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Wilfred Rhodes
Wilfred Rhodes going out to bat at Bradford Park Avenue around 1908.
Personal information
Full name
Wilfred Rhodes
Height6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
BattingRight-handed
BowlingSlow left-arm orthodox
RoleAll-rounder
International information
National side
Test debut (cap 121)1 June 1899 v Australia
Last Test3 April 1930 v West Indies
Domestic team information
YearsTeam
1898–1930Yorkshire
Career statistics
Competition Tests FC
Matches 58 1110
Runs scored 2325 39,969
Batting average 30.19 30.81
100s/50s 2/11 58/197
Top score 179 267*
Balls bowled 8,225 185,742
Wickets 127 4,204
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. In Tests, Rhodes took 127 wickets in and scored 2,325 runs, becoming the first Englishman to complete the double of 1,000 runs and 100 wickets in Test matches. He holds the world records both for the most appearances made in first-class cricket (1,110 matches), and for the most wickets taken (4,204). He completed the double of 1,000 runs and 100 wickets in an English cricket season a record 16 times. Rhodes played for Yorkshire and England into his fifties, and in his final Test in 1930 was, at 52 years and 165 days, the oldest player who has appeared in a Test match.

Beginning his career for Yorkshire in 1898 as a slow left arm bowler who was a useful batsman, Rhodes quickly established a reputation as one of the best slow bowlers in the world. However, by the First World War he had developed his batting skills to the extent that he was regarded as one of the leading batsmen in England. This improvement was accompanied by a temporary decline in his bowling performances, but the loss of key Yorkshire bowlers in the War resulted in Rhodes resuming his role as a front-line bowler. He played throughout the 1920s as an all-rounder before retiring after the 1930 cricket season. His first appearance for England was in 1899 and he played regularly in Tests until 1921. Famously recalled to the team in the final Ashes Test of 1926 aged 48, Rhodes played a significant part in winning the match for England who thus regained the Ashes for the first time since 1912.

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 particularly 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 critics accused him of excessive caution at times. However, they also considered him to be an astute cricket thinker. Following his retirement from playing cricket, he coached at Harrow School but was not a great success. His eyesight began to fail from around 1939 to the point where he was completely blind by 1952. He was given honorary membership of the Marylebone Cricket Club (M.C.C.) in 1949 and remained a respected figure within the game until his death in 1973.

Early life and career

Beginnings

Rhodes was born in the village of Kirkheaton, just outside Huddersfield, in 1877. His family moved to a farm two miles away while he was very young.[1] He went to school in nearby Hopton, and later to Spring Grove School in Huddersfield. His father, Alfred Rhodes, was captain of the Kirkheaton cricket team's Second XI and encouraged his son to play cricket, buying him equipment and having a pitch laid near their home for Wilfred to practice on.[2][3] By the time Rhodes 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 for a career as a professional cricketer. After briefly considering becoming a teacher, in around 1893 he began work in the railway engine sheds in Mirfield, before progressing to a job in the railway storage department in 1894.[4] By now, Rhodes was playing regularly for Kirkheaton Second XI; his keenness to reach one game on time led him to ring the off-duty bell before the end of the shift. As a result he lost his job on the railways and began work on a local farm, which gave him more time for cricket. 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 club cricketer

Rhodes played for Gala Cricket Club in 1896 and 1897, as an all-rounder who opened the batting and bowled medium paced seamers.[6] He took 92 wickets in his first season, and discovered that bowling an occasional slow ball brought him some success. He decided to change his bowling style to spin, and spent the winter of 1896–97 practising on the family farm while also working again on the railway, this time as a signalman.[7] Over several months, Rhodes used his practice sessions at the family farm to develop control of spin and different types of delivery. Consequently, in his second season at Galashiels, now bowling slow left arm, he took fewer wickets but at a better average. At the end of the 1897 season, encouraged by a Scottish member of the M.C.C., he resigned from Gala to look for work in England.[8]

First-class cricketer

Beginning as a bowler

A painting of a man sitting on a chair holding a cricket bat. He has a moustache and is wearing a yellow, orange and black striped cap and blazer, cream shirt and trousers and cricket pads.
Lord Hawke, Yorkshire's captain when Rhodes made his debut. He remained captain of Yorkshire until 1911.

