Wilfred Rhodes

Wilfred Rhodes

Personal information
Full name	Wilfred Rhodes
Born	29 October 1877(1877-10-29) Kirkheaton, Yorkshire, England
Died	8 July 1973 (aged 95) Poole, Dorset, England
Height	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
Batting style	Right-handed
Bowling style	Slow left-arm orthodox
Role	All-rounder
International information
National side	England
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
Competition	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/–
Source: cricketarchive.com, 17 August 2007

Wilfred Rhodes (29 October 1877 – 8 July 1973) was an English professional cricketer who played 58 Test matches for England between 1899 and 1930. He took 127 wickets in Test cricket and scored 3,425 runs, becoming the first Englishman to complete the double of 1,000 runs and 100 wickets in Test matches. He holds the world records for both the most appearances made (1,110 matches) and the most wickets (4,204) taken in first-class cricket. He completed the double of 1,000 runs and 100 wickets in a single English cricket season a record 16 times. He played for Yorkshire and England into his fifties. In his final Test in 1930 he was, at 52 years and 165 days, the oldest player who has appeared in a Test match.

Beginning his career for Yorkshire in 1898, he began as a slow left arm bowler who was a useful batsman, establishing a reputation as one of the best bowlers in the world. By the First World War he had improved his batting to the same extent, and was regarded as one of the best batsmen in England – regularly opening the batting. While he lost some of his ability as a bowler at this time, the loss of important Yorkshire bowlers in the War resulted in his becoming a bowler once more and playing throughout the 1920s as an all-rounder before retiring after the 1930 cricket season. He first represented England in 1899 and played regularly in Tests until 1921. He was famously recalled to the team in the final Ashes Test of 1926, aged 48 when he played a significant part in winning the match for England, whom regained the Ashes for the first time since 1912 in the process.

As a bowler, Rhodes was noted for his great accuracy, variations in flight and, in his early days, sharp spin. Throughout his career he was very effective on wet, rain affected pitches where he could bowl sides out for very low scores. His batting was regarded as solid and dependable but unspectacular and he was accused of excessive caution at times. He was also considered a very good fielder and a very astute cricket thinker. Following his retirement from playing cricket, he coached at Harrow School but his eyesight began to fail, resulting in blindness.

Early life and career

Rhodes was born in the village of Kirkheaton, just outside Huddersfield in 1877 but his family moved to a farm two miles away while he was very young.^[1] He went to school in nearby Hopton and later at Spring Grove School in Huddersfield.^[2] His father, Alfred Rhodes, was captain of the Kirkheaton cricket team's Second XI and encouraged his son to play cricket,^[2] buying him equipment and having a pitch laid near their home for Wilfred to practice on.^[3] By the time he left school, aged 16, he had joined Kirkheaton Cricket Club and had begun to take a serious interest in the game, watching Yorkshire playing locally and having ambitions of a career as a professional cricketer. Briefly considering becoming a teacher, he began to work in the railway engine sheds in Mirfield in around 1893, progressing to the stores department in 1894.^[4] By now, Rhodes was playing regularly for Kirkheaton Second XI, and his keenness to reach one game on time led him to ring the bell, which signalled going off duty at the railway station, before the end of the shift. As a result, he lost his job on the railways and began to work on a local farm which gave him more time to play.^[5] By 1895, he was playing for the Kirkheaton first team and was recommended to Gala Cricket Club, of Galashiels, Scotland, as a professional.^[5]

Professional cricketer

Rhodes played for Gala Cricket Club for two seasons in 1896 and 1897, playing as an all-rounder who opened the batting and bowled medium paced seamers.^[6] Taking 92 wickets in his first season, he discovered that bowling an occasional slow ball brought him some wickets. Following this, he decided to change his style to bowl spin, and spent the winter of 1896–97 practising on the family farm while working again on the railway, this time as a signalman.^[7] Marking a cricket ball with chalk so that he could see it spinning, he bowled against a barn wall to develop control of spinning a cricket ball and to experiment with different types of delivery. He then progressed to bowling outside, on a pitch he had prepared, against a haystack. Rhodes himself believed that his control of length and spin came from this practice over many months.^[8] In his second season at Galashiels, now bowling slow left arm, he took fewer wickets but at a reduced average.^[8] At the end of the 1897 season, encouraged by a Scottish member of the MCC, he resigned from Gala to look for work in England.

He applied to join the groundstaff of Warwickshire County Cricket Club, responding to an advertisement, but the club were unable to offer him an engagement for financial reasons.^[9] At this time, Yorkshire were looking for a slow left arm spinner to replace Bobby Peel, who had been sacked following a disciplinary lapse on the field in front of his captain Lord Hawke in August 1897. Rhodes successfully applied for a place in a Yorkshire Colts team to play against the County XI.^[10] However, Rhodes admitted that he was not successful, later writing "It seemed that I had missed my chance." His rival for Peel's place in the side, Albert Cordingley, took nine wickets in the match, while Rhodes took one wicket and scored six runs.^[11]

First-class cricketer

Beginning as a bowler

In early spring 1898, Rhodes was invited to the nets at Headingley which led to him playing in some friendly matches. The result of this was that he made his First Class debut against the MCC at Lord's^[12] where he took six wickets.^[13] In his second match, against Somerset he took 13 wickets for 45.^[14] Throughout the 1898 season, according to Wisden he "sprang at once into fame, bowling in match after match for Yorkshire with astounding success."^[15] By the end of the season, he had taken 154 wickets at an average of 14.60^[16] and was named as one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year for 1899. Wisden said, "There can be no doubt as to the greatness of his achievements last summer... His qualities as a slow bowler struck everyone as being exceptional," even though it was noted that he was helped by some difficult wickets caused by bad weather in the first part of the summer. He also scored three fifties,^[17] proving himself to be "a dangerous run-getter".^[15] Wisden later said, “at the season's end he had established himself as the greatest slow left-hand bowler in England.”^[18] In 1899, he took 179 wickets at an average of 17.10^[16] in a reasonably dry season with fewer wickets to suit his bowling. Wisden described him as “head and shoulders above his colleagues”.^[19] That season, he made his Test debut in the series against Australia, his first Test coinciding with W. G. Grace's last, playing in three of the five Tests. In his first test, he took seven wickets, opening the bowling and bowling “steady and well” on the first day.^[20] He took three wickets in the second Test^[21] but was left of out the third Test. Wisden said that “the committee made a bad mistake in not retaining Rhodes. After the rain [he] would have been invaluable.”^[22] He did not play again until the final Test, and he finished with 13 wickets in the series, the equal highest English wicket taker.^[23] He was also chosen to represent the Players against the Gentlemen at Lord's for the first time, although W. G. Grace and C. B. Fry scored heavily against him.^[24]

