South coast Saint forged in our town

man who passed away in 2003, at the age of 85.

But, as the Saints prepare to take on Town in the Premier League, few will know that Ted Bates’ family roots were very firmly here in Huddersfield.

His father, William Bates, was born in Kirkheaton and, in addition to playing for Yorkshire and Glamorgan in country cricket, was a footballer for Bolton Wanderers and Leeds City.

His grandfather, meanwhile, was Billy Bates, whose name is on the precious Ashes Urn and who was involved in one of the saddest incidents in cricket history.

Billy Bates learned the game with Lascelles Hall and was one of the heroes of England’s first ever Ashes series success against Australia.

His name being on the Ashes is thanks to an ode printed in the Melbourne Punch newspaper commemorating the second Test win in January 1883 in which Billy was the undoubted hero.

The previous year Australia had scored a famous first Test win on English soil at The Oval, prompting a satirical obituary in The Sporting Times which stated English cricket had died and ‘the body will be cremated and the ashes taken to Australia’. The mythical ashes immediately became associated with the 1882-83 series played in Australia, before which the English captain, Ivo Bligh, had vowed ‘to regain those ashes’.

England lost the first Test in Melbourne by nine wickets but, with the outstanding help of Billy, won the second at the same MCG venue by an innings and 27 runs.

Billy – one of a crop of fantastic Yorkshire cricketers produced by Lascelles Hall at the time – took 14 wickets in the match, including the first hat-trick for England and hit a half century for good measure, for which he was presented with an emu’s egg.

Bates and his team-mates then headed to Sydney and completed a 2-1 series success with a win by 69 runs.

Billy’s story, however, is often referred to as magic and tragic.

Born in 1855, Billy, who joined Lascelles Hall in 1873 and made his Yorkshire debut four years later, played in 15 Tests – coincidentally all of them in Australia – before his top-level career was ended by an eye injury suffered during practice in 1887.

The accident happened in Melbourne where Billy had hit the headlines just five years earlier.

He was bowling his off-spinners in the nets when a straight drive hit him in the face.

He never played first-class cricket again and, despite continuing to turn out for Lascelles Hall and helping them to win the Heavy Woollen Cup in 1891, he suffered depression and even attempted suicide.

Billy eventually died aged just 44 in 1900 after contracting pneumonia. His son William, who was 15 at the time of his father’s death, inherited the sporting gene and played 113 games for Yorkshire between 1907 and 1913, basically as a batsman, although after World War I he developed into a fine left-arm spinner

Billy was one of a crop of fantastic Yorkshire cricketers produced by Lascelles Hall

at the time

as well.

William went on to play 283 first-class matches for Glamorgan, scoring 12,600 runs including 10 centuries. In 1930, with fellow York-