Published: Sep 05, 2013, 12:20 PM (IST)
Edited: Sep 05, 2016, 07:04 AM (IST)
The Australian off-spinner Bruce Yardley was born September 5, 1947. Abhishek Mukherjee looks at the career of a more than capable all-rounder.
Bruce Yardley was an Australian off-spinner who took over 100 Test wickets (I know this sounds like an oxymoron, but he really did — just like Hugh Trumble and Ashley Mallett). He ran in diagonally in a smooth, slow stride, and used his middle-finger to bowl his off-breaks rather than the conventional forefinger. He relied more on beating the batsman in air rather than on turn.
*Note: Nathan Lyon has surpassed all of them since this article was written.
As a batsman he was quite adventurous, his trademark stroke being a breathtaking chip over the slips (affectionately referred to as some by the ‘Yardley Yahoo’, which often led to the opposition captain to use that largely forgotten fielding position — a fly slip. His electric presence at gully had resulted in many an acrobatic catch.
From 33 Tests Yardley had picked up 126 wickets at 31.63 with 6 five-fors and a ten-for. He had also scored 978 runs at 19.56 with 4 fifties (thereby missing out on the double) and claimed 31 catches. In 105 First-Class matches, Yardley scored 2,738 runs at 20.58, picked up 344 wickets at 28.19, and took 63 catches.
Yardley was the first Australian to have finished with over 100 Test wickets without playing a single Test on English soil. Bruce Reid and Stuart MacGill have subsequently joined him in this ‘feat’.
Early days
Born in Midland, Yardley began his career as a fast-medium bowler. He also bowled off-breaks, often alternating between the two disciplines, before completely switching to off-breaks as late as 27. He made his First-Class debut for Western Australia against Queensland at WACA in 1966-67, picking up the wicket of John Loxton but doing little else of note.
He did not play another match for four years and played only sporadically for the Colts as well. Then, finally, picked against Victoria at WACA in 1970-71 he did a decent job, picking up three more wickets, and promptly vanished for three more seasons.
Even after his return he did not get a bowl in his first 2 matches, and bowled only sporadically thereafter. After a decade in First-Class cricket Yardley had 14 First-Class matches, scoring 246 runs at 14.47 and picking up 6 wickets at 61.83. He had bowled only 923 deliveries (153.5 six-ball overs). Clearly his career was headed towards nothingness.
The rise
It was with the first match of 1975-76 that Yardley’s career took an upward turn. Playing against South Australia at Adelaide, Yardley picked up 2 for 44 and 3 for 40, turning out to be an excellent foil to Dennis Lillee and Mick Malone. These were decent figures for any bowler, but given Yardley’s track record this was on another planet. He also scored a crucial 35 and Western Australia won by nine wickets.
Two matches later Yardley announced himself in Sheffield Shield at SCG: after WA were bowled out for 162 Yardley ran through a strong New South Wales line-up, picking up 6 for 62 to restrict their lead to 64. Then, coming out to bat at 189 for 6, he remained not out on 97 as time ran out in a partnership of 132.
In six matches that season Yardley scored 171 runs at 28.50 and picked up 19 wickets at 25.73. It was as if he was another cricketer altogether.
Kerry Packer had had his share of critics, but Yardley was certainly not one of them. He was not in the original team for the home series against India in 1977-78: the selectors had picked Tony Mann over him. Despite his century as night-watchman Mann picked up only 4 wickets from 4 Tests and the selectors decided to bring in Yardley (alongside Ian Callen, Rick Darling, and Graeme Wood) for the decider.
Test debut
On a batting track at Adelaide, India were set a target of 493 and were surprisingly on track. Jeff Thomson had broken down after 27 balls (he had picked up two wickets) and at 256 for 3 a victory seemed possible. Yardley had already removed Chetan Chauhan and had bowled to a tight line and length: now he picked up Mohinder Amarnath to put his side back in the match.
Things were still not over as Anshuman Gaekwad hung around for over an-hour-and-a-half to provide Dilip Vengsarkar with the company he needed. Then, at 323 for 4, Yardley’s perseverance paid off as Gaekwad hit one back to him. He struck a further blow by removing Vengsarkar as well, and India were eventually bowled out for 445 after an epic chase.
