Strong Yorkshire, strong England mantra will be up for debate again
Chris Pratt pores over decades of statistics to analyse one of cricket’s great theories
When Yorkshire are strong, England are strong. As per the famous saying often heard on the Western Terrace as England slay another Test nation at Headingley. Also often heard over the radio waves of Test Match Special as Geoffrey Boycott, standard bearer of Yorkshire cricket, lauds another century plundered from a Yorkshire bat. But is it true? And can it be proven?
I was present in Leeds last summer as Jonny Bairstow scored his maiden domestic Test century against an inexperienced Sri Lanka team arguably intimidated by the atmosphere in the ground that day. Bairstow was imperious and despite being on the international scene for a while it seemed another Yorkshire hero was born.
Fred Trueman, Michael Vaughan and Sir Leonard Hutton had claimed this mantle in previous years.
It is clear that the White Rose has contributed greatly to the nation’s cricket team over the years, but to what extent?
The origins of the famous saying are unclear as Vic Marks pointed out in his article in The Guardian in November 2014. Marks went on to quote the Yorkshire Post columnist Chris Waters after Yorkshire’s 2014 County Championship triumph. Waters’ quotes mirror the depth of feeling for cricket in the county.
“For what is cricket without Yorkshire? Yorkshire is cricket, or at least it is to the people of Yorkshire. This is God’s own county, a God that created cricket, a God that created Yorkshire cricket with all its serpents in the garden, its many imperfections, but also its wondrous, aweinspiring beauty and capacity to inspire. The old adage that a ‘strong Yorkshire is a strong England’ really means that a strong Yorkshire is essential to the health of English cricket in general.”
The county of Yorkshire has the largest physical area of all the first-class counties. An area that covers from Holmfirth in the west to Hull in the east, from Doncaster in the south to Northallerton in the north. The local Yorkshire leagues are amongst the best in the country and the passion for the game is unrivalled.
Suffice to say the county is a big cricketing deal. The two County Championship titles in the last few years and a near-miss last time out have also returned the county to the national stage in a big way.
For the purpose of this article we’ll be focusing on the longer format of the game, using Yorkshire’s County Championship record and cross referencing with England’s Test record.
Yorkshire CCC was formed in 1868 and to the present day they have claimed a record 33 Championship titles. The majority of that success came in their first 100 years. After their 1968 triumph to the 2014 Jason Gillespie-led success, they won only one title (in 2001).
England played their first Test in 1877, and clocked up No.983 in Chennai, India, in December. Despite official world rankings only being available from 2003, the ranking formulae has been applied to results from 1952. England have been world-ranked No.1 in 12 of those years (for a whole or part year). Getting into the nitty gritty of a few basic statistics provides interesting reading.
The obvious place to start is by cross referencing when Yorkshire have been strong to England’s success.
This analysis shows that there was not a single year when Yorkshire won the County Championship that England were ranked No.1 Test team in the world.
On one occasion, in 1955,Yorkshire finished runners-up in the Championship and England were world-ranked No.1.
We also need to look at pre-1952 statistics, prior to rankings (or the ranking formulae being applied retrospectively). We looked at dates from 1890 onwards, the year of the first County Championship.
From 1890 to 1951 we applied a win percentage to England’s annual Test record. Admittedly this is rudimentary and not ideal. In some of the years England played none or only a handful of Tests. It also doesn’t account for whether England were playing home or away. But it does offer a good indicator.
Looking at the upper ‘quartile’ of England’s best years according to win percentages helps us to find a pattern. In 1894, 1901 and 1913 when Yorkshire finished as either champions or runners up England had a 100 per cent win percentage, even though only two Tests were played in 1894 and 1913 and one in 1901.
In 1896, 1912 and 1967 England had an 80 per cent-plus win ratio and Yorkshire won the Championship.
The year 1955 crops up again: England were ranked No.1 and had a 70 per cent win ratio. In 1932 when Yorkshire were champions England had a 67 per cent win ratio.
What this analysis also shows is that of the top 27 per cent of England’s successful Test years, 15 out of 34 of those years (44 per cent) Yorkshire finished either top or in second place in the County Championship. This significant figure is in Yorkshire’s favour. It is also significant that 1967 is the latest of the 15 years in this comparison.
The implication from the win percentage analysis is that pre-1967 England were indeed strong when Yorkshire were strong.
There have been 76 Yorkshire players who have played Tests for England, many in recent memory, indeed the new England Test captain is Sheffields’s indomitable Joe Root.
Did these players contribute to England’s successful years? Several names stand out.
The aforementioned Geoffrey Boycott is not one of them. Despite playing over 100 Tests for England and scoring over 8,000 runs. He appeared in many England teams but in only one of the years he played did Yorkshire win the County Championship and England have an exemplary win percentage, in 1967.
You have to go a bit further back to find the player who stands out above all others. That is Herbert Sutcliffe. Sutcliffe played in successful Yorkshire and England teams in 1924, 1929 (Yorks finished joint second), 1932 and 1933. Scoring over 50,000 first-class runs and
Implication from the win percentage is pre-1967 England were strong when Yorkshire were
over 4,500 Test runs, he really was a symbol of a strong Yorkshire and England.
From a later generation, Fred Trueman is another standout. He played in successful Yorkshire and England teams in 1952, 1955 (Yorks finished second in both those years), 1959. The first Test player to take 300 wickets, Trueman bowled his county and country to greatness in the Fifties.
Other players to appear in the reckoning are Willie Watson (also of Leicestershire), Brian Close (also of Somerset), Wilfred Rhodes and Sir Leonard Hutton.
What stands out above all else is the lack of modern-day players. Yorkshire’s recent revival has coincided with Test appearances for numerous Yorkshire players, Root arguably the most conspicuous but this has not coincided with relative English success.
The amount of games the England players played for Yorkshire’s successful sides in the centrally contracted era also highlights the strength in depth of the county, able to garner success without their so-called stars.
So back to where we started. Are England strong when Yorkshire are strong? Conclusion; yes and no. England were strong when Yorkshire were strong, particularly in the early 1900s and the Fifties, but not from the early Seventies onwards. The real question is whether England can once again capitalise on the success of the White Rose.
Perhaps the answer lies with Root. England have entrusted him with the premier playing role in the country.
Can he deliver with the captaincy as he has delivered so far with the willow?