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Desert Island Discs
Presented by Roy Plomley
Cricketer who set a Test record of 364 not out against Australia and captained England to regain the Ashes after 21 years.
Eight records
O Island In the sun. Built to me by my father's hand All my days I will sing in praise Of your forest waters, your shining sand. As morning breaks, the heaven on high
The keepsakes
No book or luxury recorded for this episode.
In conversation
Presenter asks
What was the first proper match you played in?
As a schoolboy during the school holidays I went to all matches and hoped that there would be a men's short. None I remember one summer I played in 15 matches that I wasn't selected for. ... My first match I remember going in number 11. We wanted 26 to win and we did get these runs but the opposing captain closed the scorebook before I went in. I made it I think 18 not out, which I vividly remember.
Presenter asks
When did you get your first cap?
In 1937 at Lourdes against New Zealand. I started my test career as I did my minor counties and first class career with a naught. ... But I remember so well that morning at Lord's when I went through those W G Grace gates with my cricket bag. And felt so embarrassed, so nervous, so shy. I wish that they hadn't selected me to play. The most horrible feeling and I do hope that when cricketers do play their first match at Lords or their first Test match for England, they never quite feel so bad as I felt on that particular morning.
Presenter asks
How many Test appearances did you make altogether?
I think 79.
The recording
Timestamps play the recording from that turn
Speaker 1
BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, Podcasts. Hello, I'm Lauren Laverne and this is the Desert Island Discs podcast. This is the only extract the BBC has of this episode. The surviving recording did not include the music, so we've recreated the programme, adding the castaways' choices. For rights' reasons, the music is shorter than on the original broadcast. The presenter is Roy Plomley. I hope you enjoy listening.
Presenter
What was the first proper match you played in?
Presenter
As a schoolboy during the school holidays I went to all matches and
Presenter
hoped that there would be a men's short. None
Presenter
I remember one summer I played in 15 matches that I wasn't selected for. For the village team? Yes. And.
Presenter
My first match I remember going in number 11. We wanted 26 to win and we did get these runs but the opposing captain closed the scorebook before I went in. I made it I think 18 not out, which I vividly remember. Because you were too young really to be on the record. But I wasn't selected you see. I was filling up the team. Yes.
Presenter
I know you were only fourteen when you had your trial for Yorkshire.
Presenter
Yes, at Hedinay uh uh in front of George Hurst, who was of course a very great coach. When did you first turn out for Yorkshire?
Presenter
in nineteen thirty four at Cambridge.
Presenter
against the varsity, and as usual, when I played my first match with the second eleven, I failed hopelessly in making nought, and at Cambridge, on that particular day, in nineteen thirty four, I also made nought.
Presenter
Oh dear.
Presenter
I believe that in only your second year of first-class cricket, your name was already being suggested as a candidate for the England Eleven. When did you get your first cap? In 1937 at Lourdes against New Zealand.
Presenter
I started my test career as I did my minor counties and first class career with a naught.
Presenter
But I remember so well that morning at Lord's when
Presenter
I went through those W G Grace gates with my cricket bag.
Presenter
And felt so embarrassed, so nervous, so shy. I I wish that they hadn't selected me to play. The most
Presenter
horrible feeling and uh
Presenter
I I I do hope that when cricketers do play their first match at Lords or their first Test match for England, they never quite feel so bad as I felt on that particular morning. Let's move on to your next record.
Sir Leonard Hutton
Yeah.
Sir Leonard Hutton
Well
Sir Leonard Hutton
Says good night, sleep well We'll thank the small hotel Tog
Presenter
How many Test appearances did you make altogether? I think 79. 79. And in those 79 matches, I've been looking up the figures, you made 19 centuries and you had a batting average of 56 points something. Yes. Now there was that great innings in 1938 against Australia, which gave you the Test record of 364. How long did that innings take you?
Presenter
I think somewhere in the region of thirteen hours, twenty minutes. Wow. I know it it seemed a long time to the people that were watching and the s and the people that were listening at their radios in various parts of England, but to me it it was all so quick and possibly seemed two or three hours or something like that. I was concentrating so hard on the Australian bowlers and recapturing a record uh from Australian.
