testdebutagainst deliveries death_date columns testcap catches/stumpings year birth_date alt bowling tenfor country death_place club fivefor batting image name lasttestyear fullname birth_place column international testdebutdate lasttestagainst source date runs testdebutyear wickets lasttestdate s/s matches article_title
new zealand 11,173 84,219 31 july 1943 2 262 30 / -- 269 / -- 1930 -- 1939 1931 18 may 1905 a close-up of a young man slow left arm orthodox 2 54 england caserta , campania , italy yorkshire 5 164 right-handed hedley verity cigarette card.jpg hedley verity 1939 hedley verity headingley england , united kingdom , leeds , west riding of yorkshire , test first-class true 29 july west indies http://www.espncricinfo.com/england/content/player/22185.html espncricinfo.com 1905 5 18 yes 669 5,603 1931 144 1,956 27 june 0/3 1/13 40 378 hedley verity

hedley verity

hedley verity -lrb- 18 may 1905 -- 31 july 1943 -rrb- was a professional cricketer who played for yorkshire and england between 1930 and 1939 .
a slow left-arm orthodox bowler , he took 1,956 wickets in first-class cricket at an average of 14.90 and 144 wickets in 40 tests at an average of 24.37 .
named as one of the wisden cricketers of the year in 1932 , he is regarded as one of the most effective slow left-arm bowlers to have played cricket .
never someone who spun the ball sharply , he achieved success through the accuracy of his bowling .
on pitches which made batting difficult , particularly ones affected by rain , he could be almost impossible to bat against .
verity was born in leeds and , from an early age , wished to play cricket for yorkshire .
after establishing a good reputation in local cricket , he signed a contract as a professional cricketer playing in the lancashire league .
his first season was not a success but , after moving clubs , he began to make a name for himself .
initially a medium-paced bowler , he switched to bowling spin in an attempt to secure a place in the yorkshire team .
when wilfred rhodes , the incumbent yorkshire left-arm spinner , announced his retirement , verity had a successful trial in the team in 1930 , and led the national bowling averages .
in 1931 , his first full season , he achieved the rare feat of taking all 10 wickets in an innings , against warwickshire county cricket club ; the following year , he again took all 10 wickets , against nottinghamshire , while conceding just 10 runs .
the latter bowling figures remain , as of 2015 , a record in first-class cricket for the fewest runs conceded while taking all 10 wickets .
he established himself as part of a strong bowling unit , which assisted yorkshire to the county championship seven times in his ten seasons with the club .
in that time , verity was never lower than fifth in the bowling averages and took over 150 wickets in every year except his first .
in 1931 , he was chosen to play for england for the first time and rose to prominence during a tour to australia in 1932 -- 33 .
afterwards , he played regularly for england and achieved the best performance of his career when he took 15 wickets against australia in a test match at lord 's cricket ground in 1934 .
however , critics claimed he was ineffective on good batting pitches , and he was occasionally left out of the england team over the following years .
even so , he had one of the best records of any bowler against donald bradman , generally regarded as the greatest batsman in the history of cricket .
verity continued to play for yorkshire and england until 1939 , when the outbreak of the second world war ended his career .
verity joined the green howards in 1939 , and after training was posted overseas to india , persia and egypt , achieving the rank of captain .
during the allied invasion of sicily in 1943 , verity was severely wounded and captured by the germans .
taken to the italian mainland , he died in caserta from his injuries and was buried there .
