Raymond Illingworth CBE was an English cricketer, cricket commentator and administrator.
33 Facts About Ray Illingworth
2.
Ray Illingworth played for Yorkshire, Leicestershire and England and was a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1960.
3.
Ray Illingworth's father worked shifts at a munitions factory during the World War II.
4.
Ray Illingworth left school at the age of 14 and started playing for Farsley Cricket Club main XI shortly after the end of World War II in 1945.
5.
Ray Illingworth did turn up for Farsley First XI at the age of 13.
6.
Ray Illingworth was known for his knock of unbeaten 148 in a Priestley Cup final which was contested as part of Bradford Premier League.
7.
Ray Illingworth went onto ply his trade playing for the RAF and for the Combined Services during the time when he was serving in the national service.
8.
Ray Illingworth bowled 408 balls without reward in three Tests against New Zealand in 1973 but conceded only 1.91 runs an over in his Test career.
9.
Ray Illingworth scored 24,134 first-class runs in all, with a best of 162, at an average of 28.06.
10.
Ray Illingworth managed 'difficult' players like Geoff Boycott and John Snow well, and they responded with their best Test form.
11.
Ray Illingworth captained England in 31 Test matches, winning 12, losing 5 and drawing 14.
12.
Ray Illingworth made his first-class debut at 19, was capped in 1955 and became a stalwart of the Yorkshire team thereafter.
13.
The selectors had long regarded Colin Cowdrey as England's natural cricket captain, but he ruptured an Achilles tendon early in the season and Ray Illingworth was his replacement after only a month as county captain.
14.
Ray Illingworth had been in and out of the national side for years, but had taken 20 wickets against India in 1967 and 13 more against Australia in 1968.
15.
Ray Illingworth was originally chosen over his rivals like Brian Close as he was not a threat to Cowdrey's long-term captaincy due to his age and inability to establish a regular spot in the Test team.
16.
Ray Illingworth captained England for five seasons and this was a very successful period in English Cricket.
17.
West Indies had first use of a quick but perfectly even batting wicket and made 650 at a rapid scoring rate as England's bowling attack of Willis, Arnold, Greig, Underwood and Ray Illingworth were humiliated by Kanhai, Sobers and Bernard Julien.
18.
When Ray Illingworth became captain England had lost only one of their previous 14 Test matches, and none of their last 7.
19.
Ray Illingworth subjected us to a mental intimidation by aggressive field placings, and physical intimidation by constant use of his pace attack, ably led by one of the best fast bowlers of my experience, John Snow.
20.
Ray Illingworth only discovered this when he was asked for a comment by a journalist in the morning and the rest of the team when they read the newspapers at the airport.
21.
Unlike his predecessors, Ray Illingworth insisted on good hotel accommodation, decent sporting facilities, better travel arrangements, higher allowances and pay, and fought hard to get them, which was greatly appreciated by the players.
22.
Ray Illingworth revealed, in an interview with Shyam Bhatia, 30 years after the loss, that he regretted not bowling Brian Luckhurst's occasional left arm spin against the Indians on a sluggish pitch which had blunted Derek Underwood.
23.
Ray Illingworth left Yorkshire in 1984 and carved out a successful career as a media pundit, often fiercely critical of the England Test team.
24.
Ray Illingworth often clashed with England captain Mike Atherton over team selection.
25.
Atherton revealed that Ray Illingworth wanted him to be replaced by Alec Stewart as England test captain after England's disastrous Ashes performances in 1995.
26.
Ray Illingworth still continued preparing pitches at Farsley until the age of 78 and finally gave up his job as a groundsman in 2010 citing back problems.
27.
Ray Illingworth was one of Wisden's 5 Cricketers of the Year in 1959.
28.
Ray Illingworth was awarded the CBE for services to cricket in 1973 and made an honorary member of the Marylebone Cricket Club.
29.
Ray Illingworth was one of ten members of Leicestershire's first County Championship winning team in 1975 to have a road in Leicester named after him by the city council.
30.
Ray Illingworth was married to Shirley Milnes from 1958 until her death in March 2021.
31.
Ray Illingworth lent his support to the Assisted Dying Bill which he wanted to be legalised in the UK.
32.
Ray Illingworth had insisted that he believed in assisted dying and he said that he did not want to "live the way his wife had suffered" from the disease for the past twelve months prior to her death and instead he would "leave the world peacefully".
33.
Ray Illingworth died on 25 December 2021, at the age of 89, and was survived by his daughters.