Ray Illingworth

England|Bowling Allrounder
Ray Illingworth
INTL CAREER: 1958 - 1973
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Full Name

Raymond Illingworth

Born

June 08, 1932, Pudsey, Yorkshire

Died

December 25, 2021 (aged 89y 200d)

Batting Style

Right hand Bat

Bowling Style

Right arm Offbreak

Playing Role

Bowling Allrounder

RELATIONS

(son-in-law)

Ray Illingworth's glittering reputation as a cricket strategist was unfortunately compromised by his three-year stint as chairman of selectors, which came when he had nothing to gain in public esteem. In his time as captain, which embraced an Ashes-winning tour, his insistence on fielding only players of his choice was seen as a sign of independence. But when, as chairman, he denied his captains the same right, apparent strength of mind was exposed as pig-headedness. The most damaging example was his refusal to let Mike Atherton have Alec Stewart, rather than Illy's choice Jack Russell, keeping wicket in the 1996 World Cup. Illingworth's greatest gift as captain lay in creating the illusion that he had 14 or 15 players on the field: so expertly did he block a batsman's favourable scoring strokes that when the opposition were in trouble it must frequently have seemed that there were no runs on offer anywhere. In that, Illingworth was much helped by the accuracy of his own offspin - a miserly 1.91 runs per over in his 61 Tests. He was a shade under 6ft tall, and sturdily built. His batting, normally at No. 6 or 7, was built on an orthodox technique and absolute determination not to give away his wicket, which was reflected by a fifth of his innings finishing not out, sometimes to the disadvantage of his teams. Despite that, a droll sense of humour and a fund of reminiscences made him one of the best-liked players of his time.
John Thicknesse

Ray Illingworth Career Stats

Bowling

FormatMatInnsBallsRunsWktsBBIBBMAveEconSR4w5w10w
Tests611001193438071226/297/2931.201.9197.8530
ODIs321308443/503/5021.003.8732.5000
FC787-1178604202020729/42-20.272.1356.8-10411
List A218-809746861865/205/2025.193.4743.5330

Batting & Fielding

FormatMatInnsNORunsHSAveBFSR100s50s4s6sCtSt
Tests619011183611323.24--25-3450
ODIs320542.501827.77000010
FC78710732132413416228.06--22105--4460
List A2181445523807926.74--04--580
Raymond Illingworth

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Test
ODI

Debut/Last Matches of Ray Illingworth

Recent Matches of Ray Illingworth

MatchBatBowlDateGroundFormat
Yorkshire vs Essex16 & 30/210-Sep-1983ChelmsfordFC
Yorkshire vs Surrey0*3/16 & 0/1107-Sep-1983ScarboroughFC
Yorkshire vs Middlesex10/54 & 0/731-Aug-1983LeedsFC
Yorkshire vs Derbyshire3*0/2927-Aug-1983ChesterfieldFC
Yorkshire vs Gloucs20/32 & 0/1024-Aug-1983ScarboroughFC

Photos of Ray Illingworth

Ray Illingworth with his great-grandchildren
A café in Farsley, Yorkshire
Ray Illingworth in conversation with Geoffrey Boycott
Dennis Silk with Ray Illingworth during the 1996 World Cup
Devon Malcolm bowls as Ray Illingworth looks on
Ray Illingworth was England's supremo in the mid-1990s