In response to an advertisement, Rhodes applied to join the groundstaff of Warwickshire County Cricket Club, 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 to having a poor match, while his rival for Peel's place in the side, Albert Cordingley, took nine wickets in the match.[11]

In early spring 1898, Rhodes was invited to the nets at Headingley, which led to him playing in some friendly matches (unofficial matches involving first-class teams). Rhodes went on to make his first-class debut for Yorkshire on 12 May 1898 against the M.C.C., taking six wickets in the match.[12][13] In his second game, he made his County Championship debut on 16 May 1898 against Somerset, taking 13 wickets for 45 runs.[14] In the 1898 season, according to Wisden Cricketers' Almanack Rhodes "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", though it was noted that bad weather in first part of the summer had created some difficult pitches.[15] As a batsman he scored three fifties,[17] proving himself to be "a dangerous run-getter".[15] By the end of the season, according to cricket writer Neville Cardus, Rhodes had proven himself to be the best left-arm spinner in England.[18]

In 1899, Rhodes took 179 wickets at an average of 17.10 in a reasonably dry season which meant fewer pitches to suit his bowling. Wisden described him as "head and shoulders above his colleagues".[16][19] He made his Test debut in the five-match series against Australia, playing in three of the five Tests; his first Test coincided with W. G. Grace's last. As well as Grace, his team-mates included C. B. Fry, K. S. Ranjitsinhji, and George Hirst. Rhodes opened the English bowling and took four wickets for 58 in an Australian total of 252; his first Test wicket was Monty Noble (whose wicket he took again in the second innings). He was described by Wisden as bowling "steady and well" on the first day.[20] Rhodes took three wickets in the second Test,[21] but the selectors omitted him from the third match a decision Wisden believed was mistaken.[22] He did not play again until the final Test, and he finished with 13 wickets in the series, equal with J. T. Hearne as England's leading Test wicket-taker for the summer.[23] Rhodes was also selected to represent the Players against the Gentlemen at Lord's for the first time that season, although W. G. Grace and C. B. Fry scored heavily against him.[24]

Rhodes's most successful season in terms of wickets were the three seasons from 1900 to 1902. In these years, 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] assisting Yorkshire to 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, but Rhodes still took 251 wickets, an achievement described by Wisden as astonishing.[16][25] Against M.C.C. that year, Rhodes scored his maiden first-class century, batting at number nine.[26] In the 1902 season, Rhodes took 213 wickets, fewer than 1901 despite a greater number of favourable pitches in a wet summer. This attracted unfavourable comment from some critics who had expected more.[27]

The main cricket event of 1902 was the Australian tour of England. Rhodes played in all five Tests, being England's leading wicket-taker with 22 wickets at an average of 15.27.[28] He took seven for 17 in the first innings of the first Test, out of an Australian total of 36, in conditions that the umpires considered reasonable. Rhodes, along with George Hirst, was described in Wisden as bowling very well.[29] However, C. B. Fry believed that Hirst was more difficult to play and that while Rhodes bowled well, the Australian batsmen got themselves out as they "hurried to the other end and tried to hit Rhodes, without success".[30] Rain meant the game was drawn and washed out most of the second match. In the third Test, which England lost, Rhodes took five for 63,[31] including a spell of four wickets in nineteen balls.[32] In the fourth Test, Rhodes took seven wickets in the match, taking three quick wickets in the first innings, but receiving some heavy punishment. He was batting at the end of the match, but was unable to prevent Australia from snatching victory to win by three runs and take the series.[33] The final Test, at The Oval, 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. It has been claimed that Hirst said to Rhodes, "We'll get 'em in singles",[34] 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 had little success as a bowler for a spell of three weeks.[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 that Rhodes at this time was accused of being easy to play on a wicket which suited the batsmen, although Warner himself did not agree.[38]

From all-rounder to specialist batsman

Fourteen men are facing the camera standing or sitting next to each other on grass. Eight at the back are standing, four in the middle are sitting on wooden chairs and two at the front are sitting cross-legged on the floor. Most of the men are wearing white shirts, white trousers, caps and have moustaches. Several men are wearing striped or plain blazers. Two men at each end of the standing line are dressed differently, in dark suits. In the background is a building with a seats outside it under a balcony. Spectators are looking out.
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.

Pelham Warner, who played for Middlesex County Cricket Club, toured prolifically with cricket teams and was chosen to captain the first M.C.C.-sponsored tour of Australia in the winter of 1903–04. Warner was primarily responsible for the selection of players, and he selected Rhodes among his first choices for the team.[39] Before the tour, K. S. Ranjitsinhji said that while Rhodes might score plenty of runs in Australia, he "would not take a dozen wickets" in first-class cricket there.[40] However, Warner believed that Rhodes and Hirst were the best two bowlers in England, and stated that Rhodes was the "mainstay of the team".[40] Wisden named Rhodes as the most effective bowler on the tour, refuting those who predicted his failure, although he was helped by an unusually high number of helpful, rain affected pitches; Wisden, however, reported that he bowled well on all types of pitches.[41] On the whole tour, the Yorkshire bowler took 65 first-class wickets at an average of 16.23,[16] including 31 wickets at an average of 15.74 in the Test matches.[42]

The Test series was won by 3–2 by England, after they had established an early lead by winning the first two Tests. In the first match R. E. Foster, who scored 287, helped to give gave England a big lead after the first innings. Rhodes shared a tenth wicket partnership of 130 with him, scoring 40 runs himself. This was then a Test record partnership for the tenth wicket, and remained so for 70 years; as of February 2010 it was still the England team's 10th wicket record .[43] When Victor Trumper led an Australian fightback, scoring 185 not out, only Rhodes could keep him quiet in conditions which, according to Warner, were very good for batting.[44] Steady bowling through the innings brought Rhodes figures of five for 94.[45][46] Warner said that he bowled magnificently and later wrote that "what we should have done without Rhodes I do not know".[44]

