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Ray Illingworth

England

Full name Raymond Illingworth

Born June 8, 1932, Pudsey, Yorkshire

Current age 77 years 171 days

Major teams England, Leicestershire, Yorkshire

Batting style Right-hand bat

Bowling style Right-arm offbreak

Relation Son-in-law - AA Metcalfe

Batting and fielding averages

	Mat	Inns	NO	Runs	HS	Ave	BF	SR	100	50	4s	6s	Ct
Tests	61	90	11	1836	113	23.24			2	5		3	45
ODIs	3	2	0	5	4	2.50	18	27.77	0	0	0	0	1
First-class	787	1073	213	24134	162	28.06			22	105			446
List A	218	144	55	2380	79	26.74			0	4			58

Bowling averages

	Mat	Inns	Balls	Runs	Wkts	BBI	BBM	Ave	Econ	SR	4w	5w	10
Tests	61	100	11934	3807	122	6/29	7/29	31.20	1.91	97.8	5	3	0
ODIs	3	2	130	84	4	3/50	3/50	21.00	3.87	32.5	0	0	0
First-class	787		117860	42020	2072	9/42		20.27	2.13	56.8		104	11
List A	218		8097	4686	186	5/20	5/20	25.19	3.47	43.5	3	3	0

Career statistics

Test debut	England v New Zealand at Manchester, Jul 24-29, 1958 scorecard
Last Test	England v West Indies at Lord's, Aug 23-27, 1973 scorecard
Test statistics
ODI debut	Australia v England at Melbourne, Jan 5, 1971 scorecard
Last ODI	England v New Zealand at Manchester, Jul 20, 1973 scorecard
ODI statistics
First-class span	1951 - 1983
List A span	1967 - 1983

Profile

Ray Illingworth's glittering reputation as a cricket strategist was unfortunately compromised by his three-year stint as chairman of selectors, which came when he had nothing to gain in public esteem. In his time as captain, which embraced an Ashes-winning tour, his insistence on fielding only players of his choice was seen as a sign of independence. But when, as chairman, he denied his captains the same right, apparent strength of mind was exposed as pig-headedness. The most damaging example was his refusal to let Mike Atherton have Alec Stewart, rather than Illy's choice Jack Russell, keeping wicket in the 1996 World Cup. Illingworth's greatest gift as captain lay in creating the illusion that he had 14 or 15 players on the field: so expertly did he block a batsman's favourable scoring strokes that when the opposition were in trouble it must frequently have seemed that there were no runs on offer anywhere. In that, Illingworth was much helped by the accuracy of his own offspin - a miserly 1.91 runs per over in his 61 Tests. He was a shade under 6ft tall, and sturdily built. His batting, normally at No. 6 or 7, was built on an orthodox technique and absolute determination not to give away his wicket, which was reflected by a fifth of his innings finishing not out, sometimes to the disadvantage of his teams. Despite that, a droll sense of humour and a fund of reminiscences made him one of the best-liked players of his time.
John Thicknesse

Notes

Wisden Cricketer of the Year 1960