George Macaulay

Infobox Historic Cricketer


nationality = English
country = England
country abbrev = ENG
name = George Macaulay
picture = Cricket_no_pic.pngbatting style = Right-hand bat
bowling style = Right-arm medium, offbreak
tests = 8
test runs = 112
test bat avg = 18.66
test 100s/50s = -/1
test top score = 76
test balls = 1701
test wickets = 24
test bowl avg = 27.58
test 5s = 1
test 10s = -
test best bowling = 5/64
test catches/stumpings = 5/-
FCs = 468
FC runs = 6055
FC bat avg = 18.07
FC 100s/50s = 3/21
FC top score = 125*
FC balls = 89877
FC wickets = 1837
FC bowl avg = 17.65
FC 5s = 126
FC 10s = 31
FC best bowling = 8/21
FC catches/stumpings = 373/-
debut date = 1 January
debut year = 1923
last date = 22 July
last year = 1933
source = http://content-aus.cricinfo.com/ci/content/player/16857.html

George Gibson Macaulay (December 7, 1897 – December 13, 1940), was an English cricketer who played in 8 Tests from 1923 to 1933 and in 460 other first class games for Yorkshire County Cricket Club. He was one of Wisden's five Cricketers of the Year in 1924 and was one of the greatest bowlers of the 1920s and early 1930s. A pilot officer in the RAF he died on active service in defence of his country.

Born in Thirsk, Yorkshire, the son of a well known cricketer in the North Riding, he did not make his first class debut until the age of 23. Originally something of a tearaway fast bowler he was influenced by experienced old hands such as George Hirst and Wilfred Rhodes to reduce his pace and master the seam, swing and cut which were to ensure his longevity and reap him such rich rewards in the county game. He dismissed 6 Derbyshire batsmen for just 3 runs on June 2, 1921 at Hull and never looked back after taking 7 for 12 in the match. He gave up his position in a Bank and became a professional cricketer.

In fifteen seasons he took 1,773 wickets for Yorkshire at 17.08 runs apiece, and in all first-class cricket 1,838 at 17.64. At his formidable peak in 1925, he took 176 Championship scalps at 15.21 runs each, and 211 in all first class matches at a miserly 15.48. A master of the off break when the pitch suited the style, he took 4 hat tricks in his career, more than any other Yorkshire bowler. In the annals of Yorkshire cricket only Wilfred Rhodes, George Hirst, Hedley Verity, Schofield Haigh and Fred Trueman can be held up in comparison. Against Northamptonshire, Yorkshire's perennial whipping boys, in 1933 he took 7 for 9 in 14 overs as Northamptonshire were bowled out for 27 in 28 overs before lunch. As he matured he often bowled long spells of sharply spun off breaks from around the wicket with a short stepping, economical action. He was an exceptional close to the wicket fielder, especially to his usual bowling partner Emmott Robinson. In the 1927 match with Worcestershire the pair bowled unchanged.

Among those 1,700 wickets were some truly remarkable match returns, such as 14-92 against Gloucestershire at Bristol, 12-40, also against Gloucestershire, and one he would have been most proud of, 12-49, against Lancashire in the Roses Match at Old Trafford. Northamptonshire suffered at his hands to the tune of 11-31 and 11-34 but they were far from alone. He took 10 wickets in a match 31 times - a number exceeded for Yorkshire by only Rhodes and Hirst. He took 8-31 in an innings against the Indians and, in addition to his 7 for 9 return against Northants he took 7-13 versus Glamorgan, the same against Derbyshire and 7-17 versus Worcestershire.

He took 100 wickets in a season 10 times - only four others have done better. Only three others have taken 200 wickets in a season for Yorkshire, as he did in 1925 when Yorkshire went through the season unbeaten, winning 22 of their 32 matches. George took four hat-tricks - only Fred Trueman has equalled that for Yorkshire - and in taking his hat-trick versus Lancashire at Old Trafford he went on to take four wickets in five balls.

He was two bowlers in one. opening the attack with sharp, accurate out-swing, mixed with a surprise off-cutter and then switching to viciously spun off breaks, backed by an intimidating close field. Such was his command of line and length, and his ability to exploit the weaknesses of a batsmans' technique that only the very best players survived long against him.

Macualay never knew when he was beaten and never tired of taking first class scalps. At lunch on the third day of a match at Park Avenue, Bradford, Sussex needed 40 runs to win with six wickets in hand. Everyone assumed the match was over, but, as Yorkshire returned to the field, Macaulay was heard to say: "They haven't got these bloody runs yet!" In an inspired spell of five overs and three balls he took five wickets for eight runs and, with Roy Kilner taking the other wicket, Yorkshire had, from an impossible position, won by 23 runs.

In the Whitsuntide match at Old Trafford in 1933 Yorkshire had dismissed Lancashire for 93 and 92 to win by an innings and plenty. Macaulay had taken 7-28, including four wickets in five balls in the first innings and 5-21 in the second to take 12-49 in the match. Amid the celebrations in the Yorkshire dressing-room however, Macaulay sat apart. When asked why he appeared so glum he said: "I wish them booggers could bat again. On that pitch I'd have really tamed 'em!"

It was once written of him that "His cricket was played with a white-hot fervour that bordered on the fanatic to many spectators. His appeals snapped their way to the ring, and rejection of an appeal seemed almost a personal insult." He appealed so often that one umpire said to him, 'there's only one person who makes more appeals than you, George, and that's Dr Barnardo.'

MacAulay appeared for the Players at Lord's and was chosen to tour South Africa with F. T. Mann in 1922. In a fairy tale start to his test career, MacAulay took a wicket with his first ball at Cape Town and hit the winning runs to bring England victory by one wicket in a thrilling climax to the game. In his only match for England against Australia at his home ground of Headingley in 1926 he excelled with the bat rather than the ball, scoring 76 in an unlikely ninth wicket partnership of 108 with George Greary to help secure an honourable draw. He made many useful contributions with the bat for his county side, scoring 5,759 runs at 18.11. In all he scored three centuries and 19 fifties and his partnership of 192 with Wilfred Rhodes against Essex at Harrogate in 1922 remains the second highest partnership for Yorkshire's eighth wicket.

An injury to his spinning finger in 1934, when attempting to hold a return catch in the match with Leicestershire at Headingley, hastened MacAulay's retirement He left Yorkshire at the end of the next season to play for League clubs in Wales, Lancashire and Yorkshire. His benefit was a small reward for a Yorkshire professional, realising no more than £1,633, but the County made him a special grant of £250 on his retirement. Playing as professional for Todmorden in the 1938 Worsley Cup Final against Ramsbottom he saw his batsmen totter to 74 all out. Rolling up his sleeves he bowled 13.1 overs, took 9 wickets for 10 runs, and had Ramsbottom all out for 47.

Educated at Barnard Castle, MacAulay brought an eleven of noted players to meet his old school every year. A talented all round sportsman he played amateur football for Wakefield and professionally for Ossett. He was also a good golfer and swimmer. During the 1914-18 war MacAulay served in the Royal Field Artillery, and early in 1940 he joined the Royal Air Force where he met his untimely end, dying of pneumonia at Sullom Voe in the Shetland Islands.

References

* [http://content-www.cricinfo.com/england/content/player/16857.html Cricinfo Profile]
* [http://www.cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/0/426/426.html Cricket Archive Statistics]