In the three seasons from 1900 to 1902, Rhodes took 725 wickets at an average of 14.07, taking five or more wickets in an innings 68 times and taking ten or more wickets in a match 21 times^[16] as Yorkshire won three consecutive County Championships. In 1900, Rhodes took 261 wickets as bad weather made pitches helpful to his bowling. In 1901 the weather was much better leading to pitches that were good for batting. Rhodes took 251 wickets and scored his maiden first-class century against MCC.^[25] In 1902, he took 213 wickets. His success was described by Wisden in 1901 as "astonishing",^[26] as his command of length and flight enabled him to keep control on wickets that did not help him^[27] while his ability to spin the ball made him destructive on pitches that helped him.^[28]

In 1902, the Australians toured England, again playing five Tests. Rhodes played in all five to take 22 wickets at an average of 15.27, the leading English wicket taker.^[29] He took seven for 17 in the first innings of the first Test in conditions that the umpires, according to Wisden, did not consider too difficult. Rhodes, along with George Hirst, bowled "bowled wonderfully well".^[30] However, C. B. Fry believed that Hirst was more difficult to play and that although Rhodes bowled well, "their batsmen hurried to the other end and tried to hit Rhodes, without success" and so got themselves out.^[31] Rain meant the game was drawn. In the third Test, which England lost, Rhodes took five for 63^[32] with "a wonderful piece of bowling", taking four wickets in nineteen balls.^[33]. In the fourth Test, which England lost by three runs to lose the series, Rhodes took seven wickets in the match. In the first innings, he took three quick wickets but came in for some heavy punishment.^[34] The final Test was dominated by Gilbert Jessop and Hirst, but with England needing 263 to win in the final innings, the ninth wicket fell with 15 needed when Rhodes came in. In a well known story, Hirst supposedly said to Rhodes, "We'll get 'em in singles" but neither batsman could remember those words being said and not all the runs came in singles.^[35] Whatever the story, England won by one wicket.^[36]

In 1903, Rhodes scored over 1,000 runs in the season for the first time,^[17] completing his first double of 1,000 runs and 100 wickets.^[16] However, after bowling a large number of overs against Worcestershire, he went for a spell of three weeks when he had little success as a bowler.^[37] Pelham Warner noted that Rhodes was comparatively unsuccessful early in the summer but came back well to take 193 wickets in the season. Warner also wrote in 1904 that some critics believed that Rhodes was an easy bowler to play on a hard wicket, but he himself thought this was not true.^[38]

From all-rounder to specialist batsman

England's team in Wilfred Rhodes' debut Test at Trent Bridge in 1899. Back row: Dick Barlow (umpire), Tom Hayward, George Hirst, Billy Gunn, J. T. Hearne (12th man), Bill Storer (wkt kpr), Bill Brockwell, V. A. Titchmarsh (umpire). Middle row: C. B. Fry, K. S. Ranjitsinhji, W. G. Grace (captain), Stanley Jackson. Front row: Wilfred Rhodes, Johnny Tyldesley.

Warner selected Rhodes when he captained the MCC tour of Australia in 1903-04. Before the tour, it had been said by K. S. Ranjitsinhji that while Rhodes might score plenty of runs in Australia, he "would not take a dozen wickets" in first-class cricket. However, Warner believed that Rhodes and Hirst were the best two bowlers in England and on the tour, Rhodes proved "the mainstay of the team."^[39] Wisden believed that "Rhodes was, as regards the whole tour, the most effective bowler", refuting "those who prophesied that he would be a failure in Australia." He was, however, "more often helped by rain than he could have expected," but "he nearly always bowled well even on the best and firmest pitches."^[40] On the whole tour, he took 65 first-class wickets at an average of 16.23^[16] while in the Test matches, he took 31 wickets at an average of 15.74.^[41]

In the first Test, Rhodes shared a 10th wicket partnership of 130 with R E Foster at Sydney, scoring 40, and took seven wickets. He took five for 94 in the second innings,^[42] bowling with "the utmost steadiness" according to Wisden.^[43] Warner said that he bowled magnificently, and "what we should have done without Rhodes I do not know" as he was the only bowler to keep Victor Trumper quiet in his innings of 185.^[44] In the second Test, he had a match analysis of 15 for 124,^[45] then a Test record. Rain had ruined the pitch, making it very difficult to bat on, but Rhodes bowled "splendidly" despite eight catches being dropped from his bowling according to Wisden.^[46] His eight for 68 in the second innings remained his best figures in Tests. England won the first two Tests, but Australia won the third. The fourth Test, though, was won by England who therefore won the five match series. Rhodes took four for 33 in the first innings, as the last five wickets fell for 17 runs, although Warner claimed the ball was not turning, even though he believed Rhodes could turn the ball more than any other living bowler. He also described how the crowd tried to put Rhodes off by shouting "one, two, three" in time to his run up to bowl.^[47] Rhodes also put on 55 for the tenth wicket in the second innings with Warner^[48] but was less effective in the final Test, with Warner saying that Rhodes had an off day in the second innings, never bowling a good length.^[49]