Yardley finished with figures of 4 for 134 from 43 eight-ball overs. He was selected for the subsequent tour of West Indies. Playing at Queen’s Park Oval, Yardley picked up 3 for 64 and lit up the next Test at Kensington Oval with 74 and 43. Unfortunately, Bobby Simpson’s young brigade lost both Tests.
The 74 (Wisden called it “unorthodox but effective aggression) was an amazing onslaught. He reached his fifty with a six, which contained a total of 9 fours and 2 sixes, i.e. 48 runs in boundaries. Yardley became only the third cricketer to score 48 out of his first fifty in boundaries (after Alan Knott and Gary Gilmour, both of whom had hit 12 fours each). The record, however, was bettered by Tim Southee when he hit 2 fours and 7 sixes in his fifty against England at Napier in 2007-08.
Yardley was not to be subdued. With the West Indian Packer players gone, the sides were more or less equal. In the third Test at Bourda Yardley scored 33 and picked up 3 for 96. Then, with Australia chasing 362, he came out at 338 for 7 and promptly decided the Test with three boundaries.
Once again he wrecked the hosts with 4 for 40 at Queen’s Park Oval but Australia lost again. Then, in the last Test at Sabina Park, Alvin Kallicharran and Norbert Phillip defied Yardley (4 for 35) and John Higgs (3 for 67) for an hour as time ran out with Australia 9 wickets down.
Yardley finished the series with 206 runs at 29.42 and 15 wickets at 25.13. Suddenly from a WA reserve he had transformed into Australia’s leading spinner and all-rounder, and had started forming a strong pair with Higgs.
Losing form and place
Yardley had an ordinary Ashes at home. He picked up 7 wickets from 4 Tests (though he scored 61 not out in the last Test at SCG out of a team score of 143) and England won the Ashes 5-1. It was in this Test, however, that Graham Yallop’s strange strategy shocked even Mike Brearley.
It was a one-sided affair on a turning pitch. Yardley had managed to save the innings defeat, but only just about. England required 34 and had about a month or so to score them. Yallop knew Yardley and Higgs were his best bets on the track and announced that he would want to begin the innings with old ball.
The umpires Tony Crafter and Donald Weser were both standing in their first Tests and gave in to Yallop’s pressure; despite Brearley’s repeated arguments (“The advantage of an old ball was that the spinners could grip the ball from the start. There is no chance for the openers to score a few runs and get their feet moving against the new ball.”) the innings got underway with an old ball.
By the time English manager Doug Insole had discovered that the decision violated Law 5, the innings was already underway. England romped home with nine wickets in hand without any hiccup (other than someone placing a plastic snake to scare Derek Randall when he arrived at the crease).
Yardley could not maintain his spot in the side, playing only a single Test against Pakistan and three more on the India tour. He was dropped for a year, only to come back against India next season, where he picked up 7 wickets from 2 Tests.
He was dropped for the 1981 Ashes in England; the selectors picked the New South Welshman Graeme Beard instead. Interestingly, Beard had picked up 29 wickets at 25.24 the previous Australian season compared to Yardley’s 47 at 25.38.
The comeback
Yardley came back strongly in the Pakistan series that Australian summer. After Lillee and Terry Alderman shot out the tourists for 62 at WACA in the first innings Yardley rose to the occasion in the second, finishing with 6 for 84. In the second Test at The Gabba, too, Yardley (4 for 77) and Lillee (4 for 51) bowled in tandem to guide Australia to a victory.
Pakistan fought back in the third Test at MCG, scoring 500 for 8 (eventually winning by an innings). Yardley, however, passed the Test of bowling on a placid track against a strong line-up, picking up his first seven-wicket haul. It was a marathon performance and he finished with figures of 66-16-187-7. He finished the series with 18 wickets at 22.16.
Yardley’s form continued to the Frank Worrell Trophy in the second half of the summer. He picked up four top-order men for 38 as West Indies were bowled out for 161 chasing 220 at MCG. In the second Test at SCG, however, he delivered his magnum opus.
On a flat track West Indies scored 384 with Yardley picking up 3 for 87 to go with Lillee’s 4 wickets and Thomson’s 3. Michael Holding then kept picking out the Australians, reducing them to 172 for 7 before Yardley joined Allan Border.
