Wilfred Rhodes

Wilfred Rhodes (born October 29, 1877, North Moor, Kirkheaton, near Huddersfield, Yorkshire; died July 8, 1973, Branksome Park, Bournemouth) was one of the greatest cricketers of the twentieth century. Whilst his career evolved through a great many distinct stages, his record for Yorkshire and England is sufficient to place him as one of the very greatest all-round cricketers of all time. Unusually, he batted right-handed but bowled left arm. Some remarkable achievements of his career include:

Retirement

In 1930, Rhodes played in the early matches with only moderate success either with bat or ball, and with Hedley Verity coming into the team in July and heading the first-class bowling averages, he was in and out of Yorkshire side and announced he would retire at the end of the year. His last first-class match was for H.D.G. Leverson Gower's XI against the Australians on September 10 to 12 1930. He finished his career with an excellent performance of five for 95 against a strong batting side. After 1930, he became cricket coach at Harrow School until World War II.

Related Topics:
Hedley Verity - H.D.G. Leverson Gower's XI - Harrow School - World War II

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He was blind by 1945, but continued to attend cricket matches regularly, claiming to be able to follow everything from the sounds. Appropriately, he died during a test match (against New Zealand) being played at his favourite ground of Headingley.

Related Topics:
Blind - 1945 - Headingley

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