In the second Test which was badly affected by the weather, Rhodes had a match analysis of 15 wickets for 124 runs,[47] at the time the best bowling analysis recorded in a match between England and Australia and remaining so until 1934. It was also the equal highest number of wickets taken in a match by a single player (although other players had given away fewer runs).[48] Rain had ruined the pitch, making it very difficult to bat on, but according to Wisden, Rhodes bowled splendidly even though eight catches were dropped from his bowling.[49] His eight for 68 in the second innings remained his best figures in Tests. Australia won the third Test, but the decisive fourth Test was won by England. Rhodes contributed with both bat and ball. In the first innings, he took four for 33 as the last five wickets fell for 17 runs, although the ball was not turning and the crowd tried to put him off.[50] Later, Rhodes added 55 for the tenth wicket in the second innings with his captain.[51] However, he was less effective as England lost the final Test, with Warner saying that Rhodes never bowled a good length in the second innings.[52]

Rhodes believed that the 1903–04 tour was a turning point in his career as a bowler and that he was never the same after. Part of the reason was a change in his bowling style. He had noticed that it was necessary for him to bowl faster in Australia to be effective, and on his return to England he continued with this faster style up until the First World War.[53] Rhodes thought that another reason for his bowling decline was increasing concentration on batting; his biographer, Sidney Rogerson, cited reasons such as the strain on his fingers and wrist from bowling so much, and his development into a more robust, well-built figure in his mid-twenties. Rogerson also believed that Rhodes was affected by the break-up of the successful Yorkshire team which had peaked between 1900 and 1902. More batting responsibility was placed on his shoulders, and he received less support in the field as the team were less rehearsed, efficient and familiar. Consequently, while Rhodes scored more and more runs and moved further up the batting order after 1903, his bowling gradually declined until the war.[54]

In 1904, Rhodes took 131 wickets, the fewest in a season of his career to date.[16] He 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 in two games he opened the batting.[55] In 1905, Yorkshire won the Championship; Rhodes again completed the double, with 1,581 runs, his two hundreds including a double hundred.[17] He took 182 wickets,[16] but Wisden judged that he was not as dangerous a bowler on slow wickets as he used to be.[56] Rhodes played in four of the five Tests against Australia that year. He scored 29 and 39 not out in the first Test,[57] but in the second, suffered an injured finger which reduced his effectiveness and caused him to miss the next Test.[58] In the fourth Test, Rhodes took five wickets in the match, including three for 36 in the second innings.[59] However, the England captain, Stanley Jackson, showed, in the words of Wisden, "a curious want of faith in Rhodes", even though he was bowling well.[60] His fielding was also singled out for praise as he took four catches, two of them brilliant.[60] England eventually won the series 2–0, with Rhodes's contribution being 146 runs, at an average of 48.66 and a top score of 39 not out,[61] and ten wickets at an average of 31.40.[42]

The relative deterioration in his bowling continued into the 1906 season when Wisden commented that he had lost his sharp spin and was not dangerous on a hard wicket.[56] 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,[62] despite the completion of another double with 128 wickets.[16] In 1907, Rhodes scored fewer runs and increased his bowling aggregate, securing 173 wickets in a wet season.[16] Wisden believed his greater bowling success was due to a reduced batting contribution, but he still completed the double by scoring 1,045 runs.[17][63] During that season, Rhodes was again asked to open the batting for Yorkshire and he was chosen as the permanent replacement for John Tunnicliffe as Yorkshire's opening batsman. Several batsmen had been tried in the position,[64] but Rhodes's superior defensive technique with the bat secured him the role.[65] Despite his increase in wickets, Rhodes was not picked for any of the Tests that year against South Africa, Colin Blythe being preferred.[66]

Rhodes and Blythe both went to Australia the following winter (1907–08) with MCC, but Rhodes was now regarded primarily as a batsman and only as a "change" bowler who would be the third or fourth used.[67] The series was won by Australia 4–1. In the series, Rhodes scored 205 runs at an average of 20.50,[61] including his first Test fifty in the fourth innings of the last Test. He also took four for 102 in Australia's second innings of that Test.[68] In the series, he took seven wickets at an average of 60.14.[42] In all first-class matches on the tour, Rhodes 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[16][17] as Yorkshire won the County Championship.

