Ray Illingworth was one of a select group of England captains to win an Ashes series in Australia. His single-minded quality was assessed by one of England’s greatest all-rounders in the 1973 Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack.
From the moment Ray Illingworth established himself as a permanent and vital member of the Yorkshire XI there has never been the slightest doubt that he was a top class all-rounder, exactly the type of player any team would welcome.
First, he was an off-break bowler with that natural mean streak which is second nature to any self-respecting Yorkshireman, an absolute detestation of presenting any runs to the opposition. His skill stemmed from those two basic essentials – length and line. To these he added the refinements of ability to spin the ball, and, as one would expect from someone who started life as a medium-paced seamer, to drift one away from the bat.
On good pitches he could be depended upon, while on a helpful wicket he was a match-winner, and it is noticeable how economic he still is in limited-over cricket. In general, it would be true to say that he relies on beating the batsman off the pitch rather than in the air because his trajectory has always been rather flat and his arm relatively low. Another weapon he developed was a well-disguised change of pace, and he also learned the virtue of bowling close to the stumps from over the wicket, but rather oddly he has always tended to go wide when bowling round the wicket which I fancy has reduced his effectiveness against left-handers.
There can be no denying that Raymond Illingworth has made his mark as a highly successful captain in various forms of the same. He has proved himself to be a serious, practical leader, lacking the panache of Brian Clough and close to Sir Alf Ramsey or Don Revie in his basic approach.
He is a quiet thoughtful man, with a dry, somewhat sardonic, sense of humour who has forgotten more about cricket than most of his critics can ever hope to know. He also has a useful reply: “Look in the Record Books.” He was one of Wisden’s Five Cricketers of the Year in 1959.
His accolade came in the New Year’s Honours of 1973 when he was appointed CBE for his services to cricket.
