RIP Ray Illingworth

[flibbertyjibber]

RIP to one of our greats.

 

[honestbharani]

RIP

 

[Shri]

will take a few years for his immediate family to not feel sad for a bit on christmas day from now on

rip

 

[Burgey]

Sad news. An under rated player and a fine captain. RIP.

 

[Dazinho]

I remember him as England Chairman and temporary coach in the mid- 1990s, heard he was a great captain and tactician but it was before my time. I do recall him having 'friction' with a younger generation of cricketers and not quite 'getting' them.

How bad were Leicestershire before he took over? Did he perform some sort of miracle?

Grateful for any information on the subject. Thanks

 

[jcas0167]

Played first class cricket till he was 50! David Gower spoke highly of him as a captain at Leicestershire. Sounds like an astute captain who was hard as nails. Agitated for better pay and conditions for the players as test captain. The likes of Greg and Ian Chappell obviously rated him very highly after he led England to an Ashes victory down under. RIP.

 

[Aritro]

Christ was just watching him being interviewed yesterday on the Cricket Greats docuseries. RIP, he gave a lot to cricket in every conceivable role

 

[Line and Length]

I remember his astute captaincy and tactical genius. One of the finest captains ever.
RIP

 

[Anil]

never saw him play but a great captain and a very good cricketer by all accounts!

 

[tony p]

I was only reading an interview he gave in November a couple of weeks ago about his health,

RIP, a very fine captain & player.
It seems it was Oesophageal Cancer, hopefully not to painfull for him, my mother died from it this time last year aged 81, it was absolutely horrible.

 

[BoyBrumby]

Vale.

Captained an England side to regain the Ashes in Australia, which puts him alongside only DR Jardine post WW1. August company indeed.

As they say in Pudsey, that'll do, Raymond, that'll do.

 

[chris.hinton]

RIP

 

[Zinzan]

RIP good sir.

 

[wpdavid]

How bad were Leicestershire before he took over? Did he perform some sort of miracle?

Grateful for any information on the subject. Thanks

They were pretty ordinary, and I don't think they'd won any trophies at all in their entire history. Typical small county really. They became much more competitive under Illingworth, twice winning the Benson and Hedges Cup and once winning the County Championship. And they twice won the John Player League under Illingworth too. Given Yorkshire's decline in the early 1970s, we can conclude that releasing Illingworth wasn't their smartest move. Similar to allowing Close to leave and liven things up at Somerset.

Here's a bit more context for you. Illingworth left Yorkshire at the end of the 1968 season, when they had won the CC for what turned out to be the last time until 2001. The nearest that Yorkshire came to winning the CC in the meantime was in 1975, when they finished second to Leicestershire of all people. One would think that Illingworth particularly enjoyed that. Not that Illingworth leaving was the main reason that Yorkshire stopped being competitive; the real reason was that the counties were allowed to sign overseas players and Yorkshire chose not to. But Illingworth's success at Leicestershire showed what he could do with relatively moderate resources.

Not the least of his attributes was his longevity. He was 36 when he left Yorkshire, and that was because they wouldn't give him a three year contract. He was actually in his 40s when Leicestershire were winning trophies; 43 when they won the CC and 45 when they won the JPL for the second time. Obviously the game was different then, but there weren't that many players in their 40s playing for the better teams.

 

[Dazinho]

They were pretty ordinary, and I don't think they'd won any trophies at all in their entire history. Typical small county really. They became much more competitive under Illingworth, twice winning the Benson and Hedges Cup and once winning the County Championship. And they twice won the John Player League under Illingworth too. Given Yorkshire's decline in the early 1970s, we can conclude that releasing Illingworth wasn't their smartest move. Similar to allowing Close to leave and liven things up at Somerset.

Here's a bit more context for you. Illingworth left Yorkshire at the end of the 1968 season, when they had won the CC for what turned out to be the last time until 2001. The nearest that Yorkshire came to winning the CC in the meantime was in 1975, when they finished second to Leicestershire of all people. One would think that Illingworth particularly enjoyed that. Not that Illingworth leaving was the main reason that Yorkshire stopped being competitive; the real reason was that the counties were allowed to sign overseas players and Yorkshire chose not to. But Illingworth's success at Leicestershire showed what he could do with relatively moderate resources.

Not the least of his attributes was his longevity. He was 36 when he left Yorkshire, and that was because they wouldn't give him a three year contract. He was actually in his 40s when Leicestershire were winning trophies; 43 when they won the CC and 45 when they won the JPL for the second time. Obviously the game was different then, but there weren't that many players in their 40s playing for the better teams.

Many thanks for that - appreciated.

 

[AndrewB]

Leicestershire had finished joint 2nd in 1967 (under Tony Lock), just a couple of years before Illingworth joined, so while he was undeniably a great success as their captain I don't think it was regarded as "some sort of miracle".