Hedley Verity

The name of Hedley Verity, the master bowler of unyielding menace, is one to be cherished more than 50 years after his death. Allan Hill tells the story of a magnificent sporting obsession in this reissue of the first full-length biography of a revered cricketer. Verity headed the English first-class bowling averages in his first season with Yorkshire and twice took ten wickets in an innings in consecutive seasons.

Overall, his mesmeric left-hand spin yielded 1,956 wickets, including 144 for England, in less than ten years. The book, winner of the Cricket Society's Jubilee Literary award in 1986, contains a foreword by Sir Donald Bradman (whom Verity twice dismissed at Lord's in June 1934 to mastermind England's only victory over Australia at cricket's 'headquarters' in a century). It also includes a revealing memoir of Verity's boyhood and an Australian tour journal (1932-33) kept by the Yorkshireman for his relatives and friends.

The story ends with a graphic account of Verity's ultimate heroism during the Second World War and is followed by a full statistical analysis of his career.