Rhodes believed that the 1903–04 tour was a turning point in his career as a bowler. He had noticed that he had to bowl faster in Australia to be an effective bowler, and on his return to England, he continued with his faster style up until the First World War.^[50] However, he believed he was never the same bowler after this tour. Mainly, he believed that this was due to his concentrating more on batting, but his biographer believed that there were other reasons, such as the strain on his fingers and wrist from bowling so much, his development into a more robust figure in his mid-twenties than he was in his early twenties and the break up of the successful Yorkshire team of 1900 to 1902. The overall result was that as Rhodes scored more and more runs and moved further up the batting order after 1903, his bowling gradually declined until the war.^[51]

In 1904, Rhodes took 131 wickets, the fewest of his career so far^[16] but scored 1,537 runs, including two hundreds, the second and third of his career, to complete his second double.^[17] He generally batted at number six or seven in the batting order, but opened the batting in two games.^[52] 1905 again saw his complete the double with 1581 runs, two more hundreds including a double hundred,^[17] and 182 wickets,^[16] as Yorkshire won the County Championship again. He played in four of the five Tests against Australia that year. He scored 29 and 39 not out in the first Test^[53] but suffered an injured finger which led to his missing the third Test, and which Wisden said had prevented him bowling in his "proper form" in the second Test, where he "failed".^[54] The England captain, Stanley Jackson showed "a curious want of faith in Rhodes" in the fourth Test, even though Rhodes, like the other bowlers, was at the top of his form. His fielding was also singled out for praise as he took four catches, two of them "brilliant in the extreme".^[55] In that match, he took five wickets, including three for 36 in the second innings.^[56] While England won the Test series 3–0, Rhodes scored 146 runs at an average of 48.66 and a top score of 39 not out^[57] and took ten wickets at an average of 31.40.^[41] The overall verdict of Wisden on his season was that he was not as dangerous a bowler on slow wickets as he used to be.^[58]

This theme continued into the 1906 season when Wisden judged that he had lost his sharp spin and was not dangerous on a hard wicket. He even experimented with a new, very slow style of bowling.^[59] While he scored 1,721 runs,^[17] and began to regularly open the batting, this did not compensate for his lost bowling in Wisden's view.^[60] He completed another double with 128 wickets.^[16] In 1907, Rhodes scored fewer runs and took more wickets in a wet season, with Wisden believing his greater bowling success was due to his making fewer runs^[61] but he still completed the double with 1,045 runs^[17] and 173 wickets.^[16] During the season, he was again asked to open the batting for Yorkshire and it seems that it was around this time that he was decided upon as the batsman who would replace John Tunnicliffe as Yorkshire's permanent opening batsman, after he and several other batsmen had been tried in the position.^[62] Despite his increase in wickets, he was not picked for any of the Tests that year against South Africa with Colin Blythe being preferred and enjoying success.^[63] Rhodes and Blythe went to Australia the following winter (1907-08) with with MCC but Rhodes was now regarded as a batsman and only a "change" bowler who would be the third or fourth bowler used.^[64] The series went to Australia 4–1. Rhodes scored 205 runs at an average of 20.50,^[57] including his first Test fifty, which was scored in the fourth innings of the last Test. He also took four for 102 in Australia's second innings.^[65] In the series, he took seven wickets at an average of 60.14.^[41] In all first-class matches on the tour, he scored 929 runs at an average of 48.89^[17] and took 31 wickets at an average of 34.48.^[16] He followed this with another double in 1908 of 1,660 runs and 106 wickets^[17][16] as Yorkshire won the County Championship.

In 1909, Rhodes scored 2,094 runs at an average of 40.26, which was to remain the highest average of his career in an English cricket season,^[17] and took 141 wickets.^[16] Passing 2,000 runs for the first time, Rhodes' biographer believed that this was the season that "the days of his apprenticeship in batsmanship were ending",^[66] a view supported by Wisden who judged that he had "now become such an exceptionally good batsman that the regret one used to feel at his ever giving his mind to run getting has lost its force."^[67] He played in four of the five Tests against Australia in the season, with his omission from the second Test being later described as "a sad error of judgement" by the editor of Wisden, one of many selectorial "blunders" described in the season as England lost the series two games to one.^[68] In the series, Rhodes scored 168 runs at an average of 33.60^[57] and took 11 wickets at at an average of 22.00.^[41] He had a quiet first Test, where he scored an unbeaten 15, batting at number eight, and bowled one over.^[69] When he was recalled for the third Test, Rhodes bowled a spell of four wickets for seven runs before being hit for four fours in one over by Trumper,^[70] finishing with four for 38 in the first innings, and adding another two wickets for 44 runs in the second innings.^[71] In the fourth Test, Wisden believed that "Rhodes alone bowled well" on the second day,^[72] taking five for 83. He also had moved up to bat at number five although he only scored five runs in the match.^[73] In the final Test, he moved up to number three and scored two fifties, 66 and 54,^[74] adding 104 in the first innings with C. B. Fry and another 61 to save the game with the same batsman in the second. Wisden described Rhodes as "batting admirably" in both innings.^[75] This series was later described by A. A. Thompson as the first series in which Rhodes was chosen as a batsman rather than primarily a bowler.^[76]

