The four Yorkshiremen

In late August 1980, the Centenary Test was contested between England and Australia at Lords. Then as now, the regular England wicketkeeper was injured and a member of the Bairstow clan selected in his place. Although drawn, the match boasted no fewer than four Yorkshiremen in the England ranks and even the umpiring was presided over by Harold "Dickie" Bird. That England team also boasted two spin bowlers and it would be hard to imagine such bold tactics being employed when the next installment of the Ashes begins this week at the Gabba.

Given the injury to Matt Prior, Jonny Bairstow looks certain to don the gloves and follow in the footsteps of his much missed father David. The 1980 vintage had Geoff Boycott grinding his way towards his 7,000th test run whereas our current crop sees the emerging Joe Root being demoted to the middle order to accomodate the more considered approach of Michael Carberry. In 1980, Bill Athey was Yorkshire's representative in the middle order and he would go on to become an effective opener by the late 1980s. Next week could well see Gary Ballance being given the nod to prove himself at the highest level and it opens up the prospect of Yorkshiremen taking up the numbers 5,6 and 7 in the order. Sadly, Tim Bresnan won't be fit for this match otherwise history would have repeated itself.

It was regrettable to hear Michael Vaughan expressing reservations about the wicket keeping ability of Jonny Bairstow. Jonny has been first choice for Yorkshire for a while now and has inherited his father's skill with the gloves. I don't think Vaughan has anything to worry about and, if anything, the extra responsibility could well exert a positive effect on Jonny's batting which has yet to reach its full potential at Test level. There is no questioning his talent so he just needs to convert those scores of 30 to something more meaningful during the first few tests to really announce himself properly.

I do hope the two teams let their cricket do the talking in this series rather than getting too hung up on social media. I also hope that late night excursions to bars have been learned from. There is no doubt that Stuart Broad will bet plenty of stick from the Australian crowds after his blatant decision not to walk when so obviously out during the summer just gone. You can't make such ill informed decisions as that and not expect a reaction. Maybe my specs have become a little too rose tinted as I get older but I can't Dickie Bird standing for that when he was wearing the white coat. I think his finger would have been up and that would have been the end of the matter.

Of course, four Yorkshiremen playing for England is not a record anyway and possibly the most famous England scorecard of all time features no less than five. Once again the opponents were Australia but that occasion was in 1938 at the Oval. Hutton managed 364 runs in the first innings and was joined in the side by Maurice Leyland, Arthur Wood, Hedley Verity and Bill Bowes. The latter became a wonderful cricket journalist for the Yorkshire Evening Post. Verity fell in the Second World War with the Green Howards. Leyland was a serial accumulator of big hundreds and Hutton remains one of the finest batsmen we have ever produced. But what about Arthur Wood, I hear you ask?

Wood was the Yorkshire and England wicketkeeper in 1938 and strode out to the Oval wicket following the dismissal of Hutton for a then world record score of 364. With the England score now on 770 for 6, it was Arthur Wood who famously siad, "I'm just the man for a crisis!". He then put on a stand of 106 for the 7th wicket with Joe Hardstaff junior. Oh for Jonny Bairstow and England to bring back some memories of Arthur Wood....