Jim Love

Jim Love appeared to be the natural successor to John Hampshire as Yorkshire's No. 4. A tall right-hand bat who drove with venom, he never quite fulfilled his early promise and became seen as something of a one-day specialist despite passing 1000 runs in a season twice and scoring 13 hundreds. But it was in limited-overs matches he excelled, giving vital acceleration in the middle and later stages of the innings. He played three ODIs for England against Australia in 1981 without setting the world alight, but his finest hour came in the 1987 B&H final when he won the Gold Award for his unbeaten 75 at a time when wickets were falling. The perception of Love as a typically dour Yorkshireman was briefly dispelled as he punched the air in delight after blocking out the last ball to give Yorkshire victory by virtue of them losing fewer wickets with the scores tied. But Love was unfortunate that his career spanned the worst years of Yorkshire's in-fighting, and he suffered from playing in a largely unhappy side. He left them at the end of 1989, but continued playing Minor Counties cricket before throwing in his lot with Scotland as a player and administrator. He eventually became Scotland's director of cricket, but resigned in 2001 and now runs a pub in Yorkshire.
Martin Williamson