In 1909, Rhodes scored 2,094 runs at an average of 40.26, which was to remain his second highest run aggregate and average for an English cricket season,[17] and took 141 wickets.[16] Sidney Rogerson believed that this season marked the completion of his transformation into a batsman.[69] This view was supported by Wisden, which 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."[70] He played in four of the five Tests against Australia in 1909, his omission from the second Test being later described as an error of judgement by the editor of Wisden, one of many selectorial blunders as England lost the series two games to one.[71] In the series, Rhodes scored 168 runs at an average of 33.60,[61] and took 11 wickets at an average of 22.00.[42] In the first Test, he had a quiet time, scoring an unbeaten 15, batting at number eight, and bowling only one over.[72] Recalled for the third Test, Rhodes bowled a spell in which four wickets were captured for seven runs, before being hit for four fours in one over by Trumper.[73] His first innings figures were four for 38 and he took another two wickets for 44 runs in the second innings.[74] In the fourth Test, Wisden believed that Rhodes alone bowled well on the second day,[75] taking five for 83. Although moved up the order to bat at number five, he scored just five runs in the match.[76] In the final Test, he batted at number three and scored two fifties, 66 and 54,[77] 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.[78]

Opening batsman

In the 1909–10 English winter, MCC toured South Africa with a team below full Test strength. Rhodes opened the batting throughout the tour, partnering Jack Hobbs for the first time.[79] However, Wisden stated that only Hobbs would have been sure of his batting place in a full strength England team, and that both Rhodes and David Denton, the next best batsmen, were a long way behind Hobbs.[80] In all first-class matches, Rhodes scored 499 runs at an average of 26.26,[17] with three fifties, and took 21 wickets at 25.47.[16] In the Test series, which South Africa won 3–2, Rhodes took only two wickets in the five games. As a batsman, however, he shared some large partnerships with Hobbs. England lost the first two Tests, although in the first Rhodes and Hobbs put on 159 for the first wicket, of which Rhodes made 66.[81] In the second Test the pair put on 94 in the first innings and 48 in the second,[82] Rhodes made little impact on the third and fourth Tests; in the final Test, an England victory, he and Hobbs scored 221 together, Rhodes making what was then his highest Test score of 77.[83] Wisden stated that while overshadowed by the brilliance of Hobbs, Rhodes in this innings batted without mistakes.[84] In the five Tests Rhodes scored 226 runs, averaging 25.11.[61] During the tour Rhodes and Hobbs developed mutual trust while batting together, to the point where they could score runs without having to call to each other. This degree of understanding was unusual at the time.[85]

In the 1910 domestic season Rhodes was less productive in batting and bowling, and Yorkshire finished only eighth in the County Championship, a result considered very poor within the county.[86] 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 since the start of his career that he had taken less than 100 wickets in an English season.[16] In 1911, when Yorkshire finished seventh in the County Championship, it was a fine, dry summer, which meant generally good batting wickets.[87] Rhodes was more productive with 2,261 runs, the second and final time that he passed 2,000 runs in an English summer, and the highest season's total of his career. He averaged 38.32 with the bat,[17] and also took 117 wickets.[16] Rhodes was given a benefit match against Lancashire from which he received £750 (around £57,000 in 2010). After Yorkshire launched an appeal, the total was boosted to £2,200 (worth around £167,000 in 2008), still considerably less than the record benefit total of £3,703 raised for George Hirst in 1904.[88][89]

Batting success in Australia

In September 1911 Rhodes made his third visit to Australia, this time as the opening partner of Jack Hobbs. The tour proved to be the "absolute pinnacle of his success as a batsman", according to Rogerson.[90] Under the captaincy of Johnny Douglas, England won the 1911–12 Test series against Australia 4–1, after losing the first Test. While the success of the tourists was attributed to their powerful bowling attack, C. B. Fry described the English victories as "a succession of triumphs for Jack Hobbs and Rhodes as first wicket batsmen."[91] Pelham Warner, who was nominally captain but missed the entire series due to illness, said that in "innings after innings they [Hobbs and Rhodes] gave us a wonderful start", adding that he had run out of words to praise their contributions.[92]

In the first Test, the only one of the series in which he did not open, Rhodes made 41 and 0 in England's defeat.[93] In the second match, opening with Hobbs, Rhodes scored 61 in the first innings, passing 1,000 Test career runs in the process.[94] Wisden recorded 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 added 57 for the first wicket with Hobbs, helping England to an eight-wicket victory.[94] In the next Test Rhodes scored 59 out of an opening partnership of 147 with Hobbs, and 57 not out as England won again, this time by seven wickets.[96] In the fourth Test, which England won overwhelmingly to take the series, Rhodes scored 179 as he and Hobbs scored 323 for the first wicket. At the time, this was a Test record partnership for any wicket. As of March 2010, it remains England's highest first wicket partnership against Australia.[97][98] This was Rhodes' first Test century, and it remained his highest Test score.[99] Wisden commented that his seven-hour innings was "a remarkable display of careful batting."[100] In the final Test victory Rhodes put on 76 with Hobbs in the second innings,[101] to finish the series with 463 runs at an average of 57.87, the best series average of his career.[61] 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;[16] in the Tests he only bowled 18 overs.[102]

Triangular Tournament

A man is standing on a cricket field in front of some stumps. He has a moustache and is dressed in a white shirt with rolled up sleeves, white trousers and cricket pads. He is carrying a cricket bat which is raised as if he has just struck the ball.
C.B. Fry, pictured in 1899, was Rhodes's England captain in 1912.