Opening batsman

The following winter, in the 1909–10 season, MCC toured South Africa. Rhodes, throughout the tour, opened the batting. This was the first time he had opened the batting with Jack Hobbs.^[77] However, Wisden stated that on the tour, "the weak point of the team was a lack of class and stability in the batting. Among the fourteen players only Hobbs would at home have been sure of his place in a Test match for batting alone." Furthermore, while Rhodes and David Denton were the next best batsmen after Hobbs, they were next "at a very long interval."^[78] In all first-class matches, he scored 499 runs at an average of 26.26^[17] with three fifties and a highest score of 77, and took 21 wickets at 25.47.^[16] In the Test matches, which South Africa won 3–2, Rhodes only took two wickets in five games. However, he did share some large partnerships with Hobbs. England lost the first two Tests, but in the first Test, Rhodes and Hobbs put on 159 for the first wicket in the first innings of which Rhodes made 66.^[79] In the second Test, Hobbs and Rhodes put on 94 in the first innings and 48 in the second innings,^[80] while in the final Test, which England won, they scored 221 together. Rhodes made his then highest Test score of 77 out of that partnership^[81] and Wisden stated that while overshadowed by the brilliance of Hobbs, he batted without making any mistakes.^[82] On the other hand, in the fourth Test, Rhodes "failed dismally" along with Hobbs and Denton, the other trusted "run getters",^[83] scoring 0 and 5.^[84] In all the Tests, Rhodes scored 226 runs and averaged 25.11.^[57] On this tour, Rhodes and Hobbs developed a good trust and understanding while batting to the point where they could score runs by running between the wickets without having to call to each other, a practice that was unusual at the time but was used and developed from then on.^[85] The tour ended with the amateur cricketers wanting to extend the tour into Rhodesia but the professionals refused to take part. Rhodes, although not a ring-leader of this so-called "strike", was singled out in a critical article in a newspaper called the Winning Post as being responsible.^[86]

Rhodes was less productive in batting and bowling in 1910 while Yorkshire finished eighth in the County Championship, a result that was seen as very poor within the county.^[87] Rhodes scored 1,465 runs at an average of 26.63,^[17] and took 88 wickets at an average of 18.98, the first time he had taken less than 100 wickets in an English cricket season.^[16] The next season, 1911, Yorkshire finished seventh in the County Championship and Rhodes was given a benefit match against Lancashire. However, Rhodes received only £750 from the match, and even when Yorkshire launched an appeal to boost the total which raised it to £2,200, it remained less than the amount given to George Hirst and only £129 more than raised in a match for Schofield Haigh, Rhodes' team-mates.^[88] 1911 was a very good summer, leading to generally good batting wickets^[89] and Rhodes scored 2,261 runs, the second and final time he would pass 2,000 runs in a season and the highest total of his career. He averaged 38.32,^[17] while he also took 117 wickets.^[16]

In September 1911, Rhodes went to Australia for the third time, as the opening partner of Jack Hobbs. It was the "absolute pinnacle of his success as a batsman".^[90] England won the 1911–12 Test series against Australia, and while the success of the tourists was put down to their powerful bowling attack, the English victories were described by C. B. Fry as "a succession of triumphs for Jack Hobbs and Rhodes as first wicket batsmen."^[91] Pelham Warner, nominally captain of England but missing the entire series due to a serious illness, later wrote that in "innings after innings they gave us a wonderful start" and that he had "exhausted [his] vocabulary of praise" of their "superlative" batting, which was the basis of England's successful batting in the series.^[92] With Johnny Douglas taking over the captaincy, England lost the first Test. Rhodes did not open the batting for the only time in the series, scoring 41 and 0.^[93] In the second Test, Rhodes scored 61 in the first innings, passing 1,000 Test runs in the process,^[94] with Wisden believing that apart from Rhodes and J. W. Hearne, with whom he shared a century partnership, the batting was very disappointing.^[95] In the second innings, Rhodes scored 28, adding 57 for the first wicket with Hobbs^[94] as England won the match. In the next Test, also won by England, Rhodes scored 59, out of an opening partnership of 147 with Hobbs, and 57 not out.^[96] In the fourth Test, England won to ensure they took the series. Rhodes scored 179 as he and Hobbs scored 323 for the first wicket, a Test record at the time. This was Rhodes' first Test century and was to remain the highest score of his Test career.^[97] Wisden commented that "though not by any means free from fault, his innings, which lasted nearly seven hours, was a remarkable display of careful batting."^[98] It was said at the time that he was now as great a batsman as he once was a bowler.^[99] In the final Test, which England won to complete a 4–1 series win, Rhodes scored 8 and 30, putting on 76 with Hobbs in the second innings,^[100] to finish the series with 463 runs at an average of 57.87, the best average of his career.^[57] On the tour as a whole, he scored 1,098 runs at an average of 54.90^[17] but he did not take a single first-class wicket on the whole tour^[16] and his "his bowling had atrophied to such an extent" that he only bowled 18 overs in the Test matches.^[101]

On their return home, England, captained by C. B. Fry, were involved in the 1912 season in the first ever triangular tournament between England, Australia and South Africa. However, the experiment was ruined by terrible weather, the weakness of the South African side and a dispute amongst the Australian side which resulted in the strongest team not being chosen.^[102] Rhodes played in every game as Hobbs' opening partner. Wisden commented that Hobbs and Rhodes were "a splendid pair to go in first. Thanks to constant association in South Africa and Australia the two men understood each other so well that they could with safety attempt short runs that in ordinary circumstances would have savoured of madness. They never seemed to let a chance escape them, and yet they seldom looked to be in any danger. Better running between the wickets has not often been seen."^[102] In England's first match in which they defeated South Africa, Rhodes scored 36, with his steady defence being "invaluable".^[103] In the next, drawn game against Australia, Hobbs and Rhodes scored 112 for the first wicket. Rhodes scored 59 of the runs, with his first 52 runs being scored out of 77 but he then slowed down, with Wisden believing that the later part of his innings was "as cautious as the first part was brilliant".^[104] Rhodes went on to take three wickets for 59 with the ball.^[105] After a quiet second match against South Africa,^[106] Rhodes scored 92 out of a total of 203^[107] against Australia in very difficult conditions. Wisden said that England owed everything to Rhodes, who played a "remarkable" innings, playing with great skill and self restraint in very difficult conditions for batting.^[108] C. B. Fry described him as digging his runs "out of the slush."^[109] Rhodes again had a poor match against South Africa in another English victory^[106] but in the final match against Australia, which would decide the winner of the tournament^[110] Rhodes scored 49 in putting on 107 with Hobbs in the first innings.^[111] Wisden again commented on their effectiveness as an opening pair, describing their stand as a "great achievement" in testing conditions. Rhodes batted for three hours, showing "invaluable" defence.^[110] England went on to win the match and tournament.^[110] Rhodes scored 204 runs at an average of 51 against Australia that summer, but only 53 runs at an average of 13.25 against the South Africans.^[57] The three wickets he took against Australia were his only wickets of the tournament.^[41] In all first-class matches that summer, Rhodes scored 1,576 runs (averaging 30.90)^[17] and took 53 wickets (average 21.98), the lowest total of wickets he took in an English season and only the second time after 1903 that he had not completed the double.^[16] He also failed to complete the double next season, scoring 1,963 runs (average 32.71)^[17] and 86 wickets (average 21.88) in 1913.^[16]

