When Yorkshire CCC’s Len Hutton broke cricket’s class divide

It reflected the preference for amateur captains from public school-educated, upper-class backgrounds, men who were notionally unpaid for their services.

When, in 1952, Len Hutton became the first professional appointed by MCC to captain England, the Yorkshireman ended this great class divide.

He was chosen, in other words, by the selectors on merit, and although certain members of the MCC hierarchy were not in favour, the groundbreaking move was duly rubber-stamped (Lord Hawke, by then, was pushing up the daisies).

As Hutton said, the selectors “were taking the gamble of entrusting the leadership of the team to a man not from one of the great universities, but a village and club cricketer from the Yorkshire mill town of Pudsey. I was honoured indeed.”

His appointment, which brought two Ashes series triumphs (1-0 at home in 1953, and 3-1 away in 1954-55), from among 23 Tests in charge, is recalled in Tim Wigmore’s superb new book Test Cricket: A History.

The Daily Telegraph journalist has compiled the first narrative history of the game’s greatest format, a huge undertaking – expertly pulled off and wonderfully well-written – as it prepares to celebrate its 150th anniversary in 2027.

Hutton, who enriched that history as much as anyone, was, in many respects, the perfect choice to begin a transition that gathered pace through the abolition of the distinction between gentlemen and players in the early 1960s.

Conservative by character, he disliked any suggestion of a bad smell around the team and was guaranteed credit as one of England’s greatest batsmen, one who averaged 56.67 from 79 Tests and scored more than 40,000 first-class runs.

Prior to Hutton, as Wigmore shows, England’s amateur captains were not usually worth their place.

Hutton not only broke the class divide but was also an exemplar of a captain who made the side stronger; he averaged 52.14 in charge, with England losing just four of his fixtures at the helm, games in which his average – significantly – dropped to 33.12.

“In the first ten Ashes tours organised by MCC, from 1903-04 to 1950-51, all England captains were amateur,” writes Wigmore.

“None made a century; in those 50 Tests, England captains averaged 22.36 with the bat and 34.11 with the ball.”

This was in direct contrast to the Australian way.

They did not have the amateur/professional divide; their players were effectively semi-professional until the 1980s, all playing for money but often working other jobs, too.

“During the early years of the Ashes, many considered Australia’s different approach to captaincy a reason for their small, but enduring, edge,” says Wigmore.

“‘I have heard some English captains speak to their professionals like dogs,’ said Joe Darling, who played for Australia against England from 1894 to 1905.”

Not that Hutton – born into the Moravian community in Fulneck, Pudsey, far from the high seats of learning at Oxford and Cambridge – ever felt on a level playing field with the MCC chiefs.

“When I put the phone down,” he said, after receiving word of his appointment, “I wondered what I’d let myself in for”, which was as close as Hutton would come to expressing a hint of distaste for the powers-that-be.

“Discussing selection with amateur administrators and selectors, Hutton ‘felt rather like a head boy called to a meeting of house masters’,” says Wigmore. “In his early Tests, he still unconsciously referred to (Freddie) Brown, the former captain, as ‘skipper’.”

Wigmore’s book, which runs to well over 500 pages, includes interviews with many of the game’s most famous players, including the former Yorkshire cricketers Michael Vaughan, Sachin Tendulkar and Kane Williamson.

Yorkshire and Headingley’s contribution to the near 150-years of Test cricket is appropriately covered, through the famous feats of such as Bradman, Botham, Willis and Stokes, the ground having played host to two Ashes ‘miracles’ and two Bradman triple hundreds.

Above all, the book shows why Test cricket matters – even in these days when it seems to matter less – and how “the most brutal game” has built the biggest reputations.

Few were bigger than that of Hutton, once holder of the highest Test score (364 against Australia at the Oval in 1938) and the professional captain who broke the mould.

• Test Cricket: A History by Tim Wigmore is published by Quercus priced £25.