Hedley Verity - Style and Technique

Style and Technique

As a bowler, Verity delivered the ball at almost medium pace, faster than usual for a spinner. R. C. Robertson-Glasgow, a cricket writer and journalist, wrote "He is a scholarly bowler ... He is tall, and much stronger than his pace needs. His run up, longer than most of his kind, has a measured delicacy that you would expect from this fastidious and nearly prim craftsman. Only his delivery has a grace which mathematics can't explain." His main asset as a bowler was an ability to bowl straight and with great accuracy, on a good length. He could also make the ball bounce sharply. His most effective delivery curved through the air, pitched on middle and leg stump and spun away from the batsman, causing many of them to edge the ball into the slips. On rain-affected pitches he bowled more slowly, and was almost unplayable at times. However, the period in which Verity played was notable for good batting pitches, and batsmen often dominated. In these conditions, Verity prevented batsmen scoring runs and constantly tried new strategies to try to take wickets. Verity also used different types of delivery to keep batsmen uncertain: he could bowl at a slower and faster pace to his normal style and occasionally bowled a much faster ball which regularly took wickets.

Verity never spun the ball very far, particularly after his second tour to Australia, and preferred to concentrate on bowling a good length. However, critics did not think that Verity posed enough of a threat to batsmen and could be dull to watch. By the middle of his career, he had a reputation for being ineffective on good batting pitches, and was occasionally dropped from the England team for his lack of effectiveness. Even so, he only missed one Test against Australia and one against South Africa, the two strongest Test playing teams, after he made his debut. Verity believed his performances in unfavourable conditions for his bowling had greater merit than his successes in favourable ones. He once said: "Do not praise me when I have taken 8 for 20 on a sticky wicket, but when I have got 2 for 100 on a perfect wicket." At times, Verity almost seemed bored when bowling and performed less effectively, particularly if his side were winning without needing his contribution. Bowes once told the Yorkshire captain, Brian Sellers, that the way to get the best out of Verity was to tell him that everything depended on him.

Verity earned the respect of Bradman, generally regarded as the greatest batsman to have played cricket, and enjoyed bowling at him. Bradman described Verity as a great cricketer and wrote that throughout their respective careers, he "grew more and more to respect both as a gentleman and as a player." Robertson-Glasgow thought that Verity was "one of only three or four bowlers who came to the battle with Bradman on not unequal terms". During the 17 Tests in which they faced each other, Verity dismissed Bradman eight times, more than any other bowler. Robertson-Glasgow believed that, but for Verity, Bradman would have averaged over 150 in Tests instead of his actual batting average. In all first-class cricket, Verity dismissed Bradman 10 times in total, on two occasions twice in the same game. Only Clarrie Grimmett equalled 10 first-class dismissals of Bradman. However, Bradman once said: "I think I know all about Clarrie (Grimmett), but with Hedley I am never sure. You see, there's no breaking-point with him."

Verity is often cited as one of the greatest slow left-arm spinners to play the game. Robertson-Glasgow wrote: "We can only say that, in his own short time, he was the best of his kind." The writer considered Verity may not quite have achieved the heights of some other great bowlers of his type, but "as a workman-artist, he will take some beating." Douglas Jardine rated him higher than any previous Yorkshire spinners, and Les Ames considered him the best left-arm spinner he had played against. Bradman wrote: "Undoubtedly he was one of the greatest slow left-handed spinners of all time. His record testifies to that. No Australian left-hander of that type was Verity's equal and of the Englishmen I saw ... there is no doubt that Hedley was as good or better than the others."

As a batsman, Verity occasionally showed potential to become good, but concentrated his energy on bowling. He modelled his batting on Herbert Sutcliffe, and Robertson-Glasgow wrote: "As a batsman, he looks like Sutcliffe gone stale. That is, pretty good."