In the 1913–14 season, Rhodes went to South Africa with MCC, captained by Johnny Douglas. A strong England side won the series 4–0 against a poor South African team.^[112] Rhodes, who scored 731 runs in first-class matches on the tour, averaging 34.80,^[17] and took 31 wickets at an average of 21.35^[16] was described by Wisden as "most valuable as an all-round man."^[112] In the second Test, Rhodes took one wicket, his 100th in Test matches, which also allowed him to complete the double in Tests. He then scored his second and final Test century, scoring 152 and adding 141 for the first wicket with Albert Relf.^[113] He batted for more than five hours, and though he "was too cautious to please the crowd," Wisden said that "his steadiness was invaluable to his side." He was somewhat overshadowed, though, as Sydney Barnes took 17 wickets in the match.^[114] Rhodes opened with Hobbs once again in the third Test, sharing an opening partnership of 100^[115] before they shared opening partnerships of 92 and 133 in the fourth Test, the only drawn match of the series, of which Rhodes' contributions were 22 and 35. He also took three wickets for 33 in the first South African innings.^[116] In the Tests, Rhodes scored 289 runs at an average of 41.28^[57] and took six wickets (average 32.50).^[41] Then, in the final season before the First World War, Rhodes scored 1,377 runs and took 118 wickets,^[17][16] completing the double again. His increased total of wickets was due to Yorkshire using him more often as a bowler that season.^[117] But by the end of the season, the outbreak of war was causing disruption and cricket came to an end for four years.^[118]

While many cricketers joined the army during the war, Rhodes did not. Along with George Hirst and Schofield Haigh, he went to work in a munitions factory in Huddersfield. He became interested in the machines and became absorbed in his work.^[119] Also, Hirst and he were paid by Yorkshire to be available to play in cricket matches on a certain number of Saturdays.^[120]

Career after the war

Returning to bowling

When cricket resumed after the war in 1919, no-one was sure how popular county cricket would be and so the County Championship matches were reduced to two days instead of three. However, this experiment was judged a failure.^[121] Rhodes believed that the long hours of play and the frequent travelling due to playing up to three games a week, plus a lack of a suitable level of wage for these conditions, made the 1919 season chaotic for the players.^[122] Yorkshire won the championship with a very different side to that which played in 1914. Some good new players were emerging, such as Herbert Sutcliffe and Percy Holmes but this was offset by a bowling attack weakened by the death of Major Booth in the war and Alonzo Drake due to illness, plus the Hirst being too old to be an effective bowler.^[123] In Rhodes' words, this "lack of bowlers ... led me to take seriously to bowling again."^[124] With an increased amount of bowling, he took more wickets and regained his confidence and while he could not spin or flight the ball as well as before due to his age (he was then 41), he was able "to rely more on length and experience."^[124] Furthermore, the success of Holmes and Sutcliffe as opening batsmen meant that, although Rhodes began the season opening the batting, he dropped down to number four in the batting order.^[124] He scored 1,237 runs,^[17] but made a surprising and successful return as a bowler^[124] by taking 164 wickets at an average of 14.42,^[16] finishing on top of the first-class bowling averages.^[125] Around this time, Rhodes was approached by Haslingden Cricket Club from the Lancashire League to play cricket for them as a professional. Rhodes, not happy with the playing conditions in the 1919 season, seriously considered the offer but in the end declined and continued with Yorkshire.^[126][127]

In the following season, county matches returned to three days and the wages of professional cricketers were increased. This led to a falling out between Rhodes and the Yorkshire secretary, Frederick Toone over the failure to increase wages for a non-championship away match and Rhodes believing that Toone was being dishonest in his dealings with people.^[128] That season, Rhodes scored 1,123 runs^[17] and again took over 150 wickets, managing 161 at an average of 13.18.^[16] He was then chosen to go to Australia for an MCC tour in 1920–21. However, in the Test series, Australia dominated. With England not having recovered from the effects of the war,^[129] being weak in bowling and confronted by an Australian side that was far better than anyone had expected, the end result was "disaster", according to Wisden, as Australia won 5–0, an unprecedented result.^[130] Rhodes suffered from confusion as to his position in the team: now playing as a middle-order batsman and a main bowler for Yorkshire, the England captain Douglas seemed unsure whether to use him in this role, or in a continuation of his role from before the war of Hobbs' opening partner.^[131] Up until the first Test, he was used mainly down the batting order and only after this Test did he return to opening the batting. Furthermore, despite being a leading bowler in England in 1919 and 1920, he was rarely used as a bowler, and with little success when he was.^[131] While he took six for 39 against Victoria in helpful conditions,^[132] he was "scarcely called on to bowl thereafter"^[131] and he only took 18 wickets (averaging 26.61 on the tour in first-class matches.^[16] He managed two centuries with the bat to score 730 runs at an average of 38.42, including a double century.^[17] In the Tests, Rhodes was less successful, 238 runs at an average of 23.80 with one fifty, a score of 73 in the fourth Test,^[133] although he did score 45 in the first Test which took him past 2,000 Test runs.^[134] He took four wickets at an average of 61.25 and bowled just 85 overs,^[41] including three for 61 in the third Test.^[135] Wisden said "It must be said, however, that in a summer of continuous sunshine - remarkable even for Australia - the bowlers received no help."^[130] Rhodes later said that he was not used much by Douglas as his captain did not think his bowling would "be much use on Australian wickets," but it was rumoured that there may have been a problem between Rhodes and Douglas.^[136] Nevertheless, much of Rhodes' tour, according to A. A. Thompson, "may be fairly regarded as failure."^[132] Frederick Toone, with whom Rhodes had already had a disagreement, was manager of the tour and it was reported to Rhodes that during the tour, Toone had said that "Wilfred's finished."^[137]

