by Arunabha Sengupta
Summer of 1969.
Three years ago, Garry Sobers had scored 722 runs at 103.14 in the five Tests in England. And he was still the captain when West Indies came back in 1969. With Colin Cowdrey snapping his Achilles tendon on the very day that he had been appointed captain for the summer, it was Ray Illingworth who led the side.
Not too many captains claimed to have a plan for Sobers. Illingworth did. At Old Trafford Illingworth he won the toss with a newly-minted 50p piece given to him by his friendly neighbourhood Midland Bank manager in Pudsey.
And after a solid English total of 413 the plan was put in action. A half-volley about two feet wide, and a slip catcher standing wide. The bowler was required to pitch it in the right spot. In the first Test Sobers was caught Edrich off Brown for 10 and then caught Sharpe bowled Knight for 48. A 10-wicket win for England.
A combative half-century by the captain in the second Test could not help West Indies draw level. The plan had him on the edge, his freedom of stroke play restrained. Perhaps for the first time in his career.
West Indies went into the final Test at Headingley having lost one and drawn the other. The pitch was green in early stages and got progressively easier. England 223, West Indies 161. Knight pitching the ball perfectly as a wide half volley and Sharpe holding a stinging catch off Sobers. The same ploy, the same result.
In the second innings, West Indies 224 for 4, 79 runs to win. Sobers just in to bat. Knight ran in to him. The wide half volley was perfectly pitched. Sobers, trying to beat the trap, got right across to make sure he did not get an outside edge. He went through with the drive, his illustrious head in the air. This time the ball came in off the inside edge on to his stumps.
Sobers averaged just 30 in the three Tests and crossed 50 only once.
West Indies lost the series 0-2.
“I knew batsmen pretty well. I knew their temperaments so I set good fields. I think I was able to get the best out of people because they trusted me. I knew when to attack and when to defend.”
Yes, players trusted him. They could ask him questions and get an honest answer.
And yes, he could get the best out of players. Even John Snow.
That’s how he won the Ashes in 1970-71. A long series with England agreeing to replace an abandoned Test by playing another. A series with crowd disturbances, frayed tempers—in which they did not get one single leg-before decision against the Australian batsmen in 6 Tests. England won 2-0, the first time since the 1880s that they won there without losing a Test, the first time in a series of more than 2 Tests.
Yet when his Ashes winning side tripped and stumbled against India, the tourists aided and abetted by rain before turning things around on the last two days, Illingworth was charitable enough.
‘On the strength of their performances against West Indies and England, India have proved themselves to be a world-class side.’ If he had harsh words they were reserved for his own men, ‘We deserved to lose because we batted very, very badly on Monday. Full marks to Chandrasekhar, He proved he was an accomplished and positive spinner – but nobody will ever convince me that this was a 101 wicket. In most cases Chandra didn’t get us out. We did it for him.’
Ray Illingworth scored 1836 Test runs with 2 hundreds and captured 122 wickets at 31.20. He was a superb off-spinning all-rounder, perhaps a bit underrated. But more than that he was one of the greatest tacticians and captains for England. He led 31 of his 61 Tests, won 12 and lost 5, winning 6 series and losing 2.
He scored nearly 15,000 runs and captured 1,390 wickets for Yorkshire before falling out with them. At the age of 37, he moved to Leicestershire as captain and led them for 10 seasons, scoring a further 5341 runs and capturing 372 wickets. In 1975, the rather unfancied Leicestershire won the County Championship without a single first eleven regular who was from that county. They also won the Benson and Hedges Cup and beat the touring Australians. Illingworth 997 runs at 45.31, and 51 wickets at 20.94. He was 43.
He called it a day after the 1978 season, and proceeded to return to Headingley and manage the Yorkshire side. And then, when amidst all the feud with Geoff Boycott, the side under-performed, he made a comeback at 50. In 1983, at the age of 51, he captured 32 wickets at 29.71. In List A, he headed the season’s averages with 25 wickets at 14.92.
Illingworth went on to become the chairman of selectors for England between 1994 and 1996, and coached the team in 1995-96. Not really the happiest of times for England cricket. And the coach from Yorkshire, a hardened professional, did not quite see eye to eye with the Cambridge-educated Lancastrian captain in Mike Atherton. And then there was the time when he publicly reprimanded Devon Malcolm.
Successful in all player, captain and manager roles, Illingworth could not quite replicate it in his days as coach of England.
In the recent times Illingworth was undergoing radiotherapy for oesophagul cancer. He passed away at the age of 89 on Christmas Day, 2021.