Barrie Leadbeater

Barrie Leadbeater was a middle-order batsman for Yorkshire who never quite fulfilled his potential, although he was not helped by the fact he was by preference an opener. His origins were less than conventional, as he learned the game playing on the streets and also by using a marble as a ball and a ruler as a bat. His natural game was football, but as a goalkeeper he was persuaded to keep wicket for a local side - unsuccessfully - but he was hooked. Although he worked in a building society when he left school, he started playing for Yorkshire's 2nd XI in 1964 and broke into the full side in 1966. The upheavals of the late 1960s opened the door for him, and in the 1969 Gillette Cup final he scored 76. He missed much of 1970 with injury, but thereafter played regularly but, remarkably for a specialist batsman, he only made one hundred in 147 appearances. Like many, he was released by Yorkshire in less than happy circumstances - he was told by a stranger in a local gold club - but he moved seamlessly onto the first-class umpires panel and in 1983 he stood in four matches during the World Cup. He officiated in one ODI 17 years later!
Martin Williamson