Senior professional

On his return to England for the 1921 season, Rhodes came to what proved to be several turning points for the rest of his career. First was the visit of the Australians to England. The tourists, in the words of Wisden, "overwhelmed" England, exposed many weaknesses in the team and reduced the English selectors to "catch at straws" and select 30 players for the five Tests, which England lost 3-0.^[138] Rhodes played the first Test but although not failing more than anyone else, he was then dropped for the rest of the series and did not in fact play another Test for five years.^[139] At the time, it was suggested that he lost his place as he was reluctant to face the fast bowling of Jack Gregory and Ted McDonald^[140] who devastated the English batting and demoralised many batsmen.^[141] This led to the second development in Rhodes' career that season. As a result of his problems with pace bowling, Rhodes began to bat using what was called the "two-eyed stance", where instead of standing at right angles to the bowler as most batsmen did, he batted with his body facing towards the bowler. Critics at the time complained that this was ugly and restricted the shots that could be played. It also led to some batsmen using their pads to stop the ball hitting their wicket as an extra form of defence.^[142] According to his Wisden obituary, Rhodes was one of the first men to adopt this batting stance.^[18] The third development for Rhodes was that following the retirements of Hirst and Denton from Yorkshire, he became from 1921, the "senior professional" at the club, a position that while holding no official powers, was nevertheless influential in that the senior professional in a side often had an important influence on tactics, strategy and morale in a side.^[143] Rhodes held this post until his retirement. In the season as a whole, Rhodes scored 1,474 runs at an average of 39.83, including his highest first-class score of 267 not out^[17] against Leicestershire, on the day England, who had just dropped him, began the second Test.^[144] He also took 141 wickets at an average of 13.27.^[16] Following the 1921 season, Rhodes undertook the first of what became an annual trip to India every year until 1927, playing and coaching for the Maharaja of Patiala. Some years, he took other Yorkshire cricketers with him and on five occasions he completed the double in the cricket he played, although most games were not first-class.^[145]

For the next four seasons, from 1922 to 1925, Yorkshire won the County Championship. In each season, Rhodes scored over 1,000 runs, averaging over 30 except in 1924, while in 1925, he averaged 40.91, only the second time he averaged over 40 in an English cricket season.^[17] With the ball, Rhodes was part of a very powerful attack and was usually the fourth or fifth bowler used.^[146] He took over 100 wickets from 1922 to 1924 to complete the double, but took only 57 in 1925,^[16] a very good year for batting.^[147] As senior professional, he was very influential in this period of Yorkshire's success, developing a hostile attack, developing tactics and raising the standard of the fielding.^[148] He was influential to the extent that stories emerged that he was an "overmighty subject" who ignored his (amateur) captains, set fields and made bowling changes.^[149] Alan Hill wrote that Yorkshire captains had to defer to Rhodes as senior professional. Also, the captain Arthur Lupton "very wisely left the cricket affairs to the joint supervision of Rhodes and Robinson."^[150] Rowland Ryder tells a story of when Yorkshire were unable to break a stubborn eighth wicket partnership against Worcestershire in 1922. As Yorkshire became more desperate, Rhodes was seen going up to the bowler and saying "Here, let me have the ball." The Yorkshire captain, to save face, then ran up and said, "Will you have an over, Wilfred?" while Rhodes simply glared at him and took the ball.^[151] Ryder also tells a story, which he admits is probably apocryphal, of Yorkshire scoring around 400 for six in one match. The captain, hoping to score an easy 25 or so, came out of the amateur dressing room with his bat when a young professional touched his arm and said, "It's all right, sir. Mr Rhodes has declared."^[152] Hill gives a similar version of this story. ^[153] While Rhodes' biographer, Sidney Rogerson, denied many of these stories were true, he did quote a former captain who claimed Rhodes gave him excellent advice and often chose the best time to bowl himself. Rogerson also claimed that all the captains to whom he spoke mentioned their good relations with Rhodes and his good advice while agreeing that he could be difficult.^[154] Rogerson also quotes instances of Rhodes being unco-operative with his captains, such as giving monosyllabic answers.^[155] Beverley Lyon, a county captain of the time, did criticise Rhodes for helping young professionals to develop too serious an attitude to the game and promote a no-risk approach.^[156] An example of this no-risk approach was in a game against Lancashire in 1922^[157] where Rhodes refused to take any risks while batting so that the game was drawn rather than won; only three runs came from the last five overs of the match and Rhodes did not score from the last over with Yorkshire needing only three to win but eight wickets down and the last batsman, the captain, unable to bat. Yorkshire did score more points than Lancashire from the draw. Rhodes was widely criticised in the press and he later admitted regret at not taking a risk to go for the win.^[158]

