Ray Illingworth

Ray Illingworth

Source: [1], 27 August 1973

Raymond ("Ray") Illingworth (born 8 June 1932) is a former English cricketer, cricket commentator and cricket administrator.

Illingworth was born in Pudsey and played for Yorkshire (1951-1968) & (1982-1983), Leicestershire (1969-1978) and England. He was a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1960.

Illingworth captained England in 31 Test matches, winning 12, losing 5 and drawing 14. 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. 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.

Eventually he became the Chairman of England's Board of Test Selectors and the England Cricket Coach. 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 Cricket World Cup.

Preceded by: Colin Cowdrey Tony Lewis

English national cricket captain 1969-1972 1973

Followed by: Tony Lewis Mike Denness

External reference

• Cricinfo page on Ray Illingworth
• Cricket Archive

He is Now President of Farsley CC