On their return home for the 1912 season England, captained by C. B. Fry, were involved in the first-ever triangular Test tournament, consisting of matches between England, Australia and South Africa. This experiment was severely affected by terrible weather, the weakness of the South African side, and a dispute among the Australian side which resulted in substandard team being sent.[103] Rhodes played as Hobbs' opening partner in each of England's six matches and once again won praise from Wisden.[103] In England's first match, a victory against South Africa, Rhodes scored 36, his steady defence being described as invaluable.[104] In the following drawn game against Australia, Hobbs and Rhodes scored 112 for the first wicket. Rhodes scored 59, his first 52 runs being scored out of a total of 77 before he slowed down; Wisden reported that the later part of his innings was "as cautious as the first part was brilliant".[105] Later in the match Rhodes bowled and took three wickets for 59, his only bowling success of the tournament.[42][106]

After a quiet second match against South Africa,[107] Rhodes scored 92 out of a total of 203 in a rain-ruined game against Australia.[108] The difficult batting conditions were such that Fry described Rhodes as "digging his runs out of the slush."[109] Rhodes had another poor match against South Africa,[107] but in the final match against Australia, which would decide the winner of the tournament, Rhodes scored 49 in an opening stand of 107 with Hobbs in the first innings, considered a great achievement in testing batting conditions. England went on to win in the match and tournament.[110][111] Rhodes had scored 204 runs at an average of 51.00 against Australia, but only 53 runs at an average of 13.25 against the South Africans.[61] In all first-class matches that summer, Rhodes scored 1,576 runs (averaging 30.90),[17] and took 53 wickets (average 21.98), his lowest total of wickets in an English season, and only the second time since 1903 that he had not completed the double.[16]

Last pre-war seasons

Rhodes again failed to complete the double in 1913, scoring 1,963 runs (average 32.71) and taking 86 wickets (average 21.88).[16][17] In the 1913–14 English winter, Rhodes went to South Africa with M.C.C. under the captaincy of Douglas. A strong England side won the five-match series 4–0 against weak opposition.[112] Rhodes scored 731 runs in first-class matches, averaging 34.80,[17] and took 31 wickets at 21.35,[16] which led Wisden to comment on his value as an all-rounder.[112] In the second Test Rhodes took one wicket, his 100th in Test matches, and completed his 1,000 run and 100 wickets double in Tests. He was the first England player to achieve this and at that time only the third player overall after the Australians George Giffen and Monty Noble.[113] In the same match, Rhodes made his second and final Test century, scoring 152 and adding 141 for the first wicket with Albert Relf.[114] He batted for more than five hours, and Wisden said that he "was too cautious to please the crowd, but his steadiness was invaluable to his side."[115] His batting was overshadowed, as Sydney Barnes took 17 wickets in the match.[115] Rhodes resumed his opening partnership with Hobbs in the third Test, sharing a stand of 100,[116] followed by opening partnerships of 92 and 133 in the fourth Test, the only drawn match of the series. In this match Rhodes took three wickets for 33 in the first South African innings.[117] In all Tests on the tour Rhodes scored 289 runs at an average of 41.28[61] and took six wickets (average 32.50).[42]

In the final season before the First World War Rhodes scored 1,377 runs and took 118 wickets,[16][17] completing the double again. His increased total of wickets was due to Yorkshire using him more often as a bowler that season.[118] Following the outbreak of war in August 1914 and the consequent disruption, first-class cricket came to an end for four years.[119] While many cricketers joined the army Rhodes, along with George Hirst and Schofield Haigh, went to work in a munitions factory in Huddersfield. He and Hirst were paid by Yorkshire to be available to play in war-time cricket matches on a certain number of Saturdays.[120]

Career after the First World War

Leading bowler again

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, and 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 from that which had played in 1914. Some good new players were emerging, such as batsmen Herbert Sutcliffe and Percy Holmes, but the bowling attack had been weakened by the deaths of Major Booth in the war and Alonzo Drake in January 1919 due to illness. George Hirst was by now too old to be effective as a 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. Although unable to spin or flight the ball as well as previously, Rhodes bowled a very accurate length and used his great experience effectively.[124] The success of Holmes and Sutcliffe as opening batsmen meant that, although Rhodes began the season opening the batting, he was able to move down the order and bat at number four.[124] He scored 1,237 runs,[17] and by taking 164 wickets at an average of 14.42,[16] finished top of the national 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 for the counties in the 1919 season, seriously considered the offer but in the end declined.[126][127] In the following season, county matches returned to three days and the wages of professional cricketers were increased. That season Rhodes scored 1,123 runs,[17] took 161 at an average of 13.18,[16] and was chosen to go to Australia with the 1920–21 M.C.C. touring team.