Recalled for the Oval

Reviewing the 1925 season, Wisden commented on Rhodes' age and reduced performance. "In the nature of things, Rhodes, approaching the completion of his 48th year, could not be expected to prove very deadly in a dry summer ... If less effective in bowling, he did fine work with the bat..."^[159] Yet, in the 1926 season, Wisden said that while the other Yorkshire bowlers did not perform as well as they had in 1925, Rhodes "despite his 49 years, came out in wonderful form ... Rhodes's triumph delighted everybody ... He not only accomplished skilful work in bowling but made his thousand runs [in county matches] with an average of 40."^[159] Rhodes more than doubled his first-class wickets, taking 115 wickets at an average of 14.86, more than five runs per wicket fewer than in 1925.^[16] He scored 1,132 runs in first-class matches (average 34.30), the final time he passed 1,000 runs in a season^[17] and so completing his 16th and final double. Also in this season, the Australians returned for the first time since 1921. The English selectors had decided to add two professional cricketers to their committee and chose to add Rhodes and Jack Hobbs.^[160] With Rhodes in such good form that he was top of the bowling averages, the selectors tried to convice him to play for England on more than one occasion through the season, but he turned them down believing that the younger men should have their chance.^[161] However, the first four Tests were all drawn and when the selectors met before the final Test at the Oval, they were conscious that England had won only one Test match against Australia in the last 19,^[160] and that the Australians had held the Ashes since 1920–21. With the final Test to be played to a finish, there was a great deal of interest in the match.^[162] The selectors, aware that they had to make changes, dropped the captain, Arthur Carr, and replaced him with the inexperienced Percy Chapman.^[163] They also recalled Rhodes, aged nearly 49, having finally overcome his objections.^[164] The selection of Rhodes, in the words of Wisden, "naturally occasioned a good deal of surprise",^[162] and all the changes made "evoked loud and angry criticism" of the selectors.^[165]

The match began with England batting on winning the toss but made a disappointing total of 280.^[162] Rhodes scored 28 runs.^[166] In reply, Australia scored 302. Rhodes bowled 25 overs and took two for 35. His first wicket was Bill Woodfull. Rhodes had only bowled to Woodfull once before, bowling him second ball^[162] with an arm ball.^[167] Now, Rhodes bowled two maiden overs to Woodfull before making him play on with an identical ball.^[168] He also removed Arthur Richardson. When England batted again, an overnight thunderstorm soaked the pitch and left it very difficult to bat on next day, but Hobbs and Sutcliffe put on 172 for the first wicket and England scored 436. Australia were left needing 415 which was highly unlikely in the conditions.^[162] Rhodes immediately made the ball turn when he bowled and had Ponsford caught at slip. He went on to take four for 44, and Wisden's verdict was that his selection "was crowned with complete success, the bowling of the veteran Yorkshireman proving no small factor in determining the issue of the struggle." Australia were bowled out for 125, and to the excitement of the crowd, who ran onto the pitch, England won the Ashes.^[162] While only one of several winning performances, the editor of Wisden believed that Rhodes had shown himself to still be England's best bowler and said that his "triumph" was "immensely popular."^[169]

Although Rhodes' biographer believed that he should have retired at this point, and that the remainder of his career was an "anticlimax"^[170], Rhodes continued to play for Yorkshire until 1930. He averaged under 30 in each season with the bat and only scored one more hundred, in 1928. Although never scoring 1,000 runs again,^[17] he took 85 wickets in 1927, 115 wickets in 1928 and 100 wickets in 1929.^[16] In 1927, Yorkshire opened a public testimonial, donating £250 themselves. Eventually, it raised £1,821 in around three months.^[171] At the same time, Yorkshire were seeking to appoint a more worthy and permanent captain than had been the case. They planned to ask Herbert Sutcliffe to become their captain, and so Frederick Toone encouraged Rhodes to offer his resignation as senior professional, on account of his age and the need to take things easier—Rhodes' biographer believed that the county wanted to clear the deck before appointing a new captain. Rhodes considered, but decided that he would be ungrateful to desert Yorkshire like that, not least prompted by his wife's suspicions of a plot. Meanwhile, the appointment of Sutcliffe led to great controversy, with some believing that Rhodes should have been appointed captain.^[172] Rhodes was drawn into the argument, saying he had never been offered the captaincy and Sutcliffe had been approached over his head. He said that his views had not been sought and that he felt unappreciated for not being given first refusal on the captaincy. A poll of Yorkshire members also showed a marked preference for Rhodes over Sutcliffe as captain.^[173] In the end, Sutcliffe declined the captaincy and another amateur was appointed as captain.

In 1929–30, Rhodes was chosen for an MCC tour of West Indies. Rhodes described it as an "old crocks" team and he was used as a stock bowler. Most of the team were older cricketers and faced difficult conditions for bowlers. Rhodes was given a lot of bowling to do.^[174] While the pitches did not generally help spin, according to Wisden, there were times when Rhodes did effective work when he could spin the ball.^[175] He took 39 first-class wickets on tour, averaging 24.28,^[16] and scored 129 runs at an average of 25.80 and a top score 36.^[17] In the Tests, or "Representative Games" as they were called, he took ten wickets at an average of 45.30.^[41] On the final day of the final Test, Rhodes was 52 years, 165 days, making him the oldest player ever to appear in a Test match.^[176] Then, during the 1930 season, Rhodes announced that he was going to retire at the end of the season. This may have been partly due to his needing to bowl more overs to get his wickets, which added to his efforts in the West Indies led to a decreased enthusiasm.^[177] Furthermore, Hedley Verity and Bill Bowes had emerged to strengthen the Yorkshire bowling. Finally, through an ex-captain of Yorkshire, Harrow School offered Rhodes the position of senior professional at the school.^[178] Rhodes missed several matches towards the end of the season before ending his career at the Scarborough Festival. His last match was for H. D. G. Leveson Gower's XI against the Australians, where he took five for 93.^[179] He bowled against Donald Bradman for the second time, and nearly had him caught before taking a wicket with his last ball in first-class cricket.^[180] Rhodes' figures for his final season were 73 wickets at an average of 19.10^[16] and 478 runs at an average of 22.76.^[17]