Presenter
Well you've scored forty thousand runs in your career.
Presenter
Heaven knows what records you would have achieved if out of your twenty one years of first class cricket you hadn't had the seven years taken up by the army.
Presenter
When did you first captain England?
Presenter
Nineteen fifty two against uh India. And of course you got the ashes back from the Australians after after how long?
Presenter
I think it was twenty one years, yes, nineteen fifty three, when Australia held the ashes for twenty one years. Yeah. Len, there was one little mannerism of yours that became famous. Between each ball you used to touch the peak of your cap. Did did you do that consciously or?
Presenter
It was rather strange, but after each ball, somehow, I could never find a cat that would stay still, it would move a little, and
Presenter
I suppose after a time I did do it, a habit. Seven to nine caps were England and none of them fitted. Yes, but we don't get a a cap each time we play like they do in football.
Speaker 1
Seven.
Sir Leonard Hutton
Two.
Speaker 1
Uh
Sir Leonard Hutton
But when
Presenter
And then on on january the seventeenth, nineteen fifty six, a a sad day for cricket, you decided to retire. That was on medical advice, wasn't it? Yes, I had been having trouble with my back, and eventually uh discovered that I had disc trouble. Let's have record number four. What's that?
Speaker 3
O Island
Speaker 3
In the sun.
Speaker 3
Built to me by my father's hand All my days I will sing in praise Of your forest waters, your shining sand
Speaker 3
As morning breaks, the heaven on high
Presenter
What have you found the most valuable piece of advice a batsman can be given?
Presenter
Well, not only as a batsman, but as a cricketer, I would say this, that it is a good thing to listen to all advice, but to try to select out the bits of advice that you can use. Remember that you bowl differently, you bat differently, you feel differently to almost anyone else. So it is really
Presenter
yourself and playing your own game that matters, not trying to bat like Dennis Compton did, like Dom Braman did.
Presenter
I think the great thing is to play your own game and to
Presenter
stick to it, remembering of course that practice makes perfect and it is always a good thing to listen to people that have had more experience than you've had. But it is up to you to use your own intelligence and to sort out which is the stuff that you really want. Fair enough.
Presenter asks
When did you first captain England?
Nineteen fifty two against uh India.
Presenter asks
What have you found the most valuable piece of advice a batsman can be given?
Well, not only as a batsman, but as a cricketer, I would say this, that it is a good thing to listen to all advice, but to try to select out the bits of advice that you can use. Remember that you bowl differently, you bat differently, you feel differently to almost anyone else. So it is really yourself and playing your own game that matters, not trying to bat like Dennis Compton did, like Dom Braman did. I think the great thing is to play your own game and to stick to it, remembering of course that practice makes perfect and it is always a good thing to listen to people that have had more experience than you've had. But it is up to you to use your own intelligence and to sort out which is the stuff that you really want.
“But I remember so well that morning at Lord's when I went through those W G Grace gates with my cricket bag. And felt so embarrassed, so nervous, so shy. I wish that they hadn't selected me to play. The most horrible feeling and I do hope that when cricketers do play their first match at Lords or their first Test match for England, they never quite feel so bad as I felt on that particular morning.”
“I think somewhere in the region of thirteen hours, twenty minutes. Wow. I know it seemed a long time to the people that were watching and the people that were listening at their radios in various parts of England, but to me it was all so quick and possibly seemed two or three hours or something like that. I was concentrating so hard on the Australian bowlers and recapturing a record from Australian.”
“It was rather strange, but after each ball, somehow, I could never find a cat that would stay still, it would move a little, and I suppose after a time I did do it, a habit.”
“Well, not only as a batsman, but as a cricketer, I would say this, that it is a good thing to listen to all advice, but to try to select out the bits of advice that you can use. Remember that you bowl differently, you bat differently, you feel differently to almost anyone else. So it is really yourself and playing your own game that matters, not trying to bat like Dennis Compton did, like Dom Braman did. I think the great thing is to play your own game and to stick to it, remembering of course that practice makes perfect and it is always a good thing to listen to people that have had more experience than you've had. But it is up to you to use your own intelligence and to sort out which is the stuff that you really want.”