A local club for local people
David Byas has returned to Yorkshire. But can he kick the club's addiction to civil war? By Martin Searby
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At the height of the troubles in the early 1980s Richard Streeton of the Times was at Scarborough when Geoff Boycott was banished from the dressing room by the then manager Ray Illingworth. A crowd gathered in front of the pavilion leading the experienced Streeton to venture among them to gather some vox popularis.
"I'm from the Times of London", said Streeton, looking the spitting image of Jack Hawkins. "Can you tell me what's going on?" "Where do you say you're from?", said his intended interviewee. "The Times of London", he replied. "Then bugger off, it's nowt to do with thee", he was told in a voice loud enough to turn backs on the unfortunate Streeton and send him scuttling back to the press box.
It's been that way for a century and more, ingrained character traits which are at the heart of most of the problems the county have faced in recent years. What other county would have been lobbying to remove the captain who had won them their first title in 33 years? Where else could there have been a bitter, long-running row with one of the outstanding batsmen of a generation? Where else does £100,000 disappear into a black hole and nobody know it was missing? Which other county would list a man who never played for them among its finest and omit two of the game's greats?
There have been so many cock-ups; the once feared county have become a laughing stock and the worst aspect is that most of it need never have happened. The idiotic sacking of Brian Close in 1970 by the county's dictator, Brian Sellers, set the standard for everything that followed. It allowed Boycott to build a power base which at one stage overturned the whole committee and led to the departure of many of the county's most distinguished former players. They were replaced by men who bordered on the gormless and more seasons of diminishing morale and spiralling playing standards followed.
Bottom of the table for the first time in their history in 1983, they were never above eighth in the next 12 years despite changing the unwritten rule which insisted only those born in the Broad Acres were eligible and recruiting the 19-year-old Sachin Tendulkar, Richie Richardson and Michael Bevan.
In 1996, David Byas was appointed captain, the first step on the road if not to success then to a semblance of sanity. Byas had stood above the in-fighting, back-stabbing and dressing room politics and remained very much his own man. Reared on the family farm on the Wolds he had a different work ethic to the rest and cricket was something of a relaxation compared to the rigours of milking, hay-making and ploughing.
He had no time for the dilettante and despised the blame culture which by now had pervaded so much of the game. His uncompromising attitude upset some but most responded and there was a distinct upturn in the team's performances which accelerated with the arrival of Darren Lehmann, the genial Australian left-hander who, in 66 matches for the county, averages 67.76. Lehmann hit it off with the captain right from the start and although he didn't resemble the photofit of the pipe cleaner-thin, super-fit athlete who nowadays passes for a cricketer, his batting at times approached genius.
After the much-admired Martyn Moxon was driven out from his position as coach over a ridiculous row about his pay while on England duty, another instance of egg all over the county's face, Lehmann had a considerable influence over the appointment of Wayne Clark, the Western Australian, as coach. Clark was the catalyst which brought the long-awaited Championship trophy home.
Clark's philosophy was as straightforward as his captain. Forget about trophies and titles and don't worry or complain about things you cannot alter, like the pitches or the weather. He changed the focus of individuals and taught them to bat or bowl a ball at a time, take each session as it came. "If you do that, you win games and that brings the silverware," he said.
Unfortunately Clark had an Achilles heel; he had no idea what life before Byas was like and listened to far too many axes grinding. Byas was not a great tactician, as he would be the first to admit, and Clark was not the first to spot the flaw. Neither did the Australian appreciate what winning the title meant to the whole of the county or the esteem in which the captain was held by the rank and file.
The ultimate shot in the foot came when Byas was told - at Clark's instigation - by Bob Platt, the chairman of the cricket committee, that he could go in glory as the man who won the title, or stay on as just a member of the team with automatic selection not guaranteed.
Given such a choice Byas opted for home on the range and the true story of how he was forced out did not emerge until it was announced that he had signed for Lancashire. Suddenly another row was brewing. `Was he pushed or did he fall' stories started to appear and when Clark admitted his part in the affair there was uproar. Just how could any committee force out the man who had realised so many dreams in 2001, making a full contribution with four centuries in an historic season?
It was crass management from the masters of the gaffe and there was a price to pay. The team went down the pan and Yorkshire were a few quid away from bankruptcy, returning the worst financial results in the history of the club.
Five defeats in their first six games left Yorkshire trapped at the bottom of Division One of the Championship where they stayed and by mid-August of 2002 the money lenders were closing in. A new gang of four moved in to rescue the club. The 12-man committee who had treated Byas so shabbily were about to get a solid dose of their own medicine. Clark was also about to suffer a similar fate despite winning the C&G Trophy, in what was described by Colin Graves, the new chief executive, as an "annus horribilis".
When Graves took over he said he found "turmoil, fear, uncertainty, mistrust and a lack of direction or motivation" requiring "major surgery". Graves, the chief shareholder in the grocery chain Costcutter, masterminded the disbanding of the old elected committee and started to balance the books.
But the cricket side of the equation continued to slip with Clark turning down the diminished role of bowling coach. There was no Lehmann, no Byas, no Clark and no Gough, who had played only 13 Championship games in four summers, and the slide continued with relegation in the National League.
Geoff Cope, the new director of cricket, failed to get a grip and towards the end of last season Graves was having talks with Dermot Reeve, an unlikely candidate to solve their problems. But Reeve could only take on the job part-time and so back came Byas riding what Graves and Co hope will be a white charger.
Given the history of mutual contempt between Darren Gough and Byas it was inevitable that the former would be on his way. The spin put on Gough's departure, though, was of Alastair Campbell proportions, as he left "for family reasons". With Craig White installed as captain, Lehmann back, Australian allrounder Ian Harvey signed from Gloucestershire and Byas calling the shots Yorkshire are hoping and praying for a brave new world as the club moves towards becoming a plc.
If the new director of cricket is to re-establish his reputation for honesty and integrity, which was so crucial to the White Rose blooming again under his captaincy, it is important he does not become caught up in the new culture of `need to know' which has insidiously taken hold at Headingley.
Stability off the field and success on it over the next five years is essential if the county are to put the calamities of the past behind them but history has, particularly in Yorkshire, a nasty habit of repeating itself. Watch this space.
This article was first published in the April issue of The Wisden Cricketer.
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