Born in Leeds, Hedley Verity is one of the finest slow left-arm orthodox bowlers to have played cricket. He was never a big turner of the ball, but his deadly accuracy almost made him unplayable at times. Verity was initially a medium-pacer, but he switched to spin bowling later in a quest to secure his place in the club side. Verity made his first-class debut with Yorkshire in 1930 after England legend Wilfred Rhodes announced his retirement from the club. In 1931, Verity made headlines by picking up all 10 wickets in an innings against Warwickshire and bettered the feat the very next year against Nottinghamshire by bagging 10 wickets in an innings conceding just 10 runs, which is still a record in first-class cricket for least runs conceded while taking all 10 wickets in an innings. He got the national breakthrough the same year and debuted against a visiting New Zealand at The Oval.
His maiden Test fifer came against Australia in the bodyline tour to Australia in 1932-33 at Sydney. Inspired by his performance in the entire tour, Verity's then skipper Douglas Jardine wrote to his father, "Hedley has come through his first tour triumphantly, no mean feat to start with the stiffest tour, but particularly for a slow left-hander. On and off the field, Hedley has been a real friend and a grand help to me.” Verity continued to do well in West Indies' visit to England in 1933 and was a regular in the side. He improved his game immensely, and when England toured India in 1933-34, was the pick of the bowlers among both sides in the series. Though managing only 4 wickets in the first Test in Mumbai, the left-armer bagged 8 wickets in the next Test in Kolkata and bettered it with a 11-wicket haul in the final Test in Chennai. During the tour, he also registered his maiden Test fifty and made useful contributions lower down the order.
In the next home Ashes series against Australia in 1934, Verity bagged 15 wickets in the second Test at Lord's, of which 14 came on the third day. Including his career best figures of 8/43 in the second innings. England comfortably managed an innings victory. It was the only occasion in the 20th century when England beat Australia at Lord's, their last such win for 75 years. In 1935, Verity went past 200 first-class wickets but after failing to impress against South Africa later that year, he was dropped from the England squad and replaced by off-spinner Johnnie Clay. However, he was back in the side soon after and led the bowling charts for his side against a visiting Indian side.
Verity was selected for the 1936-37 Ashes series Down-Under but was not that effective and ended up with just 10 wickets in the entire series. He was again in and out of the side before finally getting back to grove in England's South Africa tour in 1938. He picked up 19 wickets in the series which also included his last fifer in Tests. In 1939, the outbreak of the second World War ended his career. He then joined the army and was posted overseas after completing his training. In 1943, Verity was captured by the Germans and later, after being taken to Italy, died of injuries and was buried there. His career read, 144 wickets in 40 Tests including 3 fifties, while he bagged 1956 wickets in 378 first-class games.

by Ramakrishnan MS