Australian tour, 1920–21

With England not fully recovered from the effects of the war,[128] weak in bowling and confronted by an Australian side that was far better than anyone had expected, the result of the Test series was a "disaster", according to Wisden: Australia won all five matches, an unprecedented result.[129] Rhodes was now playing for Yorkshire as a middle-order batsman and front-line bowler; England's captain Douglas seemed unsure whether to use Rhodes in this capacity, or to revert to his pre-war role as Hobbs's opening partner.[130] Until the first Test Rhodes batted mainly down the order; only after this Test did he return to opening the batting. On the tour Rhodes scored two centuries, one a double-century, totalling in all 730 runs at an average of 38.42.[17] Despite his having being a leading bowler in England in 1919 and 1920, Rhodes's bowling was little used on the tour, and with limited success.[130] After taking six for 39 against Victoria in helpful conditions,[131] he was "scarcely called on to bowl thereafter"[130] and took only 18 first-class wickets (averaging 26.61) on the tour.[16]

In the Tests, Rhodes scored 238 runs at an average of 23.80, his highest score 73 in the fourth Test.[61][132] In the first Test an innings of 45 took him past 2,000 Test runs.[133] In the series, Rhodes took four wickets at an average of 61.25, his best figures three for 61 in the third Test.[42][134] Wisden commented, "It must be said, however, that in a summer of continuous sunshine – remarkable even for Australia – the bowlers received no help."[129] Rhodes later said that he was not used much by Douglas because his captain did not think his bowling would effective on Australian pitches.[135] Nevertheless, much of Rhodes' tour, according to A. A. Thompson, "may be fairly regarded as failure."[131] Tour manager Frederick Toone, with whom Rhodes had already had a disagreement, had apparently said that "Wilfred's finished", a remark that was reported to Rhodes.[136]

Senior professional

On his return to England for the 1921 season, Rhodes faced several career turning points. The first was the visit of the Australians to England. The tourists, as Wisden reported, overwhelmed England, exposing many weaknesses in the team and reducing the English selectors to "catch[ing] at straws".[137] 30 players were used in the five-match Test series, which England lost by three matches to none.[137] Rhodes played in the first Test, scoring 19 and 10 and taking two wickets in a heavy defeat. Although his performances were no worse than those of others, he was dropped from the team for the rest of the series and did not play another Test for five years.[138] At the time, it was suggested his place was lost because the fast bowling of Jack Gregory and Ted McDonald,[139] who devastated and demoralised many English batting, troubled him.[140]

This led to a second development in Rhodes's career. 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 the batsman's body was turned towards the bowler. Critics complained that this method was ugly; it restricted the shots that could be made, and led to some batsmen using their pads as an extra form of defence to stop the ball hitting the wicket.[141] According to his Wisden obituary, Rhodes was one of the first men to adopt this batting stance.[18] A further development for Rhodes was that, following the retirements of Hirst and Denton from Yorkshire, he became the county's senior professional. This position, while holding no official powers, was nevertheless significant because senior professionals often had an important influence on tactics, strategy and morale. Rhodes held this post until his retirement.[142]

In the 1921 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 against Leicestershire.[17] This was on the day that England, who had just dropped him, began the second Test.[143] Rhodes took 141 wickets in the season, at an average of 13.27.[16] In the autumn Rhodes undertook the first of what became until 1927 an annual trip to India, coaching and playing for the Maharaja of Patiala's private team, sometimes accompanied by other players. On five occasions in India he completed a 1,000 runs and 100 wickets double, although most of these games were not first-class.[144]

In the four seasons 1922 to 1925, Yorkshire won the County Championship. Rhodes scored over 1,000 runs each year, averaging over 30 except in 1924; in 1925 his average was 40.91, only the second time it exceeded 40 in an English cricket season.[17] Rhodes was by now part of a very powerful county bowling attack, and was usually the fourth or fifth bowler used.[145] He took over 100 wickets in each of the 1922, 1923 and 1924 seasons, but took only 57 in 1925,[16] a very good year for batting.[146] As Yorkshire's senior professional Rhodes was very influential in this period, encouraging a hostile attack, developing tactics and raising the standard of the fielding.[147] Stories eventually emerged that he was an "overmighty subject", setting field placings and making bowling changes without reference to his nominal captain.[148] Alan Hill wrote that Yorkshire captains (who were usually poor cricketers) generally deferred to Rhodes as senior professional; Arthur Lupton, captain from 1925 to 1927, "very wisely left the cricket affairs to the joint supervision of Rhodes and Emmott Robinson."[149] However, all the captains to whom biographer Sidney Rogerson spoke mentioned their good relations with Rhodes, while at the same time agreeing that he could be difficult.[150] Beverley Lyon, who captained Gloucestershire 1929–34, criticised Rhodes for instilling too serious an attitude to the game into his young professionals, thus promoting a no-risk attitude.[151]

Recalled for the Oval

Reviewing the 1925 season, Wisden commented on Rhodes's 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..."[152] However, in the 1926 season, Wisden reported 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."[152] Rhodes doubled his previous season's wicket total, taking 115 at an average of 14.86.[16] In all first-class matches he scored 1,132 runs (average 34.30), the final time he passed 1,000 runs in a season and completed his 16th and final double.[17]

A three tiered Victorian red-brick building with flags flying on the roof and a clock at the top. There are large numbers of spectators watching a cricket match.
The Pavilion at the Oval, the scene of Rhodes successes in 1902 and 1926. Although this is a modern picture, the pavilion is the same as it was when Rhodes played there.

