Speaker John Watson - Cricket and Hedley Verity

John said that he feared we were losing upcoming young cricketers from the County teams for test matches as the better players now took long term contracts elsewhere which did not leave them time to play at County level. The recent introduction of the 100 game has produced exciting cricket (for both ladies and men). But the 20 over, 5 balls per over is a substantially different animal to a 4-day county match or a 5-day test match.

The Hundred (100) format is now on TV regularly unlike the 4-day county matches which can only be found on YouTube but not good for 5-day test matches. The 100 game is separate from County cricket and a lot of Counties have sold off some or in Yorkshire CC case all of their shareholding in the 100 ball format. The recent England v India Test match was exciting and pulled in crowds, but this is the exception.

The Twenty20 game is similar to the 100 but still played by the Counties and consists of 20 overs each of 6 balls per over. However, as the 100 receives so much sponsorship and TV coverage the general consensus of the meeting was that it would probably die out.

John said that he was very concerned for the County as it was not getting enough spectators. This was leading to financial problems at a number of cricket clubs. He gave an example of Scarborough which had attracted a particularly derogatory letter in the Yorkshire Post recently. The writer felt that more decorum was needed from the players and complained about the doubling in entry price.

Robert Allan said that Scarborough Cricket Club was virtually bankrupt and ground in very poor state needs a lot of money spending on it. However, he didn’t consider £33 a day admission to watch a full day of cricket was that expensive when compared to other sporting or entertainment events. He said that the 100 had saved Yorkshire. Before its advent Yorkshire were in debt to the tune of £40 million but they received £70 million from the 100% sale of their share on the 100. He also said that the short game brought a lot of interest from families where the whole family were now watching.

John Watson said that in 1932 test cricketers played in most weathers and averaged 132 overs per day compared to today where the average is 96 overs. As an example of the decline in spectators he showed a slide where there were 32,000 in attendance at a match in 1932 over 3 days and at the comparable match in 2025 there were 3,429 watching over 4 days a drop of almost 90%. He felt that a part of the problem was that the team fielded in 2025 contained no test players. Whereas the 1932 team not only contained Test players but one of the best bowlers ever.

The bowler was Hedley Verity who in the 1932 match took 10 wickets for only 10 runs. A record that has never been beaten before or after that match. He was a bowler of whom Don Bradman said, “Verity has perfect delivery position & command of length & direction” Not only that but he said that Verity was a true sportsman who never complained or criticised. During his Test career Verity bowled Bradman out 8 times. He is also the player who took 100 Test wickets quicker than anybody else – another record that has never been beaten.

When war broke out Verity signed up for the army despite been fairly newly wed with two young children. He joined the Yorkshire regiment The Green Howards and progressed to the rank of Captain. Having served in India, Persia and Egypt he was then part of the allied invasion of Scilly. During this he was badly wounded and captured by the Germans. He was taken first to Regio Calabria and then to Caserta, Campania, Italy where unfortunately he succumbed to his injuries and died. His grave can be seen in the Commonwealth War Graves cemetery in Caserta, and it has on it the Yorkshire Rose as well as having a white rose growing by the headstone.