Modest Doug was so exact

THE RETIREMENT of Yorkshire coach Doug Padgett at the end of last season brought to a close a remarkable span of over half a century of active cricketing service for the Bradford-born batsman who became Yorkshire's youngest debutant in 1951 aged 16 years and 321 days.

It was a record which Padgett proudly held for 30 years until he was nudged into second place by Paul Jarvis (16 years, 75 days), but Padgett remains perhaps the most talented youngster the county has produced.

He became the youngest batsman to play in the Bradford League when 13 and was still a few days short of his 16th birthday when he first appeared for Yorkshire Seconds against Northumberland at Thirsk in the Minor Counties competition.

He had the ability to execute every shot, and this technical expertise made him an automatic choice to take over as second team captain once his first-class career was over, and then become club coach.

Of all Bradford's sporting sons, none has remained more closely attached to the city than Padgett, who was born in St Luke's Hospital, learned his cricket at Idle, where father Harry and elder brother also Gran-ville played with some distinction, and now lives in an imposing bungalow at Micklethwaite with sweeping views of the Aire Valley.

And if Yorkshire cricket has been his professional life and soul for virtually 50 years, then his great passion has been Bradford City.

Such is his modesty that it is difficult prising outstanding personal achievements over a 20-year first team career which began against Somerset at Taunton. The first delivery he received came from former Yorkshire off-spinner Ellis Robin-son who, Padgett still remembers, did NOT give him one to get off the mark!

"The Yorkshire team didn't change much for the next ten years, and often the only player in the side who had not played Test cricket was Tony Nicholson, and he was selected for a tour of South Africa but had to pull out because of injury.

"We thought of ourselves as a team rather than individuals and came to believe we could beat anyone. If some of us failed with the bat we knew that others would succeed, and it was the same with our bowlers.

"Everyone in the side respected the ability of his colleagues and would hear nothing wrong said about each other. But there was no showing off and if a player came into the dressing room with his England sweater he would soon be told: 'Take that off, you're playing for Yorkshire today'.

"We were labelled a great championship side and were thought to be not too good at one-day cricket, yet we still won the Gillette Cup a couple of times in the 60s and our overall success over a decade or so was quite remarkable."

With Padgett's peak form spilling into the 1960 season, he made his Test debut against South Africa at Old Trafford and also played in the final Test at The Oval before being named in a young MCC party to tour New Zealand in the winter.

Although Padgett was second top-scorer there, he was never included in any of the unofficial Tests and has often wondered if declining Willie Watson's invitation to join Leicestershire was a factor.

Padgett hit 29 first-class centuries for Yorkshire and completed 1,000 runs in 12 seasons. He only suffered one serious injury - a blow on the jaw from West Indies paceman Charlie Griffith at Middlesbrough in 1963.

How Leicestershire tried to lure Padgett away

Padgett's contribution to Yorkshire can be measured by the fact he played in seven championship winning sides and his 20,306 first class runs made him one of Yorkshire's 12 heaviest scorers.

But the stylish batsman has now revealed how he could have made the bulk of those runs for Leicestershire.

"Although I topped 1,000 first class runs for Yorkshire in the wet season of 1956 I was not awarded my cap that year and late in the following summer I was taken to one side by Willie Watson," recalls Padgett.

"He told me that although Yorkshire did not yet know it he was going to Leicestershire as captain in 1958 and he invited me to join him there.

"But I said that although I was grateful for the offer I wanted to give it another year with Yorkshire to see how it would go.

"I thought that I could play better than some of those who already had a cap and in the end it turned out I was right.

"At that time I never dreamed of going anywhere else because like other York-shire-born youngsters all I wanted to do was to play for my native county.

"Even after playing my last match in 1971 it never entered my head to go elsewhere, even though I still believed I could have made a contribution at first class level."

Padgett's decision to remain faithful to Yorkshire quickly proved to be a wise one and he capped a golden season 1959 - in which he scored 2,158 runs - by playing a leading part in the sensational win against Sussex at Hove that brought Yorkshire their first outright championship title since 1946.

It was Yorkshire's last championship match of the season and to win it they needed to score 215 in only 105 minutes - which they managed with seven minutes to spare and five wickets in hand.

Bryan Stott (96) and Padgett (79) were the undoubted heroes, thrashing 141 together for the third wicket in little over an hour.

"Winning the championship finally broke the ice and great credit was due to captain Ronnie Burnet for his man management in getting us to play as a unit," said Padgett.

"I travelled to that match in Ronnie's car and it was ages before we were able to leave Brighton for Scarborough and the start of the cricket festival. It was the early hours when we eventually got there but I don't remember much about the drive - I was probably fast asleep in the back."

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