In 1926 the Australians were in England for the first time since 1921. The English selectors had decided to add two professional cricketers to their committee, and chose Rhodes and Jack Hobbs.[153] With Rhodes in such good form, at the top of the bowling averages, the selectors tried to convince him to play for England on several occasions through the season but he refused, believing that younger men should have their chances.[154] The first four Tests were all drawn; England had won only one of the last 19 Test matches against Australia.[153] The final Test of the series, at the Oval, would be played to a finish to provide a clear series winner.[155] The selectors dropped the captain, Arthur Carr, and replaced him with the inexperienced Percy Chapman.[156] They also recalled Rhodes, aged nearly 49, having finally overcome his objections.[157] The selection of Rhodes, in the words of Wisden, "naturally occasioned a good deal of surprise".[155]

England batted first, but made a disappointing total of 280;[155] Rhodes, batting at number seven, scored 28.[158] In the Australian innings of 302 Rhodes bowled 25 overs and took two wickets for 35, helped by a worn area on the pitch which enabled him to spin the ball.[159] He later described feeling nervous when first bowling, but said that he was heartened by the warm welcome he received from the crowd.[158] After the start of England's second innings an overnight thunderstorm soaked the pitch, leaving it very difficult to bat on next day. However, Hobbs and Sutcliffe put on 172 runs for the first wicket and England eventually scored 436, leaving Australia to make 415 to win in unfavourable conditions.[155] Rhodes soon had Ponsford out, caught, and went on to take four wickets for 44.[158] Australia were bowled out for 125, and to the excitement of the crowd, who ran onto the pitch, England won the series and Ashes. Wisden's verdict was that Rhodes' selection "was crowned with complete success", his bowling "proving no small factor in determining the issue of the struggle."[155] Rhodes had shown himself still to be England's best bowler: Wisden called his triumph "immensely popular."[160]

Late career

See also: Yorkshire captaincy crisis of 1927

Rhodes continued to play for Yorkshire until 1930, but averaged under 30 with the bat in each season and only scored one more hundred, in 1928. He failed to reach 1,000 runs in a season again,[17] but as a bowler he took 85 wickets in 1927, 115 in 1928 and 100 in 1929.[16] In 1927 Yorkshire opened a public testimonial for Rhodes, donating £250 themselves; eventually it raised £1,821,[161] worth more than £80,000 in 2010.[89]

Yorkshire were seeking to appoint a more competent and permanent captain, rather than continuing the succession of amateurs, and planned to ask Herbert Sutcliffe, a professional, to take the post. Frederick Toone encouraged Rhodes to offer his resignation as senior professional, possibly with a view to installing a new regime, but Rhodes declined.[162] Meanwhile the proposed appointment of Sutcliffe caused controversy, with some members of the county believing that Rhodes should be appointed. Rhodes maintained that he had not been offered the captaincy, his views had not been sought, and that Sutcliffe had been approached over his head. He felt unappreciated for not having been given first refusal on the captaincy. A poll of Yorkshire members also showed a marked preference for Rhodes over Sutcliffe as captain. Sutcliffe eventually declined the offer, and another amateur was appointed.[163]

In 1929–30, Rhodes was chosen for an MCC tour of West Indies, one of several veterans—he described it as an "old crocks" team. He was given a heavy workload with the ball;[161] on the tour he took 39 first-class wickets, averaging 24.28,[16] and scored 129 runs at an average of 25.80 with a top score 36.[17] In the four "Representative Games" (later given the status of Test matches) Rhodes took ten wickets at an average of 45.30.[42] On the last day of the final Test Rhodes was 52 years, 165 days, making him the oldest ever Test cricketer.[164]

Retirement

During the 1930 season, Rhodes announced his intention to retire from cricket at the end of the summer. He was finding it harder to take wickets, and the workload placed on him in the West Indies had decreased his enthusiasm for the game. By this time, Hedley Verity and Bill Bowes had emerged to strengthen the Yorkshire bowling. Through an ex-captain of Yorkshire, Harrow School offered Rhodes the post of professional cricket coach, which he accepted.[165] Rhodes missed several matches towards the end of the 1930 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 his figures were five for 93;[166] he took a wicket with his last ball in first-class cricket.[167] Rhodes' figures for his final season were 73 wickets at an average of 19.10 and 478 runs at an average of 22.76.[16][17]

Over his career Rhodes appeared in 1,110 first-class matches, which remains a world record.[168] In these games he scored 39,969 runs, the 17th highest career total of any batsman.[169] He took 4,204 wickets, as of 2010 still the highest total in first-class cricket.[170] In his 58 Tests Rhodes scored 2,325 runs (average 30.19) and took 127 wickets(average 26.96).[171] He was the first player in the world to accumulate 2,000 runs and 100 wickets in Tests.[172]