What followed was a partnership that was almost absurd if one considered the contrasting approach of the batsmen. While Border hung on grimly, trying to put out ball after ball, Yardley had a dash against Holding, Joel Garner, Colin Croft, and Sylvester Clarke. He flailed his bat with abandon and eventually fell for a 33-ball 45: the pair added 70 in 58 minutes.
The seamers — Lillee, Thomson, and Alderman — could not prevent West Indies from piling on the runs. At 179 for 3 they led by 296 and with Larry Gomes and Clive Lloyd in control the match seemed like slipping away from the Australians very quickly.
Enter Yardley. Gomes was caught by Border and Lloyd by Kim Hughes, and the floodgates opened. Jeff Dujon was the only one who could offer some resistance as Yardley ran through the rest finishing with a career-best 7 for 98 and bowling out the tourists for 255. He picked up 10 for 185 in the Test: it remained his only ten-for.
The Test is also remembered for John Dyson’s catch of Clarke off Yardley. Wisden wrote of the dismissal as an “amazing, leaping, overhead catch by Dyson to remove Clarke after a dash of some 25 yards.” The catch was referred to as The Catch of the Century in a contemporary Channel 9 television programme.
West Indies won the third Test at Adelaide but not before Yardley picked up 5 for 132 in the first innings. He finished the series with 20 wickets at 22.30. He also picked up 13 wickets at 23.92 from the New Zealand tour that followed. From nine Tests that season Yardley finished with 51 wickets at 22.67, and it seemed that his career was finally on track.
The fall and the exit
Australia were brownwashed 0-3 in the tour of Pakistan next season, losing all 3 Tests by huge margins. None of the Australian bowlers could create an impression (other than Geoff Lawson, who picked up 9 wickets, no one got more than 5). Yardley was no exception as he picked up 2 wickets at the cost of 209 runs.
In the first Test of the home Ashes at WACA Yardley picked up his 100th Test wicket in the form of Derek Randall, caught by Wood. He returned figures of 5 for 107 and 3 for 101 but could not stop Randall scoring a hundred and saving the Test.
He scored 53 at The Gabba and helped Kepler Wessels add 100 en route the latter’s 162 on debut as Australia won the second Test at The Gabba. He had 4-wicket hauls in the last 2 Tests at MCG and SCG and finished the series with 141 runs at 20.14 and 22 wickets at 36.07. These were not great numbers but not too bad either, and more importantly, Australia had regained the Ashes.
Australia toured Sri Lanka for the first time later that season. After the visitors piled up 514 for 4 Yardley led the rout with 5 for 88 and 2 for 78, resulting in an innings victory for Australia.
Then, two incidents happened in quick succession: Yardley was dropped from the squad for the 1983 World Cup; agitated at the decision he retired from First-Class cricket with immediate effect.
A brief comeback
Yardley made a surprising comeback to First-Class cricket six-and-a-half years after his retirement in the MG Kailis-Kemplast Trophy, against Tamil Nadu at Madras. The Western Australia team also featured Tom Moody, Wood, Mike Veletta, Tom Hogan, and Alan Mullally. The 42-year old Yardley picked up 2 for 73.
He played four more matches that summer, against the touring New Zealanders, Victoria, NSW, and South Australia. After a not-too-bad season where he picked up ten wickets at 37.60 he finally decided to call it quits.
Post-retirement
Yardley took up a career as a coach and a commentator after his retirement. He was appointed the Sri Lankan coach in 1997 and it was during his tenure that Muttiah Muralitharan began his ascent. It is said that it was Yardley who had helped Murali with his doosra. He was also very vocal on the ground that Murali was not a ‘chucker’.
He coached Western Australia to their first Imparja Cup in 2009-10.
(Abhishek Mukherjee is a cricket historian and Senior Cricket Writer at CricketCountry. He generally looks upon life as a journey involving two components – cricket and literature – though not as disjoint elements. A passionate follower of the history of the sport with an insatiable appetite for trivia and anecdotes, he has also a steady love affair with the incredible assortment of numbers that cricket has to offer. He also thinks he can bowl decent leg-breaks in street cricket, and blogs at http://ovshake.blogspot.in. He can be followed on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/ovshake42)
