Former England captain Illingworth passes away at 89

Ray Illingworth (left) with former umpire Harold ‘Dickie’ Bird during a Test match between England and South Africa at Headingley cricket ground in Leeds on August 2, 2012. (Reuters)

Former England captain Ray Illingworth, who famously captained the team to an Ashes series victory in Australia in 1970-71, has died at the age of 89, county club Yorkshire said yesterday. Illingworth said in November he had been undergoing treatment for oesophageal cancer. “Our thoughts are with Ray’s family and the wider Yorkshire family who held Ray so dear to their hearts,” Yorkshire tweeted. Illingworth captained England in 31 Test matches between 1958 and 1973 and played in the first-ever one-day international in 1971. He also had spells as an administrator and the coach of the national team. His former county Yorkshire released a statement yesterday, which read: “We are deeply saddened to learn that Ray Illingworth has passed away. “Our thoughts are with Ray’s family and the wider Yorkshire family who held Ray so dear to their hearts.” Illingworth was the chairman of selectors for England between 1993 and 1996, and coached them in 1995-96. Illingworth the player was shy of true elite status, but as a solid lower middle-order batsman, infuriatingly miserly off-spinner and specialist gully fielder, he was never far from the action. But his wider impact on cricket in England was marked. At his best he will be remembered as one of the nation’s finest captains – a single-minded leader with an appetite for authority and broad enough shoulders to bear it. At his worst, in his second act as selector, coach and over-arching ‘supremo’ of the national side, the same qualities engulfed him and those who served at his pleasure. By a lesser number, primarily those involved at his beloved Farsley Cricket Club, he will be cherished as the life-long club man who prepared wickets well into his 70s and could not resist arriving to paint the crease even after a heart attack slowed him in 2011.