hutton's form continued in the fourth Test as he carried his bat for the second time in six months.

Leonard Hutton stood head and shoulders above every other batsman and, taking all factors into consideration, worthily earned the description of the finest present-day batsman in the world.

Leonard Hutton scored 2,145 runs in 1951 with nine centuries, including his 100th in first-class cricket.

The 100th century came a week later, against Surrey, when Leonard Hutton became the thirteenth player to achieve the landmark.

Leonard Hutton followed this immediately with 194 not out against Nottinghamshire and 100, in the drawn fourth Test at Headlingley.

Leonard Hutton ended the Test series with 378 runs at an average of 54.

But, as widely anticipated by the press, Leonard Hutton was appointed to captain England in the first Test of a four-match series against the 1952 Indian tourists.

Leonard Hutton harboured private doubts whether the cricket establishment would accept a professional captain, but declined to turn amateur, as Wally Hammond had done in 1938.

Leonard Hutton presumed his appointment was an interim measure until a more suitable candidate could be found.

Leonard Hutton was retained as England captain initially on a match-by-match basis.

Leonard Hutton's health was uncertain and he was troubled by fibrositis which restricted his movement and adversely affected his fielding.

Leonard Hutton top-scored in both England innings with 43 and 60 not out in the drawn first Test, and batted effectively for Yorkshire against the Australians.

Leonard Hutton was bowled second ball by a yorker from Lindwall and England struggled to remain competitive throughout the match.

Leonard Hutton used Trevor Bailey to bowl negatively and slow Australia down; his tactics, including time-wasting and the use of leg theory, meant Australia could not score the runs in the available time and the match was drawn.

Amid great public interest for the deciding fifth Test, Leonard Hutton lost his fifth successive toss but replying to Australia's first innings of 275, England established a narrow first-innings lead.

Leonard Hutton's authority was compromised by the MCC, who did not give him the tour manager he requested; instead, they appointed the inexperienced Charles Palmer, the Leicestershire captain, who had already been selected as a player on the tour.

Leonard Hutton found some of the professionals in the team to be difficult to lead, particularly Godfrey Evans, and Fred Trueman.

Amid growing independence movements in the region, Leonard Hutton believed his team was used as a political instrument to support colonial rule.

The climax came in the third Test when missiles were thrown onto the outfield when the umpire judged Cliff McWatt was out; Leonard Hutton kept his team and the umpires on the field, possibly defusing a dangerous situation.

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Leonard Hutton wanted to exploit what he saw as a West Indian weakness against pace, picking four fast bowlers for the first Test.

England batted slowly throughout; Leonard Hutton was himself barracked for his slow, defensive batting during the match.

Leonard Hutton lost the toss but his bowlers dismissed West Indies cheaply in good batting conditions.

Leonard Hutton then batted for almost nine hours to score 205, his nineteenth and final Test century.

Leonard Hutton apologised, not having noticed Bustamante speaking to him, but was dismissed immediately when play resumed; the incident was prominently reported the following day.

Leonard Hutton missed large parts of the 1954 season on medical advice, suffering from mental and physical exhaustion brought about by the West Indian tour.

Leonard Hutton played in the first Test against Pakistan, on their first tour of England, scored a duck and missed the next two matches.

Two former England cricketers, Errol Holmes and Walter Robins, the latter a selector that year, favoured Sheppard over Leonard Hutton and persuaded him to offer his candidacy to captain the MCC in Australia that winter.

Leonard Hutton further downplayed his team's chances through exaggerating its inexperience to the Australian press; newspapers were already sympathetic to Leonard Hutton as a professional captain of a class-driven country.

Leonard Hutton was unwell before the third Test, suffering from fibrositis and a heavy cold, and had to be persuaded out of bed by members of his team.

Leonard Hutton decided to play at the last minute and unexpectedly left out Bedser again, although he was fit to play.

Leonard Hutton neglected to inform Bedser, who only learned of his omission when he saw the team list displayed in the dressing room before the match.

Wisden believed Leonard Hutton's tactics were instrumental in giving his team the upper hand, and in the final innings, England needed 94 to win and retain the Ashes.

Many commentators viewed this as a sign that Leonard Hutton's reserve had slipped in the critical situation, but Alan Gibson believes it was a deliberate ploy to inspire Compton.

Leonard Hutton was out to the fourth ball of the match, but Australia were forced to follow on for the first time by England since 1938, and Leonard Hutton took a wicket with the last ball of the match before time ran out.

Leonard Hutton's caution was criticised, but the main complaint was that he deliberately slowed the speed of play, reducing the number of overs bowled, allowing the fast bowlers to rest and restricting the rate at which Australia scored.

Leonard Hutton had played in 79 Test matches, scoring 6,971 runs at an average of 56.

Leonard Hutton played one further match in 1957 for MCC against Lancashire, and two matches in 1960 for MCC and L C Stevens' XI.

Leonard Hutton displayed consistency; his annual average only fell below 50 three times, he averaged over 50 each year from 1947 to 1954 and scored 20 or more in 90 of his 138 innings.

Leonard Hutton often played the ball off the back foot, getting right back onto his stumps, but never played as far forward, preferring to let the ball come to him and play it late.

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Immediately before the war, Leonard Hutton batted in a more attacking style and several of his contemporaries remembered his attractive strokeplay.

Leonard Hutton only played attacking shots when they presented no risk, and he rarely lifted the ball in the air; he hit just seven sixes in Test matches.

Leonard Hutton's cricket was never meant to be a joyride, yet he was not a joyless man without humour.

Jim Kilburn believed that Leonard Hutton pursued a serious approach to all matches, to the point where he missed some enjoyment of the game.

Leonard Hutton made no romantic gestures; he lit no fires of inspiration.

Leonard Hutton invited admiration rather than affection and would have exchanged either or both for effective obedience.

Trueman and Bailey thought Leonard Hutton found it hard to talk to his players: amateur critics considered this an inevitable consequence of a professional leading other professionals.

Cricket followers from the south of England remained slightly distrustful of Leonard Hutton owing to the perception that he occasionally carried professionalism to excess.

When he was appointed England captain, many in the cricketing establishment held his professionalism against him with the result that Leonard Hutton never felt comfortable dealing with the amateurs who ran English cricket at the time.

Consequently, Leonard Hutton never felt secure in the position and was often uncomfortable around the amateur establishment.

Leonard Hutton rarely captained Yorkshire, except in the absence of the official captain, through a combination of poor health, frequent absences with England and the presence of the amateur Norman Yardley in the side.

Leonard Hutton was a reserved man for whom the Yorkshire dressing room clashes of the 1950s held little appeal.

Ray Illingworth, a player at the time, believes that Leonard Hutton was the only man who could have changed the negative attitude around the team, but "he didn't do anything about it".

Leonard Hutton married Dorothy Mary Dennis, the sister of former Yorkshire cricketer Frank Dennis, on 16 September 1939 at Wykeham near Scarborough; they met at an end-of-season dance which Dorothy had attended with her brother.

Leonard Hutton worked with Thomas Moult, a journalist and writer, to produce a book of memoirs, Cricket is My Life in 1949, and he wrote for the News of the World while still playing.

Leonard Hutton wrote a third book, Thirty Years in Cricket, in 1984.

Leonard Hutton's increasing commitments in the south of England meant he moved to North London in 1959.

In 1960, Hutton was invited to join the engineering firm of J H Fenner, mainly working in a public relations capacity.

Leonard Hutton became involved with Surrey cricket in later years but maintained links with Yorkshire, and became president of Yorkshire county cricket in January 1990.