YCCC Down the Years...

Revised by Derek Hodgson, June 2012

1863

The Yorkshire County Cricket Club was founded on January 8 at the Adelphi Hotel, Sheffield. The first official county match was played at The Oval on June 5 and 6 against Surrey, ending in a draw.

Michael Ellison was the first President, and kept the Club alive thorough his generosity. The first captain was Roger Iddison.

1865

A players' strike: George Anderson, George Atkinson, Roger Iddison, Joe Rowbotham and Ned Stephenson refused to play against Surrey after a dispute over the action of a Kent bowler, their colleague in an all-England match against Surrey.
Anderson never played again for Yorkshire.

1867

Yorkshire won all of their seven matches and their first, unofficial, County Championship.

1883

Lord Hawke was appointed Captain. He brought much-needed authority and discipline to the side. Lord Hawke was one of the great influences on the development of the cricket. He was captain for 28 years, later becoming Yorkshire President and President of MCC.

1891

Yorkshire played their first game at Headingley, now the County headquarters and one of the major Test grounds in England.

1893

A major reorganization of the Club. Sheffield's hegemony shifted to Leeds.

1896

Yorkshire amassed the highest score in county cricket - 887 against Warwickshire at Birmingham.

1900-1902

Yorkshire lost only two Championship matches of 80 played.

1908

Yorkshire went through the season unbeaten.
They bowled Northamptonshire out for the lowest aggregate score in English cricket of 42 (27 and 15).

1910

Lord Hawke resigned as Captain.

1919

Yorkshire won the first post-war Championship with debuts from Herbert Sutcliffe, Norman Kilner, Abe Waddington and Emmott Robinson.

1930

Rhodes retired in his 53rd year. He took 73 wickets and scored 478 runs in his final season.
JM Kiburn wrote in the Yorkshire Post: "He had bowled at Grace, and he bowled at Bradman. At 20, at 30, at 40 and at 50 he had shown himself master of his world, and his kingdom was never usurped."

1932

Holmes and Sutcliffe put on a record opening stand of 555 against Essex at Leyton.

1938

Len Hutton recorded the highest individual score for England - 364 against Australia at The Oval. He was only 22.

1946

Yorkshire won the first post-war Championship with debuts for Alec Coxon, Vic Wilson, Ted Lester, Gerald Smithson and Johnny wardle.

1951

Bob Appleyard became the first bowler to take 200 wickets in his first full season.

1958

Yorkshire sacked Johnny Wardle, then the world's best bowler of his type, because of "his general behaviour". Ronnie Burnet, the Second X1 captain, who was then 39, was elected first-team captain and won the Championship in 1959.

1963

Brian Close was made Captain, and won the Championship in his first
season.

1970

Brian Close, skipper through the highly successful 1960s, was sacked as Captain. There were the first signs of the long-running unrest in the Club.

1973

Bramall Lane, Yorkshire's first County ground, was closed.

1982

Ray Illingworth, as team manager, replaced Chris Old, the Captain, at the age of 50.

1983

Yorkshire finished bottom of the 17-strong County Championship for the first time - but won the John Player later National) League) for the first time.
Geoffrey Boycott, one of Yorkshire's most successful players, was not offered a new contract. There was a public outcry, the General Committee resigned, and Boycott eventually was reinstalled as a player - having already been elected to the Committee.
Brian Close became Chairman of the Cricket Committee.

1984-1985

Team Manager Ray Illingworth was removed from his post, and Boycott was made Vice-Captain.

1987

Yorkshire, under new Captain Phil Carrick, led the Championship table in mid-summer, and won the Benson and Hedges Cup.

1989

Carrick resigned with a letter to the Committee urging the recruitment of an overseas professional.

1997

Play for the first team was limited to Scarborough and Headingley. A majority of members supported a plan to build a new ground near Wakefield.

2001

Yorkshire won their first Championship since 1968. Captain David Byas retired - then joined Lancashire for one season.

2002

Yorkshire relegated from Division 1 of the County Championship, but won the Cheltenham and Gloucester Trophy.
Financial crisis forced extraordinary general meeting, at which General Committee was replaced by a Board of Management.

2005

Led by Craig White, the Club regained promotion to Division I of the County Championship.
In December Yorkshire completed the purchase of Headingley Cricket Ground from Leeds CF&A, thus owning their own premises for the first time in 142 years.
Colin Graves, Chief Executive for three years and chairman of the Club's leading sponsor, Costcutter, was replaced as Chief Executive by Stewart Regan, but retained his place on the Board.

2006

Geoffrey Boycott joined the Board of Directors. Darren Lehmann retired after seven seasons as the Club's overseas player, and was elected an Honorary Life Member.

2007

Martyn Moxon, returning from Durham, succeeded David Byas as Director of Cricket. Darren Gough, after three seasons with Essex, became county captain.

2009

Yorkshire completed ownership of the Headingley complex, and began work on the Carnegie Pavilion on the site of the Winter Shed.

2010

Andrew Gale, at 26 the Club's youngest professional captain, led a team
including nine players born in the county that would have won the
Championship but for a batting collapse on the last morning of the season.

2012

Geoffrey Boycott was elected President in succession to three other former England players - Bob Appleyard, Brian Close and Ray Illingworth.

HONOURS

Championships

1867, 1869 (equal) 1870, 1893,1896, 1898, 1901, 1902, 1905, 1908, 1912, 1919, 1922, 1923, 1924, 1925, 1931, 1932, 1933, 1935, 1937, 1938, 1939, 1946, 1949(Equal), 1959, 1960, 1962, 1963, 1966, 1967, 1968 and 2001.

Yorkshire's 33 County Championships have come mostly during four decades:

THE 1900s

Yorkshire won the title four times. The side, led by Hawke, included great players such as George Hirst, David Denton - who scored 2,000 runs in a season four times - and Wilfred Rhodes - who took 3,598 wickets for the County.
Yorkshire were also Championship runners-up four times - in 1904, 1906, 1907 and 1909, and they were third in 1903.

THE 1920s

The Championship was won four times during this decade also. The great players in this side were the openers - Herbert Sutcliffe and Percy Holmes, who still hold the record for the highest opening stand of 555 against Essex.
Left-arm spinner Wilfred Rhodes was still playing, as was George Macaulay, who took 100 Championship wickets in a season 10 times.

THE 1930s

Many of the side from the 1920s helped Yorkshire to their most successful era, in which they were Champions seven times - missing out only in: 1930(3rd) 1934(5th) and 1936(3rd).
Along with Sutcliffe and Rhodes from the 1920s, other players were dominant during the 1930s: Hedley Verity, another great left-arm spinner; Bill Bowes, an international opening bowler, and Len Hutton, one of the greatest batsmen ever to play cricket.

THE 1960s

Yorkshire won the Championship six times - twice under the leadership of Vic Wilson and four (from 1963) under Brian Close. That team included England fast bowler Fred Trueman, who took 307 Test wickets; all-rounder Ray Illingworth, who captained England in 31 Test, and opening batsmen Geoffrey Boycott.

LIMITED-OVERS COMPETITIONS

Benson & Hedges Cup (55 overs) 1987.

Cheltenham and Gloucester Trophy (formerly Gillette Cup and NatWest Trophy) 1965, 1969 and 2002.

National League: (formely John Player League and Refuge Assurance League) 1983.