The A-Z of Derbyshire Cricket - R is for Rhodes: Harold Rhodes

Writing this piece on the run up to Christmas, it strikes me that it is a shame we never did sign Rudolph at Derbyshire.

Jacques Rudolph very nearly became a Derbyshire player, but cried off with a need for shoulder surgery and went on to become a major force for Yorkshire over several seasons. His form was spectacular, but would he have got the top place in a very strong ‘R’ category?

Probably not, because there’s some major talent. One cannot allow the category to pass without mention of Arthur Richardson, no great player but still the only man to lead Derbyshire to a county championship title. He never made a century for the club, but had a wonderful habit of scoring runs when they were most needed. An average of only nineteen tells a tale of an ordinary batsman, but Richardson was a gritty fighter and pulled together a group of strong individuals to make Derbyshire an outstanding side in the 1930s.

Moving forward, Alan Revill was a doughty batsman and wonderful fielder for the Derbyshire side of the 1950s. He scored a respectable fifteen centuries for the club, but also held almost four hundred catches. Good judges have told me that he had one of the best pairs of hands they have ever seen, and I’m not going to argue with a record like that.

Then there’s Adrian Rollins, a very good opening batsman over several seasons who hit the ball extremely hard and had a fairly sound technique to back it up. His career was ended prematurely by injury after a move to Northamptonshire, at a time when the advent of winter saw a revolving door installed at the County Ground and far too many good players go through it, never to return. A mid-thirties average is indicative of a talent that never quite reached full flower, but left good memories for supporters.

Another player I enjoyed watching was Bruce Roberts, whose background was in Northern Rhodesia and whose style somewhat indicative of that. He was a poor starter to an innings, but when he got going was a fine stroke player, very strong in front of the wicket. He was also a useful medium-pace bowler and a stopgap wicket-keeper, though an average of just over thirty isn’t enough to get him a top spot in this company.

In third place is Chris Rogers, who has played for four counties and seemed destined to only win a solitary Test cap, until a belated call-up last summer saw him look as good as any of the Australian batsmen, something that has continued to be the case this winter.

In Derbyshire colours, Rogers often carried the batting, much as Michael Di Venuto did before him and he remains a compact, organised player who knows his game and plays within his limitations. He’s not a hitter and has largely found T20 cricket a challenge, but will be remembered by Derbyshire followers as a batsman of rare talent, charm and class.

Yet for me, it comes down to a father and son, a spinner and seamer.

Albert Ennion Groucutt Rhodes was better known as ‘Dusty’ and was one of the countless cricketers whose careers were severely truncated by the Second World War. He emerged from the conflict as the replacement for Tommy Mitchell, who opted for the greater financial rewards of league cricket, and was a very fine bowler until 1954, as well as a batsman good enough to score four centuries. On five occasions he took a hat trick (four of them for the county) and he offered a fine alternative to the seam of Gladwin and Jackson. He took over 650 wickets, despite losing six summers to the war and later became a successful and highly-regarded umpire.

Sons of sporting fathers have a very difficult path to success and relatively few have surpassed the parental exploits, but Harold Rhodes was, by any standards, a wonderful bowler. Although his career was unfairly and unnecessarily tarnished by accusations of throwing from a couple of umpires, Rhodes maintained a remarkably high standard of bowling throughout his career with the club.

Derbyshire County Cricket Club has been blessed with its fair share of outstanding seam bowlers over its long history, but none of those reared locally were quicker than Rhodes, who remained so for a long period. Alan Ward was perhaps the same pace at his best, but had a much shorter period at his peak.

In considering top spot in a category blessed with very good players, I have taken longevity into account. Chris Rogers was a very good player, but for a shorter period than ‘Dusty Rhodes’. Harold was one of the top three seam bowlers in the country for ten years or more and was shockingly ignored by national selectors.

England’s loss was Derbyshire’s gain though and Rhodes finished his first-class career with over a thousand wickets taken at under twenty. He was quick, when conditions and the match situation warranted it, but he was also unfailingly accurate. The first alone will trouble batsmen, but when coupled with a rhythmic action and pinpoint accuracy he became the scourge of the county circuit, even when playing under intolerable pressure.

As I have written before, I am slightly biased as he was a childhood hero, but Harold Rhodes was a standout performer, not always in an especially good side.

If you want more information on his career, you can read more in the ongoing interview I had with him recently. While some will find it hard to believe I overlooked Chris Rogers, I can only say one thing.

He was – and remains – a very fine player. But I saw Harold Rhodes…

Postscript – what happened to Q? We’ve never had a player whose name began with that letter!