By the time Rhodes ended his career, he had appeared in 1,110 first-class matches, the most anyone has ever appeared in.^[181] In these matches, he scored 39,969 runs in all first class cricket, the 17th highest career total of any batsman.^[182] He also had a total of 4,204 wickets, the highest total of anyone in first-class cricket.^[183] In 58 Tests, he scored 2,325 runs (average 30.19) and took 127 wickets (average 26.96).^[184] He was the first Englishman and only the third player overall to reach the Test double of 1,000 runs and 100 wickets; he was also the first player to extend this to 2,000 runs and 100 wickets.^[185] Wisden, reporting Rhodes' retirement in 1931, said, "So comes to an end a splendid career."^[186]

Wilfred Rhodes' career performance graph

Style and personality

EW Swanton described Rhodes as a "craftsman rather than an artist" when it came to batting.^[187] Wisden, in his obituary, said that "Rhodes made himself into a batsman by practice and hard thinking" and that while he could be "dour and parsimonious", he was capable of hitting out with the bat.^[18] He was one of the first batsmen to adopt the "two-eyed stance" and was known to dislike the cut shot as "an unprofitable stroke" although in his earlier days of batting, he was a noted cutter.^[188] However, as he changed to the two-eyed stance, he scored more of his runs on the leg-side.^[189] Perhaps his most noted feature as a batsman was the success of his opening partnership with Hobbs and particularly the enterprise of their running between the wickets.^[189] He himself said that he preferred batting to bowling.^[190]

As a bowler, Rhodes had "a beautifully controlled, economical and rhythmical action which ensured supreme accuracy of length and direction. He was a master of the stock left-hander's spin and could vary it with the ball that came on with the arm.."^[191] He was an expert at bowling to his field so that the batsmen hit the ball where he, the bowler, wanted it.^[18] In his early years, Rhodes commanded very sharp spin.^[192] While he lost this as time went on, he became excellent at studying batsmen to work out their weaknesses.^[193] Rhodes was able to make batsmen "perform strokes contrary to their reason and intention. Batsmen of Rhodes's heyday frequently succumbed to his bait for a catch in the deepfield. David Denton had safe hands at long-on; and the score-sheets of the period repeated day by day the rubric -- c Denton b Rhodes." Meanwhile, on helpful pitches, "in rainy weather, c Tunnicliffe b Rhodes was familiar proof that Wilfred was at work on a sticky pitch, for Tunnicliffe was the best slip fielder of the century..."^[18]

When he was involved in matches, "he was not a man given to affability".^[18] He could show annoyance on the field and could be critical of the performances of others. Nor was he popular in the way that a player like Hirst was popular. "He commanded respect rather than plaudits" in the words of Bill Bowes.^[194]

Personal life

In October 1899, Rhodes, aged 22, married Sarah Elizabeth Stancliffe who lived in Kirkheaton when she was 24. They lived in a shared farm house at Bog Hall near Kirkheaton.^[195] Rhodes remembered that he always faced a 25 minute walk from the nearest railway station, with his home at the top of a hill that had to be climbed in all weather and with a full cricket kit to carry.^[196] Rhodes' wife took over all the washing and ironing that his mother had done previously. She also baked bread which he enjoyed.^[197] On 25 August 1902, Rhodes and his wife had a daughter, which he first heard when he was handed a telegram after walking off the field against Kent having just taken eight wickets for 26 runs.^[198] Rhodes always liked to live within his means, although he enjoyed beer and a pipe. He found Yorkshire's dealings with money to be lacking generosity.^[199] Following his benefit in 1911, Yorkshire, as was their custom, paid only one third of the money to Rhodes and kept back the rest to invest on his behalf, only paying out the interest. Rhodes considered this an unfair arrangement.^[200] However, he used the money to build a stone house at Marsh, Huddersfield, which his family moved into in the autumn of 1912. He lived there until 1956.^[201]

Following his retirement in 1930, Rhodes coached at Harrow school until 1936. However, he was not a particularly successful coach and found it difficult to convey his talents to schoolboys.^[202] From around 1936, his sight began to fail and by the time that the Second World War began in 1939, it was affecting his everyday life to the point where he was unable to take up a wartime job. Instead, he took up golf and gardening.^[203] By the time the war ended, his eyesight was bad enough to consult a specialist who diagnosed him with glaucoma and by that stage nothing could be done.^[204] He was still able to see well enough to attend cricket matches and play golf, although not well enough by 1946 to read a newspaper. He consulted another specialist in 1951 who tried to perform an operation to help him, but by 1952 he was completely blind. The build up of pain also forced doctors to remove his left eyeball in 1958.^[205] Meanwhile, in 1950, Rhodes' wife suffered a heart attack which prevented her helping him as much as she would have done, and in 1954 she died from another heart attack, a few months before her 80th birthday. Rhodes sold his house at Marsh and moved in with his daughter and her husband, with whom he later moved to Bournemouth.^[206] However, he often attended cricket matches and was able to follow the play despite his blindness.^[18] He was often sought out when he attended matches and asked for his advice or opinion. He was given honourary life membership of Yorkshire in 1946 and of the MCC in 1949.^[207] He died in 1973, aged 95.

References

Bibliography

• Fry, C.B. (1986). Life Worth Living. Some Phases of an Englishman. London: The Pavilion Library. ISBN 1851450262. 
• Hill, Alan (2007). Herbert Sutcliffe. Cricket Maestro. Stroud, Gloucestershire: Stadia. ISBN 9780752443508. 
• Rogerson, Sidney (1960). Wilfred Rhodes. London: Hollis and Carter. 
• Ryder, Rowland (1995). Cricket Calling. London: Faber and Faber. ISBN 0571174760. 
• Swanton, EW (1999). Cricketers of My Time. London: Andre Deutsch. ISBN 0233997466. 
• Thompson, A.A. (1960). Hirst and Rhodes. London: The Sportsmans Book Club. 
• Warner, P.F. (2003). How we Recovered the Ashes. An Account of the 1903-04 MCC Tour of Australia. London: Methuen. ISBN 041377399X. 

External links

• Player Profile: Wilfred Rhodes from Cricinfo
• Player Profile: Wilfred Rhodes from CricketArchive