Style and personality

A right-handed batsman with a good defensive technique, Rhodes was a strong driver of the ball who scored more quickly in the earlier part of his career. Analysts maintained that Rhodes had only two or three effective shots, though his technique was good.[173][174] Cricket writer E. W. Swanton described Rhodes as a "craftsman rather than an artist".[175] Neville Cardus, in his obituary of Rhodes, said that the Yorkshireman "made himself into a batsman by practice and hard thinking", and that while often "dour and parsimonious", he was capable of hitting out.[18] After changing to the two-eyed stance more of his runs came on the leg-side;[176] in later years, Rhodes often used his pads rather than play a shot, a tactic generally regarded as negative.[174] A noted feature of his batting career was his successful opening partnership with Hobbs, particularly their enterprise in running between the wickets. Rhodes claimed that he preferred batting to bowling.[176] [177]

As a bowler, Rhodes was recognised as one of the greatest slow bowlers of all time, very effective at removing batsmen on difficult pitches and difficult to hit on a good batting surface. He could make the ball turn if the pitch offered even the slightest assistance, particularly if it had been affected by rain.[173] Swanton described how 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."[178] In his early years as a bowler, Rhodes was able to spin the ball very sharply,[179] and while this ability decreased in later years, he became expert at working out batsmens' weaknesses.[180] Critics considered him expert at flighting the ball; Neville Cardus wrote that "Flight was his secret. Flight and the curving line, now higher, now lower, tempting, inimical; every ball like every other ball, yet somehow unlike; each over in collusion with the others, part of a plot…"[181] As time passed, his accuracy increased to the extent that it seemed every ball landed in exactly the same place.[174]

When Rhodes was involved in matches, Cardus believed that "he was not a man given to affability",[18] showing annoyance on the field and being critical of the performances of others. According to historian Anthony Woodhouse, He was a "dour, methodical and calculating cricketer,"[173] not popular in the way that a player like Hirst was popular. "He commanded respect rather than plaudits" in the words of Bill Bowes.[182] An introvert, he did not always get along with the more extrovert Hirst. However, Rhodes became more relaxed and approachable in later life, particularly after his eyesight failed.[173] Cardus was surprised, after meeting him in 1950, at how much more readily Rhodes engaged in conversation, commenting that "history comes from his mouth in rivers".[174]

Personal life

In October 1899, Rhodes, aged 22, married Sarah Elizabeth Stancliffe, who lived in Kirkheaton and was two years his senior. They lived in a farmhouse, shared with other people, at Bog Hall near Kirkheaton.[183] On 25 August 1902 his wife gave birth to a daughter.[184] Rhodes found Yorkshire's dealings with money to be ungenerous;[185] 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 to be unfair; however, he was able to use 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.[186]

After his retirement from first-class cricket in 1930, Rhodes coached at Harrow School until 1936. Cricket was very important to the school, and they were following the lead of Eton College who had appointed George Hirst as their coach. However, Rhodes's Northern personality and generally critical nature did not communicate well with privileged schoolboys who were accustomed to getting their own way, and he was eventually replaced with the more genial and sympathetic Middlesex professional Patsy Hendren.[180][187]

From around 1936, Rhodes's sight began to fail, and on the outbreak of war in 1939 he was unable to take up a wartime job.[188] Eventually a specialist diagnosed glaucoma, but at that stage nothing could be done.[189] Rhodes was still able to see well enough to watch cricket and play golf, although by 1946 he was unable to read a newspaper. Another specialist was consulted in 1951 and an operation performed, but by 1952 Rhodes was completely blind. The build-up of pain led to the removal of his left eyeball in 1958.[190] In 1950, Sarah Rhodes wife suffered a heart attack, which limited the help she could give to her husband; in 1954 she died a few months before her 80th birthday. Rhodes then sold his house at Marsh and moved in with his daughter and her husband, with whom he later moved to Bournemouth.[191] He continued to attend cricket matches where he was able to follow the play despite his blindness,[18] and was frequently sought out by cricketers and asked for his advice or opinion. Rhodes was given honorary life membership of Yorkshire in 1946, and of the M.C.C. in 1949.[192] When given membership of the M.C.C., along with other old professionals, Rhodes reacted characteristically; rather than showing pleasure, he responded, "I don't rightly know what it means yet."[174] He died in 1973, aged 95.[18]

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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.
  • Hodgson, Derek (1989). The Official History of Yorkshire County Cricket Club. Ramsbury, Marlborough, Wiltshire: The Crowood Press. ISBN 1852232749.
  • Rogerson, Sidney (1960). Wilfred Rhodes. London: Hollis and Carter.
  • 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.
  • Woodhouse, Anthony (1989). The History of Yorkshire County Cricket Club. London: Christopher Helm. ISBN 0747034087.

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